After disappointing defensive effort, Orlando Magic will need their best

The Orlando Magic were disappointed by their effort Tuesday in a win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Now they need their best to face the Golden State Warriors

The Orlando Magic were locked in early against the Philadelphia 76ers. They really were.

The Magic raced out to an early lead against the 76ers and seemed poised to do what so many teams have done to the 76ers — blow them out of the water. Orlando built a nine-point lead in the first six minutes of the game and held Philadelphia to a 64.8 offensive rating. The Magic were doing great.

And then they were not. The defense collapsed and the team fell apart as the 76ers, the worst offensive team in the league with a 95.2 offensive rating managed to score 108.0 points per 100 possessions for the game. They made 10 of 21 3-pointers (47.6 percent) when they averaged 33.7 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

“Actually very early in the game we were OK,” coach Scott Skiles said Wednesday when asked to re-assess his team’s defensive performance in the win. “For the first several minutes of the game we were really sharp. And then it just kind of waned. We had a couple guys in transition trying to run to their own man instead of the shooter who is right by him. And then late in the game, we did a nice job not giving up threes. So we sort of came full circle. Overall, it was not a great defensive performance. We had a pocket early and a pocket late where we were really solid.”

The Magic buckled down again in the fourth quarter, of course. They seemingly just did enough and strung together just enough stops to secure the victory.

There was little satisfaction it seemed after the game either. This team has been through a lot and there is a knowledge of what kind of defensive effort and energy it will take to win. Even against Philadelphia.

It seemed the Magic were getting set to turn their defense around when this performance seemingly popped up out of nowhere. A pocket of complacency that lacked explanation. It was the worst defensive performance for the Magic since the game at Oklahoma City against the Thunder — another similar shootout type game.

And, oh, here come the offensive juggernaut called the Golden State Warriors to test that defense yet again. The Magic will have to get that defense back to attention after Tuesday’s poor game to face Stephen Curry and company.

“You have to score enough to slow them down just a little bit in transition,” Skiles said. “They push it after makes as well, but different than if they make you miss and scoop up the long rebound. You can’t have any of those lapses where someone is not aware where their man is where the ball is. They will make you pay for that almost 100 percent of the time.”

It will take a very sharp effort from the Magic throughout the game even to sniff the Warriors. They are that good.

They certainly cannot display the sloppiness they displayed throughout Tuesday’s game. Even at the end when it seemed the result had been decided. The Magic threw the ball around wildly and got trapped by the energetic Sixers team fighting until the end.

The Warriors are a team that will surely take advantage of that every time.

To show how far apart the Warriors and Sixers are look at their record (51 wins to eight wins), their offensive rating (112.5 to 95.2, first to last) or their defensive rating (99.9 to 105.6). These are polar opposites.

As Skiles said after the game Tuesday, if the Magic played defense the way they did against the 76ers, they are likely to give up 300 points to the Warriors in Thursday’s game.

That is partly because of how poor Orlando was playing and because of the unique challenge Golden State presents. Those stats did not create themselves, the Warriors are that good.

“There’s no way possible to set up every scenario that they are going to put you in and then this is what we are going to do against it guys,” Skiles said. “A lot of times they are freelancing. You have to have tremendous common sense — see where’s your man, where’s your ball, what does he do and tendency. You have to have a lot of common sense. You can’t be robotic at all. They will just slice you up.”

The Magic spent Wednesday prepping and going over some things about the Warriors. Evan Fournier and Nikola Vucevic rested in light of their heavy minutes of late and the grueling upcoming schedule. Victor Oladipo sat out with a quad injury but should be able to play Thursday.

The task in front of them is a big one in any case. They will have to be tight and focused — particularly on defense — to give themselves any kind of a chance.