Orlando Magic become themselves in routing Utah Jazz

The Orlando Magic led wire to wire in routing the Utah Jazz 102-93, embodying the traits Scott Skiles wants to see from his team.

Scott Skiles talked to one of his team leaders to try to get the team back on the right foot.

The Orlando Magic in the last three games had some slippage defensively, Skiles sensed. He was not thrilled with his team’s defensive effort and attention to detail. He was certainly not thrilled with the team’s lack of ball movement.

He spoke to Tobias Harris, one of the team’s captains, on how the Magic could fix some of these problems and return to the way the Magic had played through the preseason and early in the season when it seemed like the team was moving in the right direction.

The message was received and, more importantly, implemented. The Magic found themselves again in routing the Utah Jazz 102-93 at Amway Center on Friday.

Gordon Hawyard (UTA) — 16 pts.; Trey Burke (UTA) — 16 pts.

Evan Fournier (ORL) — 21 pts.; Tobias Harris (ORL) — 19 pts., 13 rebs.

“We looked much more like ourselves,” Skiles said. “The ball was moving around, we were finding open people, we were getting the stops, getting out in transition, we converted well early on. They’ve got those young wing-type players who are constantly moving out there. You’ve got to be really sharp and, for the most part, we were.”

Orlando led wire to wire and took as much as a 23-point lead, building an 18-point lead after the first quarter. The ball indeed zipped around the perimeter quickly and crisply. The Magic rarely missed a beat and cut off the Jazz whenever they tried to attack.

After a few games where Skiles said the Magic would attack too much and fail to dish the ball out in time, the Magic sometimes passed up open opportunities. Skiles said he would rather see that than what he saw the last three games.

The opening 12 minutes for the Magic indeed set a tone. Orlando shot 57.9 percent from the floor, got to the line for seven free throws, making all seven attempts and hit four of six 3-pointers. The Magic took an 18-point lead out of the quarter, holding the Jazz to just 40 percent shooting and taking it to them in the paint and at the basket.

The Jazz were struggling to keep up with the Magic’s quick passing and quick attacks off the dribble. There was very little slowing down the player movement and ball movement from Orlando.

This was how the Magic were meant to run their offense.

“It was important,” Vucevic said. “I think that was our best start of the year. We really took the game to them. It was really our defense that we played really good. Offensively we were moving the ball. That’s why we were able to build a big lead.”

And with the big lead, the Magic just had to maintain it and prevent the slip ups that occurred earlier this season.

Orlando maintained it for the most part, making big runs at moments they had to in order to keep Utah from making that push NBA teams inevitably make. The Jazz mucked the game up in the second quarter, forcing nine turnovers in the quarter. Orlando shot 5 for 17 in the second quarter, but still held a double digit lead.

The Magic were better at getting to the line with 31 free throw attempts, certainly taking away from the team’s 32 field goal attempts in the paint. Orlando was the aggressor from the beginning and found ways to scrap out possessions, dig the ball out and get stops.

Evan Fournier, who asked the media after the game not to discuss Friday’s unfortunate and horrific attacks in his home city of Paris, scored a game-high 21 points. After the game, Fournier tweeted this statement:

Tobias Harris had 19 points and 13 rebounds, charging the Magic through the third quarter when they built their lead back out to 17 points and put a firmer vice grip on the game. Nikola Vucevic added 16 points as did Elfrid Payton, who hit 8 of 10 from the foul line.

The Magic though relied heavily on their defense to dig this game out. They held the Jazz to 39.1 percent shooting and forced 17 turnovers for 20 points.

“One thing that me and coach and what we talked about as a team was moving the basketball side to side and really get into the lane and try to make plays for other guys,” Harris said. “It really helped tonight. As you see, the ball movement was great and that’s something we have to be consistent with. I’m definitely very happy with how we played tonight.”

It was in many ways one of the best games the Magic have played so far this season. Certainly one of the sharpest.

The defense was strong throughout — even with Channing Frye and Nikola Vucevic playing together. Aaron Gordon blocked a career-high four shots. Vucevic got one block but was very good getting to his spots early and challenging and changing shots at the rim (the Jazz shot 21 of 49 at the rim).

Overall Orlando was sharp. But the team has to find a way to duplicate it. And in short order.

That has been the trick for the entire season.

“That’s exactly what we have to do,” Skiles said. “When you are at this level, you like to come in the morning or go home at night and know that there are things absolutely you can count on. Each guy needs to have things in his category that we know. It has nothing to do with did you make or miss shots each night. Are you really reliable with your effort, your focus, your concentration, your professionalism? It’s a good question and in 22 hours or so, we’ll find out.”