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Magic Playing a Beautiful Brand of Basketball Lately

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

ATLANTA – The Orlando Magic were able to overcome a 19-point deficit on Monday in Brooklyn largely because of their second-half ball movement.

On Wednesday, they were able to pull away from the Atlanta Hawks for the same exact reason.

Two plays, which just so happened to occur on back-to-back possessions in the third quarter, highlight this very notion. Both plays were so good that they deserve some added attention.

The first one is just beautiful to watch. Six consecutive passes were made without a single dribble, an extreme rarity in the NBA. Nikola Vucevic finished the play with a teardrop. But it was everything that led up to the shot that mattered most. By making three to four extra passes, the Magic prevented the Hawks from getting their defense set.

The second one, although there were far fewer passes involved, emanated that same kind of unselfishness. Markelle Fultz pushed the ball up the floor and found Terrence Ross, who could have chosen to launch a semi-contested 3-pointer. Instead, he swung it to the corner, where Aaron Gordon buried one of his three triples.

The Magic finished with 30 assists, the fifth time this season they dished out at least that many. Fultz had eight of them, Gordon six, Evan Fournier five and three players, including Ross, had three.

The excellent ball movement was a big reason why Orlando was able to go 14-of-32 from 3-point range.

Over their last five games, the Magic are averaging 29.0 assists per game, second best in the league during this span behind the New Orleans Pelicans.

If the Magic share the ball the way they did on this road trip the rest of the season, there is a strong chance they will finish the year similar to how they finished last season.