The Orlando Magic got a defensive spark from Dewayne Dedmon and a sudden defensive resurgence led to a second victory in four games.
The Orlando Magic will head into the All-Star Break with a win after a 89-83 win over the New York Knicks on Wednesday at Amway Center. in many ways, that is about the only positive thing to take away from a game that was as ugly as the score and the teams’ combined record would indicate.
The Magic and Knicks exchanged blows of embarrassing moments — the Knicks had a few dribbles and passes bounce oddly off them and out of bounds and the Magic offense looked to be as anemic and stagnant as it had before the game.
Once both teams stopped making shots at an incredible rate — I mean, Jason Smith shot 9 for 12 in the first half on his way to 25 points for the game — the game slowed to a crawl that you would expect between two teams at the bottom of the standings.
This game became the kind of grind the Magic have struggled to win.
But this time, they had a secret weapon to turn the tide. A defensive monster who was changing things at the rim and making the Knicks offense even more unwatchable.
Dewayne Dedmon is finally your answer. He blocked six shots in the game and four in the first half. His presence and energy changed the game and the Magic began to respond in a major way. Offense turned to defense quickly, confidence grew.
And the Magic survived a 75-75 tie by going on an 8-0 run and finishing on a 14-8 kick. They led by as many as 10 points in the final minute, comfortably putting the game away for a change.
It came on the defensive end as the Magic embraced some grit, found some energy, made the plays and made the shots to win.
“Not only are you getting another opportunity on the offensive end, Dedmon said. “The engine rolls over. We just got a stop, so let’s make a good play. It definitely rolls over.”
Interim coach James Borrego has preached defense since taking over. His offense might get a slight pass for now — Elfrid Payton said they are running virtually the same things with a few new wrinkles added in through the team’s limited practice time since last Thursday’s firing — as he was charged with changing the defense.
This young team has struggled in the past when shots do not fall. So even though it is the Knicks, it was encouraging to see the Magic still come through with the plays and rely on their defense to secure a win. That has not always been the case this year. These were usually the games the Magic crumbled.
So something has changed. And changed for the better.
“I think we’re just playing with more aggressiveness defensively,” said Nikola Vucevic, who scored 28 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. “Everybody puts an emphasis on it and accepts the fact that we have to defend for us to win games. Tonight it showed that we weren’t able to score, we couldn’t get much going offensively and we were able to stop them and that’s what got us the win. That’s what we have to do moving forward. We have to defend.”
Since Borrego took over, the Magic have a 96.8 defensive rating, the sixth best defense in the league in that stretch. It is obviously a small sample size, but the change is helping. Baby steps are apparent.
Vucevic struggled early on guarding Smith but the Magic’s defense greatly improved. Rotations were strong and decisive and the Magic did a good job turning away players at the rim and digging out rebounds. The Magic had to scratch and claw in this one.
That is a good sign that they found a way to win. It does not matter how they come at the end of the day. It is even better Orlando found it in the way the team’s coach wants to:
“He’s definitely stressing it,” Elfrid Payton said. “It’s a better effort helping each other. Everyone is helping their man and someone is helping them. It’s showing out there.”
It can be that simple. Orlando simply got the job done. It did not have to be pretty. It just needed to get done.
Even against a team like the Knicks, it can be a confidence builder. Things seem to be moving forward, even if there are some steps back and some ugliness on the way up.
Perhaps Orlando found its spark in Dedmon’s play and found some defense on the way.
Next: We discuss the changes with the Magic on the OMD Podcast