The Magic are starting their longest road trip of the season. They have been on the road for almost the entire first month of the seaosn. So living out of suitcase is no longer an excuse.
The Magic are still getting guys back from injury, but they have an offense that, when run at its best, is supposed to be able to mix and match guys, using their basketball IQs and experience to fill in the gaps.
Stop me if you are tired of hearing these excuses. The Magic have said they are tired of using those excuses too. They are not going to use them. There is an expectation that things are going to turn a corner.
Entering this first West Coast road trip, the Magic needed to have a good idea of who they were. Maybe the injuries actually put them behind. Then again, the concepts should be down pat by now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Weq1jvU2ecA
One game is not going to be a reason for panic. But ever since that Detroit game, the team’s offense has struggled to put things together. The inconsistency has been somewhat maddening. Frustration has even begun to seep in somewhat into Jacque Vaughn‘s press conferences. We saw it in Evan Fournier’s postgame comments to his teammates after Wednesday’s game.
This is a team still looking for an identity in so many ways.
Frank Vogel and his Pacers showed the Magic what that final product might look like at the end of the day. The Pacers welcomed back David West and C.J. Watson and they fit in to the Pacers puzzle like they were never missed. In fact, Indiana probably could have played without those two and still won the game.
That is a team that understands exactly what it wants to do and can execute it.
The Magic kept things close as the Pacers were clearly not the same talented team as they were last year. But eventually their experience and trust won out. Indiana ran away for a 98-83 win at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Friday night.
| Score | Off. Rtg. | eFG% | O.Reb.% | TO% | FTR | |
| Orlando | 83 | 89.2 | 49.3 | 5.3 | 18.9 | 22.9 |
| Indiana | 98 | 103.0 | 45.7 | 36.2 | 10.7 | 14.9 |
The Pacers moved the ball extremely well and rotated efficiently on defense. The Magic were rushing shots around the rim and in the paint and struggled to get any efficient flow on offense.
The Magic shot 44.3 percent from the floor and committed 18 turnovers for 20 Pacers points. Indiana is not necessarily even great at forcing turnovers. Orlando had only 28 points in the paint too. It was difficult to find a rhythm. The Magic kept things close in the first half with five 3-pointers.
Eventually that outlet stopped for the Magic. Indiana suffocated Orlando in the third quarter for a 25-14 advantage.
The Magic, again, did not have the defense as a backstop. The Pacers had great ball movement in the third quarter and broke down the Magic’s defense. When they missed, they were able to outwork the Magic to 17 offensive rebounds and 18 second-chance points. So even though Orlando held Indiana to long-twos for much of the game and 43.6 percent shooting, it was an uphill climb.
So there were positives. But everything just seemed off all night long for the Magic.
Nikola Vucevic had 16 points on 7-for-15 shooting. He was fading away or rushing some of his shots. He had only seven rebounds as David West, Ian Mahimni and especially Luis Scola outpositioned a Magic defense often knocked out by dribble penetration or quick passing.
Victor Oladipo and Tobias Harris each had 14 points. They had quick salvos where they scored, but largely failed to get into a consistent rhythm. Evan Fournier continues to be in his down stretch shooting 2 for 10.
Orlando just failed to get that last little bit and faced an uphill battle all game long.
The Pacers were comfortable with who they were and played that way. They ran their sets and their offense as if they had Paul George, Roy Hibbert and George Hill. Of course, maybe the results were not as good without the talent they provide, but the execution was good enough to top the Magic.
Orlando will get there. That has to be the hope, at least. The West Coast trip is going to reveal who this team is and what it needs to work on for the rest of the year. The Magic are still very much figuring things out.
The excuses just will not work anymore. An identity needs to form.