Teams that run a faster pace tend to struggle to slow things down and locking up on defense. That remains a struggle for the Orlando Magic since the break.
There is a perception that playing fast leads to poor defense. Often, the teams that want to play at a quicker pace are doing so to hide some deficiency in their half-court offense and try to use hyper-aggressive defenses to create transition opportunities.
There is always that push and pull. But as the pace creeps up and teams go back and forth, there is also a tendency to find offense too easy and for the defense to wane.
The perception around the league that teams are playing faster and more efficient than ever has hurt defenses as much as anything else. A more up-and-down pace leads to a frenetic style that can just become teams exchanging baskets.
That seemed to be what happened in the first quarter against the Toronto Raptors — a 35-34 blitzkrieg of offense where the Raptors took the lead but the Orlando Magic met them every step of the way. It became a constant battle to reign in the defense when teams are trading baskets.
Eventually, though, one team will. Defense is a matter of will. Monday, the Magic did not have it and lost a good offensive game where the team played exactly how it wanted to play.
"“There is no excuse for it,” coach Frank Vogel said after practice Tuesday. “Just because we’re scoring the basketball and we scored at a high rate — our offense looked good last night, even going 4 for 20 from the 3-point line, we still had a good offensive rating. But when you are scoring the basketball, you can’t just trade baskets especially when you are playing against a great team who is playing terrific basketball and is hot. What we did defensively last night wasn’t good enough.”"
The game Monday was played at a 104.4 possession pace and the Magic put up a more-than-respectable 107.4 offensive rating. That would be good enough to win most games even in this inflated offense season.
But the Raptors got their points too, posting 125.5 points per 100 possessions in the game. The Magic indeed could not corral their defense in a game where they scored a ton of offense.
Orlando has won just five of the 14 games played at a pace greater than 100, according to Basketball-Reference. And in only half of those games did the Magic have a better-than-average defensive rating, per Basketball-Reference.
There is a trap here, it would seem. A faster pace means a weaker defense. There is at least a correlation. It is a tricky balance a team has to make if it is going to look to run and use pace as an identity.
At the very least, the team needs to be able to lock down defensively when the offense is not working and the game inevitably slows down.
For the Magic and what Vogel wants to build. Defense is critical — far more important than the pace the team plays at.
"“The pace on offense is good and we have to keep it up,” Evan Fournier told Orlando Magic Daily. “We have to be determined to get stops. Getting stops feeds our transition anyway. It really should be our focus to get stops, get steals and get deflections.”"
According to NBA.com, the Magic have played at a faster pace since the trade — going from 98.4 possessions per game before the All-Star Break to 99.8 possessions per game after the break. That is the difference between being in the 20s in pace to 11th in the league. The Magic are generating more fast-break opportunities and looking to score quicker now.
But, that has come with some defensive hiccups. The Magic’s defensive rating has dipped from 107.2 points allowed per 100 possession before the break to 108.7 points allowed per 100 possessions after the break. The Magic still rank in the bottom 10 in the league in defensive efficiency.
Not that the Magic were playing better defensively playing at a slower pace either.
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Making shots is ultimately going to be best for a strong defense. It is easier to defend when a team can set its defense. And that remains a lesson for the Magic as they try to create points quicker and get out in transition more.
Orlando has a solid (for them) 6-10 record since the All-Star Break. But there are clearly areas the team could improve. Defense chief among them.
"“You just got to keep pounding the rock,” Vogel told Orlando Magic Daily. “These guys have to understand we are trying to set a defensive standard on the defensive end. It has not gotten done. It hasn’t been good enough all year and let us down last night.”"
And that is what this is all about the rest of the season. The Magic have to figure out a way to play this style and gain some defensive traction. They have to prove something in this new system can work with the team the Magic want to be.
That certainly appears to be the case as the season concludes. Elfrid Payton said he thinks the team has a done a good job staying disciplined with its pace and committing defensively. there have been some obvious breaks — like the first quarter against the Raptors.
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There is clearly room for improvement, though. And this push and pull will remain a focus the rest of this season.