The Orlando Magic returned to practice Saturday after a second heartbreaking loss seeking answers within themselves as they try to grow and produce.
Evan Fournier got a chance to re-watch Friday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The heartbreaking loss was not any better on replay. He did have to admit that the finish was exciting for the fans. It was not something the team could appreciate in the moment.
Despite, in Fournier’s words, dominating such a great team for three quarters, the Orlando Magic got caught watching Russell Westbrook put on a show.
In reviewing clips of the game during practice Saturday, the loss was more on the mistakes the Magic made in crunch time yet again.
Despite playing well for long pockets of time, as Scott Skiles noted after practice Saturday, the Magic are still not where they want to be. And still winless.
In the cruel world of the NBA that is what matters.
“We feel like we should be 2-0,” Fournier said. “We deserve to win. And we want to win against Chicago. Step-by-step, next game, that’s the mentality we’ve got to have.”
Somehow, Orlando is going to have to regroup and head on the road for the first time to try to score a win. A three-game road trip to Chicago, New Orleans and Houston will provide a further challenge to a team that feels snake bitten right now — not even an 18-point lead at home feels safe.
The Magic seemingly made a bit of a mentality shift in the fourth quarter. As the game got tighter, the team seemed to recede somewhat into a shell.
Scott Skiles said the team certainly started playing tight but also struggled to make adjustments coaches had implemented coming out of timeouts. There would be a few too many blank stares and Westbrook and the Thunder kept running the same plays at them waiting for a response to do something different.
He also noted that the team slowed down the pace of its execution late in the game. Skiles said the team has a low margin for error so when the team slows down and executes its plays slowly or initiates the offense too deep into the shot clock, it makes it difficult for the team to execute any offense.
These issues of taking the foot off the pedal have been prevalent not just in the regular season, but also in preseason. The team is not as sharp as they need to be.
Victor Oladipo said the team has to remain on the attack in these situations and remain aggressive. That sort of did not happen. And at that point there is very little a coach can do.
“They have to do it,” Skiles said. “We don’t want to be in a position anymore where people are looking to the bench for help. We want them to put the onus on themselves to execute, make the plays they’re supposed to make, all the things we’re supposed to do to win a game. We’re having large pockets of the game where we’re doing those things very well. Like exhibition, we haven’t gotten out of it yet where the other team starts to raise their level of play, we have to raise our level of play at least equal to that if not more. We’ve had a little trouble doing that.”
The Magic still have growing to do in this area. No matter how much better they may look, the results remain the same.
And the difficulty of dealing with another heartbreaking loss — both building off of last year’s frustrations and the first two games of this year — can begin to wear on a team.
Aaron Gordon said there is something of a hangover effect on the team. There has to be with the missed opportunity. Things like relaxing after a big made basket and failing to get back on defense — Scott Skiles asked his team who was guarding Westbrook on that final play in regulation and it was dead silence, driving home that point further — are something the team is trying not to accept anymore.
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“Coach is saying ‘should have won’ isn’t the same thing as ‘I won,'” Gordon said. “It says 0-2 in your record even or if you should be 2-0 or if you feel like you should be 2-0. No more moral victories.”
Skiles said after practice Saturday even if the Magic were 2-0, there would still be things worth showing the team and concerning.
Gordon said while the coach may not be able to do much to help loosen things late in games, it is certainly on the players to rally together and execute the game plan. They have to have the commitment and discipline to stick to their system in those tense moments.
Even if the team chooses to take the optimistic view and draw out positives from this disappointing 0-2 start, there is still a lot of work for the Magic to do to build up and make these kind of events a thing of the past.
“I think the biggest takeaway is a positive is we’re good enough to play with anyone in this league,” Oladipo said. “I think we still need to work on closing, still work on making better decisions down the stretch, playing to win rather than playing not to lose. But other than, I think we’re really close. We just need to keep building toward it.”