Until the final desperate moments of the game, the Amway Center was lifeless. Horrifically lifeless.
The atmosphere reflected the way the team was playing. And the worst part? Everyone on the floor could feel it and knew it after the game.
How could they fix this? That was a bigger question than anyone could answer through 48 minutes against the Utah Jazz. Things came only in spurts — offense, defense, energy, ball movement, shots — and spurts were not going to get it done.
The Jazz ate up the Magic’s defense 101-94 at Amway Center on Friday. Orlando showed much of the same frustratingly lackadaisical and unfocused play that marred the team’s loss to Boston on Wednesday. It was a disturbing and perturbing pattern for a team that seemed to have a lot going as it came home from an early December West Coast trip.
| Score | Off. Rtg. | eFG% | O.Reb.% | TO% | FTR | |
| Utah | 101 | 109.1 | 56.2 | 21.9 | 16.1 | 32.9 |
| Orlando | 94 | 103.0 | 51.8 | 20.5 | 12.0 | 14.5 |
Derrick Favors (UTA) — 23 pts., 10 rebs.; Gordon Hayward (UTA) — 20 pts.
Tobias Harris (ORL) — 24 pts.; Elfrid Payton (ORL) — 11 pts., 11 assts.
That seems like long ago. Now, the Magic are left scratching their heads with this.
“It’s not just about defense, it’s about playing hard,” Evan Fournier said. “We started the game flat with no energy. I don’t know if it is we’re on the road so much or because the warmup is not good enough, we’re just not tough enough. Soemtimes that is what it comes down to. You’ve got to play harder to be in the game. You can’t be down 12 against Utah in the first quarter. That’s on us, all of us.”
There were moments that could certainly fall on the footsteps of just about every Magic player throughout the evening.
Even the night’s star Elfrid Payton (11 points, 11 assists for his first career double double) knew he made errors in the first half. The team was struggling to play together on the defensive end and cover for each other. The Jazz were able to exploit poor pick and roll defense and get the shots they wanted, making 53.4 percent of their shots and getting to the line 24 times.
“I just think we’re playing too soft right now and playing too comfortable.” –Tobias Harris
Orlando struggled to corral Gordon Hayward (20 points, 9-for-10 shooting from the foul line) and struggled to contain Derrick Favors around the basket (23 points, 10 rebounds).
It was a lifeless defensive performance. The Magic just continued to dig and dig themselves a hole they struggled to climb out of. Without that little jolt of energy the lead seemed to grow rather than shrink.
“We’ve got to be tougher mentally and we’ve got to be tougher physically out there,” Tobias Harris said. “I just think we’re playing too soft right now and playing too comfortable. Against a team with something to prove, that’s not the formula for winning.”
The run was just not there.
Not until the fourth quarter at least when Orlando went on a 17-8 run in the first half of the quarter to cut the lead down to six points, as close as the team would get the entire way. Payton charged that run with four points and three assists in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter. In one stretch he assisted on three straight baskets to bring the Magic to within six points for the first time.
Sir Charles In Charge
Payton helped the Magic get the ball moving after a largely stagnant game. There were fee good things happening offensively without Payton on the floor. His +5 in the second half was sign of his positive impact (he was even for the game).
Fournier said the way the Magic played in the fourth quarter is how the team has to play from the beginning. It would be hard to disagree. The crowd became engaged and the urgency and intensity grew. Orlando just could not get the shots to fall at the right moment. Or, more importantly, get the stops at the right moment. The Jazz were able to respond with a bucket from Gordon Hayward off a screen or a pick and roll that found Derrick Favors.
The run came a little too late. The time pressure became a little too much.
“I think you saw an activity level in the fourth quarter where we were extremely active,” Jacque Vaughn said. “That’s how we have to learn how to play from beginning to end. It’s a full game. You have to have a full game’s worth of focus and concentration and knowing your assignment and energy. It’s all part of it. We’re still learning that.”
The Magic will have to figure out where and how to learn that lesson as they get some time to practice and work on things in their home gym rather than out of a suitcase in a strange gym and on the road.
The games come quickly though. Even teams like the Jazz will be able to pour it on the Magic if they play with a lackadaisical effort. The Sixers come to town Sunday and Fournier put it best. If the Magic do not play hard “they will kick our ass at home. This cannot happen.”
Certainly, the Magic’s string of inattentive or lacking defense has to end if they want to get back on the winning track.