San Antonio at Orlando, Final Score: Spurs dominate Magic, 129-90

The Spurs take The Redemption Tour on the road.

Another night, another blowout win over a team that wronged the San Antonio Spurs at some point this season. This time it the Orlando Magic, who started the Spurs’ downward spiral with a win back in San Antonio on November 4 following their 6-2 start. The Good Guys were having none of that tonight, as they pretty much had things in hand by the second quarter and cruised from there thanks to some red-hot shooting and more solid defense.

Overall the Spurs shot 64.9%, including 12-19 from three, for a 129-90 win. Five Spurs scored in double-figures, led by 20 from LaMarcus Aldridge and a season-high 18 from Marco Belinelli.

Random Observations

• Obligatory Rudy Gay dunk observation: opponents have yet to get the scouting report on his sorta new-found drive-and-dunk ability. Perhaps they underestimate his healed Achilles, but early in the first quarter he once again drove from the three point line as the defense switched and dunked right over an unsuspecting Mo Bamba. (In fairness, Bamba fouled him to prevent another slam in the second half, so he learned something.)

• Bryn Forbes had himself a nice first quarter with 13 points on 5-5 shooting, including an impressive floater over Bamba’s 7’9” wingspan and the 6’10” Jonathan Isaac. The Spurs led 31-24 at the end of the first.
• Belinelli was having one of those nights where he was hitting everything no matter how awkward, out of rhythm, or contested it was. He, Forbes and Davis Bertans combined to hit their first eight three-pointers on the night and 10-13 overall.
• Spurs had a season-high 21 fast-break points before the first half was even over. They led by 22 at halftime, 66-44, also a season high. They finished the game with 26 points overall on the break.
• The Magic got as close as 17 early in the third, but having learned from the Bulls disaster, the Spurs responded with an 11-2 run to remove any hope of another comeback, and that was that.
• DeMar DeRozan put ya boy Jonathon Simmons on skates with this move:

• It’s nice when a big shooting night from perpetual thorn-in-the-Spurs-side D.J. Augustin isn’t even a blip on the the radar. He had 17 points on 6-10 shooting (3-5 from three).
• Drew Eubanks has a nice Tiago Splitter-esque jump hook. It’s also odd how well he and Jakob Poeltl seem to function together on the court despite being similar players regardless of the level of competition by the time they’re out there together.
• With a little help later tonight — specifically a Trail Blazers win over the Grizzlies and Thunder defeat of the Kings — the Spurs could be back in the playoff rankings by tomorrow. That seemed improbable just a couple of weeks ago, but it shows you how much the deep West is beating up on each other.
• Question of the night: Would the Spurs have more wins if DeRozan got the same superstar calls as James Harden? (Asking for a friend…)

For the Magic fan’s perspective, visit Orlando Pinstriped Post.

The Spurs return to the AT&T Center on Friday to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves on the first night of a back-to-back. Tip-off will be at 7:30 PM CT on CW35.

Source: Pounding The Rock