The Orlando Magic forced a team-record 17 turnovers in the first half and seemed to have their defense rolling. But the all-or-nothing trap could not create a win.
The Orlando Magic learned from their first two meetings with the Indiana Pacers this season. Unfortunately, those lessons were not enough to goad the Magic to a victory as the Pacers walked out of the Amway Center 105-102 victors.
The Indiana Pacers are a team that can crush opponents behind the arc and in the pick and roll, but the Magic countered it well, extending the defense, going over pick and rolls and pushing the Pacers hard in the half court.
“We came in at halftime and said, ‘We had 17 turnovers at halftime,'” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said of his team’s sloppy offense. “That’s about all we needed to say.”
The Magic trapped pick and rolls and extended the defense out toward half court. Orlando was trapping, pressing, digging in from the weak side to deflect passes and cover for the helper. And the Pacers were committing the miscues.
It felt as if it was an all-or-nothing strategy. The Magic were going to commit to keeping the Pacers on the perimeter and forcing them to make riskier passes through a crowded paint.
It worked until it did not of course as the Pacers shot better than 50 percent from the floor, making shots whenever they were not turning the ball over.
“We’re only out on certain people,” coach Scott Skiles said. “You have to be out on Paul George, you have to be out on Monta Ellis. And the times we were soft, Monta drove right by our bigs and laid the ball in the basket. Our goal was to stop the ball and get back on their shooters, and we were just a step slow.”
Being a step slow resulted in the Pacers connecting on 9 of 23 from 3-point range (39.1 percent), a blemish responsible for the Magic dropping all three games to Indiana this season.
Ellis hit five of seven from behind the arc, and C.J. Miles made Orlando pay, too, knocking down two of four from three. The Magic did what they could to prevent the Pacers from getting the ball swinging on the perimeter, but ultimately the defense lagged a lot in a strange effort that was difficult to fully get around.
“Especially with Paul George setting the picks, [we] wanted to put a lot of pressure on the point guard and make it difficult for them to pass the ball back,” Brandon Jennings said. “I think we did a pretty good job with that.”
And no doubt the defense was better — the Magic recorded a 97.9 defensive rating for the game, the second straight game giving up less than a point per possess. It was particularly better in the first half.
But forcing 21 turnovers is hardly the ultimate sign of a strong defensive effort when the opponent shoots 50 percent from the field. Indiana had some trouble getting into its offense. But when the Pacers did, the Magic paid.
Indiana entered the fourth quarter shooting 56 percent from the field, and Orlando trailed by a point entering the game’s final period.
The Pacers certainly did come out more focused in the second half, committing just four turnovers over the final two periods as Orlando began to pay the price for some sloppy ball ball handling and poor execution of its own.
Skiles referred to the performance as “not professional,” alluding to the “missed layups, missed free throws…(and) silly lob passes.”
The Magic shot just 19 of 29 from the line and were unable to capitalize on being in the penalty during the final nine minutes of the game, making just 9 of 15 free throw attempts.
Orlando also simply could not execute for stretches of the games and Jennings was disappointed with himself for having committed five of the team’s 14 turnovers.
That kind of thing just cannot become the norm with Orlando battling for what remains of its playoff chances. The Magic are not a good enough team to look for the highlight play, the ESPN top-10 clip. Orlando simply needs to focus on winning games and let the highlights come as they may without forcing any.
The Magic though withstood all that because its defense was generally solid. Just not solid enough.
“[It] was really good,” Aaron Gordon said. “We had a couple of break downs here and there and in a close game you really can’t afford to have that many. You can’t afford to have as many breakdowns as we did.”
Gordon did a standout job covering Myles Turner, limiting the promising rookie to 5-for-9 shooting, while Evan Fournier did his job controlling Pacers All-Star Paul George. George finished just 7 of 19 from the field in the game, and Fournier did a particularly good job bodying up when the Pacers tried to pound it into George in the post.
Fournier cited issues with rebounding and allowing second-chance buckets, but this really is a game marked by a lot of small errors Orlando could have avoided, and had they been avoided, this easily could have given Orlando a much-needed victory against a team it is battling with to secure a postseason bid.
The Magic did not execute like a playoff team which is why they lost to one.
The Pacers have a tough backcourt the Magic adjusted to after having lost twice this season already on the heroics of George Hill and Monta Ellis. It was a strong effort to learn from the past mistakes.
While the defense was there most of the night, the Magic’s own execution mistakes made it not enough. And losing focus on defense at critical times kept the Pacers in contact throughout the first half and enabled them to escape their own mistakes.
Next: Orlando Magic lament missed opportunities in loss to Indiana Pacers
In a game reliant on execution and smart play, Orlando just fell a little short, again.