Orlando Magic lack physicality, will to win in L.A.
The Orlando Magic got beat up on the boards and watched as the Los Angeles Lakers beat them physically and send the Magic into a spiral.
Jacque Vaughn is not one for big statements, wild gesticulations or quick hooks. Patience has been his virtue, sometimes to maddening effect for the team’s fans. Whatever, that is his personality.
So it was a large (albeit quiet) statement Vaughn made in the second quarter.
The Magic, including team’s star rebounder Nikola Vucevic, stood and watched as Robert Sacre corralled a missed Nick Young 3-point attempt, dish it back out to Jeremy Lin. Lin missed, but Sacre grabbed another offensive rebound. Back to the 3-point line to Young and another miss. But Carlos Boozer was there to rebound and finally (mercifully) score for the Lakers.
Vaughn called timeout and benched all five players. That was as big a statement as any.
There is nothing that is supposed to call attention to a lack of effort than seeing a complete line change in a NBA game.
The move did not change much, perhaps saying something about where Jacque Vaughn is as a coach right now and where this season is quickly heading. Push that aside for the moment.
There are big problems with this team. And it was clear to see in that disastrous possession. The Magic were caught flat footed, standing around and watching. They were not engaging, not dictating, not doing anything but watching.
No team can win like that. Especially one that has such a small margin for error and has so much growth to do. This is not a team that can just roll out of bed and win, they have to work at it every day. Things are not coming easy for this team. They are not digging down to find an answer.
But you would think they would be able to dig deep enough to prevent a performance like this.
In the Lakers’ 101-84 win over the Magic, the Lakers grabbed 18 offensive rebounds, outrebounding the Magic 60-36. Orlando’s foray on the glass of late has been downright awful. The Magic have not outrebounded an opponent since the Dec. 12 game in Atlanta.
You do not have to be a great rebounding team or outrebound a team every game. The problems with the Magic go deeper than just those numbers. This number just seems to be emblematic of the Magic’s deeper problem.
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Perhaps Orlando cannot win these games or dominate any game at this point because the Magic cannot impose its will on other teams with pure physicality; there has been none.
Against the Lakers, the Magic got pushed around. They let the Lakers dictate tempo and dictate the team’s mood. They dominated physically and that led the Magic to rush and hurry shots in the paint.
And even though the Magic ended up with a 38-36 advantage in points in the paint, settling on jumpers became the norm in a chaotically run offense.
Orlando has sought to push the tempo. The team said that all year and continues to say it (Luke Ridnour said it again at halftime that the team needed to push the tempo). Certainly doing that will negate any physical advantages the Magic might be giving up.
But at some point, a team has to toughen up and take the punches from the other team.
Orlando fell behind early, letting the frustration of missed shots at the rim affect the team’s defense. The Magic were throwing their hands up as the Lakers raced to the other end of the court. And even though Los Angeles was not shooting a ton better than Orlando, L.A. was getting the better of Orlando by making tough shots and swallowed up the missed ones with offensive rebounds. The second chance points destroyed any potential comeback the Magic tried to mount.
Was it effort? Was it desire? Was it an attention to detail? Was it frustration?
There are a lot of factors that go into this. It is not completely any one single factor, in reality.
Nikola Vucevic is not the most physically intimidating or imposing player on the floor. He sometimes tends to shy away from contact; he struggles to fight for position on the low block. Increasing his toughness and ability to tangle with opposing centers is the next step in his evolution as a true ‘franchise’ type of talent.
The rest of the team has to help make up for that in the interim. Tonight, they certainly could not do so. It’s impossible while the Magic are standing by passively, watching as the other team goes out and takes yet another rebound. Or takes the game.