Orlando Magic offense naturally runs smoother with spacing at center

Without Nikola Vucevic available, Jason Smith stepped right into his role within the offense and shined bright in the Orlando Magic’s 116-110 win over the Denver Nuggets.

The Orlando Magic shot 54 percent, but a lot of that effect has to be looked at from its source: good screens being set and crisp ball movement. Jason Smith had one of the best games of his NBA career and did the majority of it in the pick and roll setting.

Smith also showed the Magic offense can produce clean great looks for the 5-man, whether it be he or Nikola Vucevic filling the role.

“He was making his pick and pop shot tonight,” coach Scott Skiles said. “And we were doing a good job finding him. Any time we just kept it simple, came off and flipped it back to him, he was pretty much open all night. He can get in a rhythm like that and knock them down.”

Smith knocked down 10 of 15 from the field while hitting another five of six from the line, scoring a season-high 25 points and grabbing 13 rebounds (four offensive).

He frequently freed up the guards to get good looks at triples, and though the Magic knocked down just 8 of 25 from 3-point range, Smith got the guards ample spacing to get good looks from behind the arc.

Despite some shortcomings, Smith was the best big man on the court on Tuesday night, outplaying young Nikola Jokic and Darrell Arthur, and he did not do it alone. Dewayne Dedmon made a huge impact on the game despite not scoring a single point and finishing with just two boards and a block.

Dedmon contested a number of shots, forced tough looks and had about as disparate a performance as imaginable given his light statistical impact. He and Smith complemented one another brilliantly, even if Smith was the only one to majorly impact the stat sheet.

The Magic can do that: defend on a high level and get good shots.

It is developing consistency that has to come.

“Moving the ball, finding the weakness in their defense,” Jason Smith said. “Evan, Aaron, myself, there is lots of people who can go out and make shots for us. As long as we continue to move the ball and make the defense work, it’s going to make good things happen for us.”

Smith is one of the more consistent performers as a 30-year old veteran, and even he took his game to another level when the Magic decided to consistently run the high pick and roll. It is certainly Orlando’s bread-and-butter play with Vucevic available, and that is part of what made it work so well with Smith. It was the continuity of simply filling Vucevic’s role within the offense.

But a lot of things work better with Smith and Dedmon on the court. The baseline and weak-side rotations are smoother and quicker on defense, and the Magic are forcing tougher looks at the rim for the most part. Will Barton was limited to 15 points and Emmanuel Mudiay was just 5 of 12. The Nuggets have slashers that could have exploited the Magic, but it really never did happen.

Though Denver shot 50 percent from the field, the major weapons on the roster never had the chance to really get cooking. Gary Harris is capable of big nights, too.

So, things work with Smith. The takeaway here that has to be highlighted is that things can work patently beautiful with Vucevic too.

The Magic guards have a good handle on how to get the most out of the high pick and roll, and both Smith and Vucevic are among the league’s best at the long two, or mid-range game.

“Obviously his mid-range jumper is phenomenal,” Aaron Gordon said of his teammate Smith. “He has one of the best mid-range jumpers in the league. I remember it in New York from last year. He showed heart and showed hustle. Everything that we need on this team.”

This has to be about highlighting the offense through what has been proven to work, and the Magic found a way to do it which is why the team secured its 29th victory of the season.

It was a game showcasing the adaptability of veteran role players and the continued importance of knocking down good shots that come within the flow of an offense. The lessons should not be forgotten.

Next: Orlando Magic get their response against Denver Nuggets

Philip Rossman-Reich contributed to this report.