Orlando Magic having no answer for major runs

The Orlando Magic have found themselves struggling to respond again. Killer runs in losses on the West Coast continued showing problems with consistency.

It may still be hard to believe, but the Orlando Magic had a lead in their 37-point loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. Things actually started off incredibly well.

The Magic went up 11-2 behind some stellar play from Victor Oladipo and Evan Fournier — the two actually had strong individual scoring games — and seemed ready to build off their, again, solid victory against the Sacramento Kings.

The bottom did not completely drop off in the first quarter, but there were signs to be concerned with. Portland went on a 9-0 run to close the gap to a manageable distance, than a 12-4 run after the Magic responded. A 5-0 run to close the quarter gave the Blazers a seven-point lead heading into the second quarter.

There were signs of trouble — Oladipo and Fournier had 22 of the team’s 24 first-quarter points. And the Magic’s bench has always given the team inconsistent offensive play.

That proved to be the case and Portland started to pull away and lose contact. The Magic never lost too much contact until a 15-2 run to end the first half seemed to put the game away (both Fournier and Oladipo were in the game for the majority of this run).

Then it seemed to get worse. An 8-0 run early in the third, a gut-punching 13-3 run in the fourth to help Portland go up 33.

There was seemingly no response from the Magic. No chance for them to get themselves back in the game.

There was no response.

“I think there is a little bit of a ‘here we go again,'” Evan Fournier said. “So when they have a run, instead of saying, ‘It’s OK, they had a run, it’s our turn to have a run.’ We need to turn it around and stay positive and say OK, we’re going to come back again.”

Why this occurs is a question that continues to elude the Magic.

Injuries at the moment might be part of the problem. Nikola Vucevic, Elfrid Payton and Ersan Ilyasova all did not practice Monday. Ilyasova is likely to play Tuesday against the Denver Nuggets, but Vucevic and Payton are still up in the air.

That consistency and response, though, has been a question facing this Orlando Magic team all season. Even when the team was rolling in December, there were hints of inconsistency, particularly on defense.

But as has happened so often, now the offense is following suit and unable to mount a response.

The NBA, as the saying always goes, is a game of runs. Every NBA team has a major run in them to close the lead. Increasingly though, Orlando does not have a response when those runs come and instead the lead multiplies.

“It’s something we have to make honest assessments about,” coach Scott Skiles said. “We’ve got to look and figure out why we don’t put our foot down during a situation like that, get two or three stops or two or three baskets. Take a 15, instead of going to 25, 15 now went to seven and you’re back in it. It’s something we’ve struggled with when teams pick it up and get a run.”

As Skiles said, it is one thing to give up a 10-2 run. That does happen. It is another to give a 24-6 run.

And the Magic have been pretty guilty of failing to expand leads out to 20 points and really put games away. They have certainly played more close games than not because of their inability to extend things out — take the end of the Magic’s win over the Sacramento Kings when their seemingly comfortable 15-point lead was quickly cut to six in the final moments.

Another example would be in the loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Orlando had a healthy lead through the first half, but collapsed in the second half.

The Lakers went on a 14-5 and 9-2 run in the third quarter to begin pulling away. The Magic really had no sustained answers the rest of the way and lost by double digits to that struggling team.

This is a team that, as has been noted, is mired in inconsistency.

“That’s what the great teams are all about,” Fournier said. “You know night in and night out, they are going to play hard and not make the same mistakes. That’s why they’re great. That’s the thing we need to work on.”

The defense has obviously been a problem. No one seems to be hiding from that realization.

There is an issue in figuring out what the team will get on a day-to-day basis. The Magic have not seemingly been able to follow up good games with another good game. Skiles said the Magic will sometimes follow up a win by not looking at all like the team from the night before.

It has left the Magic outside the Playoff picture, and fading out of it quickly now too — the Milwaukee Bucks have passed the Magic in the pecking order, sending the Magic down to 10th best Lottery odds.

There is a feeling increasingly the Magic are starting to play out the string even with plenty still to play for. The feeling and frustration of losses from years past sets in.

That mindset is what has to be guarded against most in these moments.

“We need consistency,” Brandon Jennings said. “That’s the biggest thing. Consistency from not just us. It’s going to take everybody. It’s not just us. Missing shots, that’s part of the game. As far as energy and showing up every night, I think we do that very well. We’ve just got to put it together for 48 minutes. ”

Next: Orlando Magic feeling the pressure because they don't

That has been the part that continues to be missing. To find any kind of success the rest of this season, Orlando has to find a way to respond.