Orlando Magic’s fragile nature baffles and frustrates
The Orlando Magic dug themselves a deep hole again. There is little answer and little explanation for why. This team needs to find one quick.
At halftime of the Orlando Magic’s 98-90 loss to the Charlotte Hornets at Amway Center on Saturday, the team went into the locker room having just given up a 22-0 run in the final seven-plus minutes of the second quarter. Boos could be heard loudly and audibly, not just the stray “Fire Jacque” shouts or small pockets easily ignored, as the Magic went into the locker room.
Jacque Vaughn asked the simple question to his team: Who wanted to play? Who would give the effort needed to earn a spot on the floor and turn this thing around?
For a few brief minutes, the Magic looked like they had answered that bell. They started the second half on a 10-0 run, making up nearly half the deficit in four minutes of game time. The ball moved quickly and the team was energetic and aggressive on defense. There was no more sleep walking or lazing through the game. They let their defense set up their offense and seemed raring to get back into the game.
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Then Charlotte responded with its punch. And, like in the first half, Orlando returned to isolation basketball and the frustrating play that dropped the team into a deficit.
And so the inconsistency and frustration of a team letting the situation and the missed shots dictate how the Magic would play continued. And it continued to result in disheartening home defeats that seem to defy conventional explanation.
Only leaving more questions about the Magic and their direction.
“I have to find a group that is mentally tough enough to find some adversity in their life and be able to fight through it,” Jacque Vaughn said. “We will continue to challenge our guys and, believe me, I will find a group of men who want to compete and play with pride every single night.”
That is the answer from a coach that is searching for answers and searching for a way to get the team to implement whatever message he is trying to get through during the hard times. But it ultimately rests on the players to execute and find a way.
And so it was Vaughn’s next comment that may provide the most distress and the most concern for the Magic.
“I think overall it’s the fragility of the group. The fact that we miss layups early in the game and that impacted the other end of the floor for us. And when possessions continue to add up, we haven’t grown to where we are mentally tough enough to get through.”
That about encapsulates the Magic right now. They are a team that appear mentally fragile, letting mistakes build and build and build and trying to force their way through them time and time again to little success. It is a team that feels more and more like a collection of individuals rather than a team in these moments.
If anything is preventing the Magic from getting over that hump and making their statement in this watered-down Eastern Conference, it is this mental aspect.
“We don’t stay together. I don’t know the reason why.” –Nikola Vucevic
For whatever reason, the Magic right now cannot pull themselves out of this funk and do what they have to do to succeed.
“I think they make a run and we kind of fall apart,” Nikola Vucevic said. “We don’t stay together. I don’t know the reason why. It has been an issue for us. We have to take care of it. We have to stick to what we do and believe in what we do and fight through those runs. For some reason, we have a huge letdown.”
The Magic were getting plenty of looks at the rim. The team took 52 shots in the paint during Saturday’s game and scored 50 of its 90 points in the paint. Yet, the Magic shot 25 of 52 in the paint and made just 37.9 percent of their field goals overall, including 4 for 19 from beyond the arc.
Shots were not falling the ball got stuck as a result. Players tried to force offense rather than working together for the best shot. Then again, there is only so much you can do when you get looks in the paint and have layups only to blow them.
The Magic had just three secondary assists and made on only 33.3 percent of uncontested field goals in the game, according to NBA.com.
It is easy to see that the Magic let themselves take the easy way out by taking contested 20-foot jumpers and let themselves not live with making or missing shots in the paint and around the rim. Vaughn said sometimes you have to live with missing those shots, but you have to duck your head in and get them still.
Orlando has had trouble getting through these tough stretches in games and nothing was tougher than the last half of the second quarter. Orlando scored only nine points in the quarter and went without a field goal for the majority of it. There was no recovery from it, it would appear.
Not Saturday night.
And the continued frustration of the repeated mistakes and the same problems continues to make things worse and frustrate even more. That frustration is visible to those watching and is even something the team recognizes exists within themselves.
Somehow, Orlando has to pull through this and find a way to the other side. It will probably take more than watching film and seeing it. The team has to find a way.
“We didn’t put up a good effort and it showed. I think it’s unacceptable for us to play with such bad effort in front of our home crowd for two nights in a row. We’ve just got to do a better job. We have to have more pride in us, show up with a better fight. Everybody in this locker room.”
That answer will not satisfy anybody. Nor should it. The team just has to do it.