Magic still searching for complete effort as Raptors win

In the first game, it was offensive rebounding and points in the paint that did the Magic in. In the second game, it was turnovers.

What would the Magic be trying to squelch in the third game of the season?

Young teams are still learning, they are going to have bumps in the road. That is no longer an excuse the Magic want to lose. And so the locker room for the Magic was a frustrated one as the team let another game go because of one grave error, much like they had the other two games so far this season.

This time, the culprit was fouling and free throws. The Raptors had 48 of them, making 38 on the night. The Magic could not get out of their own way with 37 personal fouls. The only good thing coming out of the fouls was, maybe, Maurice Harkless getting his first game action of the season because Aaron Gordon picked up three fouls in 1:34 in the second quarter. That is stretching the search for positives pretty thin.

Here the Magic had a winnable game thanks to stingy defense, but no ability to finish possessions off with a rebound. It was the little things again that kept the Magic from the first win and gave the Raptors a 108-95 victory at Amway Center on Saturday night, sending the Magic to 0-3 on the young season.

And, being not satisfied with these kind of performances anymore — no more morale victories — there was real frustration in the Magic locker room.

“It is just frustrating that we can’t really get together for 48 minutes to win,” Nikola Vucevic said. “It just feels like, I can’t really say that we’re playing bad, we just don’t do it for the whole game. We have bad stretches and that’s what is really hurting us. That’s the annoying part because I know if we did it for 48 minutes and we stuck together and be aggressive, we probably would have come out with a couple wins in these three games.”

The Magic again held a team to a poor shooting percentage. The Raptors shot 39.8 percent from the floor for the game and struggled to move the ball with 13 assists on 33 makes. Elfrid Payton nearly recorded more assists than the Raptors as a team with nine on the game.

Orlando did a good job offensively for most of the game too. There were moments when the ball would get stuck, but the team largely moved the ball well and competed on the offensive end. Already this season, it looks like the Magic offense could have some more teeth and firepower than originally expected.

Evan Fournier followed up his great home opener with another stellar 18-point performance. Nikola Vucevic had 15 points and 12 rebounds. Elfrid Payton added 12 points to go with his nine assists, really showing great command of the offense and managing the team well.

The Magic shot 46.9 percent from the floor and made seven 3-pointers.

Notably though, Channing Frye and Tobias Harris struggled to put the ball in the basket for most of the game. Harris finished 4 for 15 for the game. And the Magic left points on the scoreboard with 12 misses in 24 attempts from the foul line.

In a game where their one big mistake was leading to more points, this was a huge deficit to overcome.

“It’s real frustrating,” Tobias Harris said. “We come in here, we’re playing pretty good defense. We just don’t seem to be able to close it out. I think we have to execute a little better. We’ve got to step it up offensively. I know myself, I’ve been in a lot of situations to make shots I know I can make that haven’t fallen for me yet. It’s something we’ve got to keep working on and I know we’ll get better at.”

Still, Orlando never let Toronto get too far out of reach. This was a close game for the most part, the lead stretching into double digits at the end as the Magic could not get out of their own way with fouls occurring at all points in the game.

Orlando actually had a lead in the third quarter when the fouling really started to take place. In the third quarter, the Magic committed 15 fouls and gave up 19 free throw attempts. That is usually enough for an entire game.

Throw in DeMar DeRozan scoring 13 of his 26 points in the third quarter, abusing Fournier with post ups for much of it, and that was a recipe for a disastrous quarter. Toronto won the period 38-26. No matter how good the offense played, it did not matter much with the defense struggling so much just to keep Toronto off the line.

“I just think we need to continue to focus on a team on playing without fouling but also have the balance of playing aggressive,” Jacque Vaughn said. “In this league, usually the aggressor gets what they want, whether that is in the post or whether that is the style of play. I think overall, we’ll continue to find a balance. But our guys did a lot of good defending tonight also.”

There was that positive to find. Channing Frye noted it too. The Magic have had a different issue spring up in each game. It is not something systemic or typical. It is a young team trying to find its way and find consistency.

Not an easy thing to find, but one the Magic have to find.

No one wants to use youth as an excuse anymore. The problem that led the Magic to a loss Saturday night is more one of discipline than youth. One of experience of knowing how to fight through a game where the whistles are not going your way and fighting through some bad breaks.

Frustration is the correct response after a game like this. It just does not change the result or get it back. And the Magic are still searching for their first win.