NBA G League team now 13-9, fifth in Eastern Conference
The Osceola Magic completed a two-game sweep of the Windy City Bulls in NBA G League action at the Silver Spurs Arena -- in two distinct ways.
Sunday, the Magic (13-9) used a 37-15 third-quarter run to blow by Windy City, 132-101. Monday looked to be more of the same in the first half until the Bulls stormed back to force a fourth-quarter struggle and overtime. But it was Mac McClung's three-pointer that ended it, 125-123.
"Beating a team twice in a row is tough," Osceola Coach Dylan Murphy said.
Monday, the Magic raced out to a big lead. Three minutes in it was 13-3 and every Magic player had scored, and Osceola pushed the lead to 30-8 six minutes later. While the Bulls went on a run to close the first quarter at 33-19, Jarrett Culver came off the bench and hit four three pointers in a span of two minutes to keep the lead in the double digits. Osceola took a 64-48 lead into halftime after shooting 57% from the floor and 55% (10-of-18) from three.
From there, it got uncomfortable for the home team as Windy City breezed to a 17-2 run to close the third quarter, making it 83-82 entering the final 12 minutes. And on the Bulls' first possession of the fourth quarter, Jordan Jackson went hard to the rim and got fouled, and after the and-one the Windy City held its first lead.
The lead reached seven with 10 minutes left after Windy City pushed the run to 27-4 over six minutes. But the Magic then scored the next 11 points on a 3 by Javonte Smart, two by McClung, and a pair of Colin Castleton putbacks. With six minutes left, it was tied at 101, and again at 108 with 3:26 left, setting up a furious finish.
E.J. Liddell hit a pair of buckets to put the Bulls up 115-112 with 1:44 left, but Osceola answered with a McClung layup, a defensive rebound and Alex Morales' feed to Colin Castleton for a 116-115 lead. Jahmir Young put the Bulls back ahead with a jumper, and when McClung missed a three and Eric Gaines was fouled at the other end with 7.8 seconds left, it looked dire. Young hit one free throw and the Magic got one last possession; they cashed in when McClung found Castleton under the rim for an easy lay in at the buzzer to send tilt to overtime and prompting the in-house DJ to play Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive".
With a Elam-ending target score of 125 in the overtime, Myron Gardner struck first but Jahmir Young, who led the Bulls with 26 points, answered with a three. Castleton and Emanuel Miller traded layups, and when the Magic couldn't convert a shot, Windy City inbounded the ball up 123-122 with the chance to win it with a bucket.
They'd never get a chance. The Magic defense forced a five-second violation and got the ball. Smart found McClung coming off a screen, dribbled twice and launched the winning shot from the top of the key to finished with a game-high 33 points.
"Super interesting rules, right?" Murphy said following the exasperating ending. "At that score, we've got to get a '3' here. We can't give them the ball back. So we drew a play for a '3' that they defended well. Mac got a clean look and let 'er rip. He lives for those moments."
On Sunday, it was a big third quarter (37-15) to blow past Windy City, 132-101. Myron Gardner led the way with 30 points and also pulled down 12 rebounds. Culver and Colin Castleton joined Gardner in recording a double-double. Castleton scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting and recorded 10 rebounds. Coming off the bench, Culver scored 28 points.
"We defended well on Sunday. (On Monday) we had that lapse and gave up 70 points in the second half. After you do that, it becomes a dog fight," Murphy said. " We have to make every play, and we made a bunch of plays. Credit to our guys for sticking with it and fighting overtime.
"With as packed as the standings are (1st through 9th are separated by 3.5 games, and only the top six make the playoffs), every one of these is huge. Positioning matters, the guys are checking the standings every day. So we're fighting tooth and nail."
The Magic jet off quickly to Cleveland for an 11 a.m. game Wednesday against the Charge, then return to the Spurs for a five-game home stand over eight days, starting Sunday (3 p.m.) and next Tuesday (7 p.m.) against the Greensboro Swarm, the No. 2 team in the east.
