Coaching, Perimeter Defense Among 7 Reasons for Magic loss to Detroit

1) Orlando must improve defense on perimeter—vastly so.

The point guard position is the head of the snake, and none of the Magic guards fared well on Brandon Jennings. Jennings became only the fifth player since 1985-86 to have both a 50-point game and a 20-assist game in a career (Deron Williams, Andre Miller, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Stephon Marbury are the other four).

2) Brandon Jennings created shots for himself and for teammates.

As good as Elfrid Payton is defensively, he did not bother Jennings nor prevent him from getting to the paint. While Payton sometimes did the exact same thing on the other end…

3) BUT, the Magic’s off-ball movement was lacking the entire night.

The Magic seemed to lack direction and the offense was very isolation-based. Victor Oladipo and Tobias Harris both were able to score, but little of it came on assisted baskets. Harris got going toward the end of the third and beginning of the fourth, scoring eight straight Magic points after having shot 0 of 5 in the first half.

The Magic had just 29 assists on the 48 made field goals. Outside of Payton (eight assists), only Victor Oladipo involved teammates and got them easy scores. Oladipo had five assists.

So, it is not really a matter of one player making things happen. It is going to take off ball movement and learning how to play off Vucevic double and triple teams.

Next: Tobias Harris and the second unit