San Antonio Spurs vs. Orlando Magic Takeaways: Finding Magic on the Road

It was all San Antonio Spurs from the first tip to the final buzzer as the Black and Silver thoroughly annihilated the Orlando Magic by a score of 129-90.

San Antonio has struggled to find any semblance of consistency on the road this season, but they had no such troubles in Orlando on Wednesday night.

Bryn Forbes led the opening charge and caught fire for 13 quick points in the first quarter and the Spurs never looked back.

BRYN. FORBES.

13 PTS 5/5 FG pic.twitter.com/AZ3g2j7ik3

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) December 20, 2018

Everyone from the stars to the third stringers came out firing on all cylinders and the Spurs absolutely shot the lights out. San Antonio was remarkably efficient from the field and finished the game with a ridiculous 64.9% success rate on their field goal attempts.

LaMarcus Aldridge continued his recent hot streak as he led all scorers with 20 points in just over 26 minutes on the court. The six-time All-Star played physical basketball with Orlando’s young inexperienced bigs and drew foul after foul all night long.

Though fellow superstar DeMar DeRozan didn’t have a huge outing statistically, he played his part to perfection. The crafty two-guard ended his evening with a team-high 7 rebounds and 6 assists while picking his spots wisely for 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting.

DeMar putting the handles on display @DeMar_DeRozan | #GoSpursGo pic.twitter.com/Jxk68RuWId

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) December 20, 2018

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As for Rudy Gay and Derrick White, the duo chipped in a combined 23 points, 9 assists and a block apiece. Neither player was particularly potent against the unusually pathetic Magic defense, but they didn’t have to be.

The Spurs’ bench was locked and loaded once the starters exited the game. Marco Belinelli dropped 18 off the pine and had perhaps his best game of the season.

Davis Bertans and Patty Mills got in on the three-point party and provided some great relief for San Antonio’s starting five. Jakob Poeltl and Dante Cunningham played more of the same gritty basketball we’ve come to love from them and made life difficult for any Magic player who dared venture into the interior.

By holding Orlando to just 90 points, San Antonio has now successfully kept their opponents under 100 points for a league-best 6 straight games. Although stopping scorers has been a pitfall for this year’s rendition of the Spurs, it’s finally beginning to look like a switch has been flipped on that end of the floor.

It likely helped that Nikola Vucevic wasn’t available to suit up for the Magic, but better communication on screens and switches allowed San Antonio to suck the life out of Orlando’s offense. It also afforded them the chance to give their third unit a shot to shine.

Wily veteran Quincy Pondexter tallied 5 points, 2 rebounds, an assist, a block, and a steal. Meanwhile, eager rookie Drew Eubanks racked up 7 points, 5 boards and put his skills on display in his 9 minutes of action.

Jump hook ☑️@DrewEubanks12 | #GoSpursGo pic.twitter.com/XdHEzK3zsX

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) December 20, 2018

Overall, it was an impressive showing from the San Antonio Spurs. They moved the rock beautifully, shot the ball effectively and locked down defensively.

Next up on the schedule are the incredibly athletic and talented Timberwolves. Minnesota handed San Antonio an embarrassing loss last time these two teams met and they’ll be looking to do the same when they visit the AT&T Center on Friday night.

Luckily for the Spurs, Minnesota has been one of the worst road teams in the NBA. San Antonio typically takes care of business in the Alamo City, but if we’ve learned anything this season, it’s that no win is guaranteed.

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The Spurs will need to show up and show out if they want to send the T-Wolves packing home with a loss. San Antonio sits just outside of the playoff picture and this would be an excellent opportunity to get back into the mix.