The Orlando Magic lost their sixth game in seven tries as the Philadelphia 76ers, of all teams, outhustled and outran the Magic on their home floor.
What is there to say about this really?
It was sad, cruel, vile, and confusing. Orlando’s loss to Philadelphia very well may have been the team’s most embarrassing loss of the post-Dwight Howard era.
Watching the past three games you could tell something just was not right with this team and the Magic needed some kind of change. Coach Jacque Vaughn apparently agreed with that assessment and changed the starting lineup. In were Elfrid Payton and Kyle O’Quinn, out were Evan Fournier and Channing Frye.
Vaughn said he was hoping to find a balance with his starting unit and his bench unit with these lineups. Unfortunately these changes did not fix the problem the Magic have faced the past few games.
Plain and simply put, the Magic just are not giving it their all. Whether that be on the glass, defending the pick and roll or helping the helper, the Magic just are not playing hard enough or playing precisely enough to execute and finish. Every loose ball goes the other way, every guy that gets beat off the dribble gets no help from anybody, and offensively a lot of guys seem like they are standing around ball watching.
I do not know who to blame here but there is way too much of it to put all on one person.
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The first quarter was interesting with all eyes on the new Magic starting lineup. Kyle O’Quinn and Elfrid Payton did a solid job of helping the Magic defense get out to a better start than they had recently, holding the 76ers to only 23 points in the first quarter.
The issue for the Magic once again was their offense. The Magic had no cohesion offensively. There were multiple reasons for their offensive failures including playing Elfrid Payton off the ball which is effectively playing four on five and the lack of off-ball movement.
To put it plain and simply, Orlando’s offense was ugly and they only scored 20 points in the first quarter.
We now flip to the turning point in the game which began in the third quarter.
The Magic had just gone on an 11-5 run out of halftime and owned an 11-point lead. It seemed as though Orlando was about to run away with this game just as Magic fans had expected them too.
However that did not happen.
During that timeout it appeared as though all of Orlando’s energy was sapped right out of them. The 76ers responded with a 22-7 run behind a combination of great energy and brutal offensive play by the Magic.
The Magic entered the fourth only down four but they were never able to build up any kind of run. The 76ers actually extended their lead to up to 14 points at one point.
Toward the end of the game the Magic finally started making shots and went on a mini run but they just could not put together enough stops to truly threaten the 76ers.
The center of Orlando’s problems defensively stemmed from the inability to stop the pick and roll. The Magic could not contain the roll man, the ball handlers or even the 76ers’ “shooters”. They took nothing away and got no stops for their troubles. Michael Carter-Williams led the Sixers with 21 points on 12 shots while Victor Oladipo led the Magic with 23 on 16 shots.
Game Notes:
- Nikola Vucevic looks absolutely lost defensively. At one point in this game Vucevic actually screened his own man defending the pick and roll.
- Jacque Vaughn was trying everything and anything tonight to try and make this team work. He could not.
- Channing Frye only played 18 minute tonight, this surely will not end well.
- The Magic need to stop leaking out on fast breaks. They are terrible at running the fast break and they are a poor rebounding team as of late.
- I just do not understand playing Elfrid Payton off the ball. You watch what the defense does when he is off the ball. It is four on five.
Rookie Report:
Elfrid Payton: Payton was back in the starting lineup for the first time in nearly a month but he did not play all that well. Payton was not effective scoring the basketball as the 76ers clogged up the paint, specifically super defender Nerlens Noel. Payton was able to create some nice looks for his teammates but I am not sure that he was more of a plus than a minus tonight. Tony Wroten did not do much damage to him but Payton clearly still does not completely understand how to help his teammates out when guys drive to the basket. These problems are typical for rookies but I would not be shocked if it cuts into his playing time soon with Jacque Vaughn getting desperate for defensive stops.