The preseason ended with a lopsided score and a bit of a scare.
The news of the day was Victor Oladipo‘s injury from practice Wednesday and the announcement he would be out indefinitely after fracturing a bone in his face. Oladipo was on the sideline in street clothes cheering on his teammates as he prepared for surgery Saturday. No one knows when he will be back.
Channing Frye was still in his shooting shirt and not on the floor for the game. He said he is hopeful he will be ready to play for Tuesday’s opener.
Then there was Luke Ridnour trying to challenge Chandler Parsons on a 3-pointer and over rotating, fouling him and banging knees. Ridnour officially has a right quad contusion. The extent of his injury will not be known until after it is examined further this weekend.
It was not a Friday to give Magic fans much hope for the regular season. Despite a strong start to the game with both starting units out there (a 27-25 first quarter in Orlando’s favor), Dallas frustrated Orlando throughout the night into turnovers and bad shots. The Mavericks transition game was a bit too much as they went on for a 117-90 win at Amway Center on Friday.
| Score | Off. Rtg. | eFG% | O.Reb.% | TO% | FTR | |
| Dallas | 117 | 113.0 | 62.8 | 18.8 | 19.2 | 30.8 |
| Orlando | 92 | 88.8 | 50.0 | 26.8 | 22.7 | 18.3 |
At least now everyone is 0-0. In the end, this game, like the seven before did not count.
“I think we’re in a good spot,” Elfrid Payton said. “We’ve seen what we do well. We’ve seen where we have a few weaknesses. We do a good job on defense in stretches. We’ve got to string it together for a full game as much as we could and learn how to stop runs.
“Overall we have a good rhythm. We know what we do well. We know the things we’ve got to clean up. As long as you know yourself, I think you are in a good position.”
The Magic certainly got a taste of what they will have to work on throughout the early parts of the season and also some confidence in the way Jacque Vaughn wants the team to play (Vaughn admitted the coaching staff would give the team a little bit more opponent-specific preparation before a regular season game as opposed to the preseason).
Friday night, the Magic succumbed to several big runs from the Mavericks — a 14-0 run in the second quarter gave them the lead for good as the Magic struggled with turnovers against a 2-3 zone defense — and their own turnovers and sloppy play to fall behind. Dallas was quick to transition between defense and offense and the turnovers left the top of the key wide open.
For the game, Dallas forced 26 turnovers that turned into 35 points. The Mavericks had 17 fast break points. And they shot a strong 55.1 percent from the floor. It was clearly the Magic’s worst defensive performance from the preseason (statistically, at the very least).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBbF7Johk2c
Orlando still should maintain a defensive identity even with Victor Oladipo out, but the young players still have some learning to do to rotate back out to the perimeter and close under control. Chandler Parsons scored 24 points, Dirk Nowitzki had 16 on four 3-pointers and Jamer Nelson dished out seven assists for Dallas.
Vaughn said after the game Orlando needed to work on communicating and getting back in transition. And, of course, with the Mavericks making the majority of their shots, there were fewer opportunities for the Magic to get into transition.
Those are not overarching concerns. Much like the rest of the preseason, there were some expected struggles and things to clean up, but also plenty to hold onto and be excited about.
“Just our identity so far,” said Tobias Harris on what the Magic would take from the preseason games. “The pace that we want to play. How we want to play defensively. It wasn’t shown tonight in tonight’s game but I think that’s good that we have some things to work on in practice coming up. I think our focus will be a lot more tuned into what we need to work on.”
The principles and thought processes Vaughn and the Magic want were laid down. There were some truly good plays and sets that were run as the Magic worked well together as a group through stretches.
Evan Fournier came alive offensively with 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting. He was confident from beyond the arc, making his first two from deep three. He will obviously have a bigger role now with Oladipo out of the lineup.
Nikola Vucevic continued solid play with 10 points and 13 rebounds in 27 minutes of action. He was aggressive in the post and did a good job working for position and getting around his defender to score in the paint. Vucevic’s only blemish were his six turnovers, a few made on risky cross-court passes. Generally, the Magic seemed too eager to fit the ball into tight spaces offensively and that led to some trouble. Harris led the way with 14 points for the Magic.
Like with all preseason games, you take the good with the bad.
But now, things are going to count. The attention to detail needs to go up a little bit more and the focus has to increase. More will be at stake.
Vaughn said players usually cannot wait for the preseason to end. They want to tie up the laces and get playing for real too.
“We’ll just get everyone whole and healthy and go play,” Vaughn said.
Well, it is over now.