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Orlando Magic seek resolution to defensive slippage

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Dec 20, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando Magic guard Victor Oladipo (5) defends against Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague (0) during the second quarter of a basketball game at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 20, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando Magic guard Victor Oladipo (5) defends against Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague (0) during the second quarter of a basketball game at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Orlando Magic defense has made a precipitous fall in the past two weeks. Following a heart breaking loss the team seeks to change this trend.

Scott Skiles had warned about it for several games and several weeks before Saturday night’s 108-101 loss to the Miami Heat. The defense was slipping and he could sense it.

He did not even need to sense it, the numbers were showing a precipitous drop. The Orlando Magic’s top-rated defense, built painstakingly during the first quarter or so of the season was quickly disappearing.

Saturday’s loss was just yet another flashpoint for a team that is trending in the wrong direction.

“We just got to go back to the basics,” Victor Oladipo said. “I know you kind of say that as far offense, we’ve got to go back to the basics as far as defense too. Just go back to trusting each other defensively, just being solid, not gambling and doing what we do best.”

It seems that kind of tear down to the basics is what is necessary with how the Magic have slipped.

Skiles noted it really began with another fourth-quarter collapse against the Los Angeles Clippers. And the numbers have shown a precipitous and dramatic fall.

The Magic’s defensive rating on Dec. 3 when they visited the Jazz was 99.0 points allowed per 100 possessions, good for seventh in the league. After Saturday’s game, the Magic have a defensive rating of 100.5 points allowed per 100 possessions, now 12th in the league. The team’s defensive rating has increased from 98.7 on Dec. 14 and has inflated by about a point per 100 possessions in the last three games.

This is what constitutes slippage. And while the Magic’s offense has picked up some of the slack to help the team win games — the Magic have the 12th best offense with a 104.5 offensive rating in that time span against their 102.6 defensive rating — it has not made the coach feel any better about their chances.

And it has led to disappointing efforts and results like Saturday’s game.

“We’ve got to be better on the basketball,” Tobias Harris said. “One on one defense for us has to be better. And on top of that our calls have to be vocalizing and the guy who is guarding the ball has to get in his defensive position from there. But we definitely have to be better one on one defense.”

Skiles said his main areas of concern are that the team has given up a lot penetration from the perimeter, often putting the team into scramble mode. That problem has been multiplied by break downs in the schemes and coverages the team runs.

There has been some tendency to get over aggressive and that has taken players out of position.

Evan Fournier said the culprit has been on closeouts and keeping the ball on one side. Too often again, and this was particularly against Miami on Saturday, the Magic would get sucked into the paint by dribble penetration and see the ball whipped out to the perimeter to an open shooter.

All of the Magic’s defense is connected even to the Magic’s suddenly surging offense. The hope is that the Magic’s affection and, perhaps, over reliance on offense is not bleeding into the defense.

Channing Frye, Orlando Magic, Lance Stephenson, Los Angeles Clippers
Dec 5, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Orlando Magic forward Channing Frye (8) and Los Angeles Clippers forward Lance Stephenson (1) battle for position during the first half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports /

“It means we don’t fully understand how important the other end is,” Skiles said. “Hopefully last night was a learning situation for us when we started to struggle a little offensively because our ball movement stopped, and it was layup, layup, layup that’s when your defense has to keep you in the game.

“We have to understand particularly if you want to be a serious postseason team, where sometimes the game can halt to a crawl and it can get really ugly and both teams are playing so hard, if you don’t have something to hang your hat on, you can’t win a series.”

And for Skiles that has to be on the defensive end.

There was a forlorn, determined mood at practice on Sunday. The loss hit the team hard, harder than perhaps that Clippers game where the Magic lost a double-digit fourth-quarter lead. It was a game that carried a lot of weight as an intrastate, intradivisional and intraconference matchup.

“Every loss hurts,” Oladipo said. “We’re trying to win every game that we play. It sucks to lose, but we’ve got to learn from it and move on.”

The good news though is the Magic have proved adept at bouncing back from these kinds of crushing defeats. They bounced back strong following losses to the Cavaliers and played well in the wake of those games.

This is still a team playing better than .500 basketball.

They have bounced back well, but they are still establishing their habits. To achieve their goals, they have to reign in some consistency on the defensive end especially.

“We just have to do it,” Harris said. “Tomorrow is another game. We have to bounce back and play better. We can’t look at statistics on how we bounce back from games, we got to go out there and bounce back and play better basketball tomorrow.”

Next: Assessing Scott Skiles' Coach of the Year candidacy

Bouncing back has to be a given. Improvement is the struggle for the Magic moving forward.