The Orlando Magic are still searching for answers, but inconsistent performances from its key players is making it more difficult.
In the 119-114 win Sunday night over the Boston Celtics, Evan Fournier and Mario Hezonja were both forces to be reckoned with. The pair combined for 41 points while knocking down 13 field goals between them, including seven of Orlando’s 10 3-point field goals.
Less than 24 hours later and that same tandem combines for just nine points against the San Antonio Spurs as the Magic fall 107-92.
The Magic are having trouble knowing just who is going to step up on any given night.
Ask Tobias Harris, who did not make a field goal in the first half and finished the night with a humble 11 points.
Perhaps the most consistent Magic performers have been Nikola Vucevic and Aaron Gordon. The Magic’s new starting 4/5 combination has been active on the glass and both are passing the ball extremely well. Vucevic has averaged 4.5 assists per game in the Magic’s past three contests. Gordon had a career-high five assists in the Boston game.
But the Magic’s inconsistency on a team-wide basis only makes the job more difficult for Scott Skiles, as well.
On any given night he does not know who he can turn to for reliable play. He just knows he needs two or three players to step up each night, maybe even more.
The Magic’s starting backcourt can be so erratic given the problems Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton have shooting the ball — and if Fournier and Hezonja are both off, it leaves Orlando up the proverbial creek.
The Magic need shooting from the shooting guard position, as most teams do. It is not a novel thought.
The Magic got just 20 points from their bench against the Spurs, and that just will not cut it against the deepest team in the NBA (arguably?).
San Antonio is able to get play out of its reserves that is superior to Orlando’s starters, and a lot of that is just players playing within a brilliant Gregg Popovich system. It is something the Magic can only strive toward, such reliable clock work in the offense that the buckets seem to almost produce themselves.
Patty Mills is a good NBA player, but he is greatly accented by playing in the right system with a coach who knows his strengths and weaknesses. The same statement applies perhaps even more so to Boris Diaw. These are not overwhelming basketball talents, but they are both good consistent players.
Consistent. Reliable.
This Magic team is not yet to that point.
The Magic are not cohesive enough that players always know what to expect from one another. And that can get to be a problem.
Channing Frye came in and hit his first three field goals in the second quarter, and that was all he hit the remainder of the game.
It was partly the Magic not running enough sets for him, and also partly the fact a smarter team like the Spurs knows how to make sure the guys shooting the ball are the ones who should not be.
One need look no further than Payton’s 3-for-12 shooting night, as the Spurs frequently found a way to say “oops” in rotating a bit slower and allowing Payton to load up.
Reverse psychology even? The Spurs play smart basketball.
The Celtics did for the two-game set too.
These are two well-coached teams that are not given to some of the lapses the Magic are. Kawhi Leonard found himself so open one sequence he had to have wondered if the Magic knew he was an All-Star.
In seriousness, it was a missed defensive switch, but those follies cannot be repeated over and over again if the Magic want to start winning regularly again.
And still: How can the Magic play smart ball though when guys are showing up so inconsistently? How can the Magic build any real momentum when guys do not know what they can count on one another for?
These are not unique Orlando Magic problems.
Rather, these are issues that face young teams and the Magic are one of the NBA’s youngest.
Perhaps in a few more seasons, we see the roster take shape and produce a product that can be counted on more regularly. But when a pair of Magic shooters can combine for 41 points one night and nine the next, it is very telling.
Next: Orlando Magic show glimpses, but still far away
It basically tells the story of a team still in major growing pains, trying to get to know one another well enough to play winning team basketball.