The Orlando Magic spent their time searching for a better defensive effort. They found it in the second half and cruised to a victory over the Pelicans.
The talk for the past several weeks has centered on defense. More specifically, looking at how to get it back to the top-10 level it was at just a few weeks ago.
No one was expecting the Magic to turn things around in one game. That certainly does not make a trend in any direction. It just needed to be better.
Even with an improving but still moribund New Orleans Pelicans team coming in, the Magic had to do enough and do the right things to shut them down. There was still plenty of talent on the other side.
More than that, Orlando had to look at itself and be the change it wanted to be. There was not going to be any major adjustment or hand holding. The Magic had to get in the right place and fix themselves.
In this game, against this opponent, they did just that.
Orlando came out of the gates flying and the offense remained true to the form of the last several weeks. The defense had its hiccups but by the second half had clicked into place. New Orleans fell behind quickly by 10 points in the second half, causing Alvin Gentry to make the dreaded line change to spark his club.
They could not break the Magic’s more energetic and physical defensive effort. And the poor Pelicans defense had no change at stopping Nikola Vucevic and Evan Fournier throughout the night. Or even Andrew Nicholson as the Magic won 104-89 at Amway Center on Monday.
| Score | Off. Rtg. | eFG% | O.Reb.% | TO% | FTR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Orleans | 99 | 96.1 | 47.6 | 23.3 | 14.0 | 18.1 |
| Orlando | 104 | 110.8 | 59.1 | 11.1 | 11.7 | 13.4 |
Anthony Davis (NOP) — 20 pts., 8 rebs.; Norris Cole (NOP) — 17 pts.
Nikola Vucevic (ORL) — 28 pts.; Tobias Harris (ORL) — 14 pts., 9 rebs.
“It was better in the second half until we subbed with a couple minutes to go,” coach Scott Skiles said. “It was better, but it isn’t where it was, but it was better. We had a noticeable uptick to start the game and start the third quarter, which are definitely important parts of the game. It was better.”
Better was the sentiment throughout the team. The Magic did more than enough to defeat the Pelicans and dominate the second half. Orlando led by as much as 18 points and never trailed in the second half. The Pelicans never cut the lead to single digits after the 4:24 mark of the third quarter.
The Magic held the Pelicans to 41.0 percent shooting in the second half and 43 points. New Orleans posted a 95.6 offensive rating in the second half.
Orlando had put them on lockdown in the final 24 minutes to gain some distance while maintaining that strong offensive push.
“In the second half it was,” Vucevic said. “In the first half, we started out good and we kind of fell asleep. We made a little run in the last 2-3 minutes and that woke us up. We came back in here and talked about how we wanted to play with more energy and make a push. It was good for us to push the lead and hold onto that lead. I think it was a great response after the last game when we didn’t do that.”
The Magic left no doubt in this one largely on Vucevic’s shoulders.
He scored 28 points on 14-for-21 shooting, flirting with a triple double in adding eight rebounds and seven assists. He worked in the post against Anthony Davis on several occasions and took him out to the perimeter to hit the jumper.
Vucevic connected several times with Evan Fournier, who had 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting himself. The Magic had their offense moving for much of the game, shooting 54.9 percent from the floor, 7 for 17 from beyond the arc, 29 for 42 in the paint and totaling 28 assists on 45 field goals.
The Magic ball movement was like it has been now for several weeks with passes moving quickly around the perimeter and to the right player. The ball did not seem to sit long on any occasion, except for the end of the first quarter when New Orleans climbed back into the game.
“You just need one game to play bad basketball and forget the good things you are doing,” Evan Fournier said. “Stay humble, stay focused and keep going. You never know what can happen. I could go back to playing bad basketball again. Just have to stay focused.”
The Magic are not likely to believe their problems are solved now. There is still work to be done. The Magic were, as they described it after the game, simply better.
Better is a step in the right direction though. Especially after the way the team has played and let leads slip in the recent stretch. The team is searching for consistency within their defensive principles still.
It will come as the team continues to build it back up. Performances like Monday night help get things moving in the right direction again.
Next: Orlando Magic seek resolution to defensive struggles
“I think it’s a great win for us,” Tobias Harris said. “That’s the type of basketball we are used to and we want to play. I thought we started the game out really well, slowed down toward the end of the first quarter. But second half on, I thought we played some great basketball and defensively we were pretty good. With those things, we are a pretty tough team to beat.”