Orlando Magic encouraged with first effort, see plenty to tighten up

The Orlando Magic were generally encouraged with how they played their first game. But they see plenty to work on and improve as the preseason continues.

To coach Frank Vogel, the best play of the night for the Orlando Magic in their preseason opener came in the second quarter. Evan Fournier got the ball in the left corner as the Memphis Grizzlies began to reset their defense. He sent a cross-court pass to a wide-open Elfrid Payton. Elfrid Payton passed up the shot and found Terrence Ross trailing the play open beyond the 3-point line.

Terrence Ross too passed up the shot, feeding it to Aaron Gordon. Aaron Gordon, seeing the open lane drove into traffic and drew the defense to him. He then sent a pass over the defense to Nikola Vucevic for an uncontested dunk.

It was the kind of extra passing the team has often dreamed about. The unselfishness was at its peak. And for moments in the Magic’s first preseason game, all those elements were there. The team passed up good shots to take great shots.

The Magic could look back to these glimmers of strong play in their first preseason game as a sign of what they want to build to. And a signal of what they accomplished in their preseason opener.

"“I thought we played pretty well on both ends,” Nikola Vucevic told Orlando Magic Daily after Tuesday’s open practice. “For the most part, we played pretty unselfishly. There were some mistakes that come from rustiness for not playing in so long. We had happy legs and being a little bit tired from camp. We liked what we saw. There were some plays we need to work, but a lot of good things. We can be happy with where we are at with our first game.”"

It was the first preseason game and so these moments only came in small glimpses and doses. The team was not quite making the right plays all the time.

The Magic shot 36.4 percent for the game. But they had 26 assists on 32 field goal makes, including 11 assists and 12 field goal makes among the starters. The one thing that easily can be gleaned from these numbers is the Magic scored when they moved the ball. And they moved the ball fairly well as a team.

Of course, not everything was clean. Aside from the shooting percentage, the Magic were a bit sloppy defensively. Even defensive ace Gordon admitted he was a bit lax on that end.

Gordon said he felt he needed to be more assertive on both ends. He described himself as “asleep some of the times” defensively. Gordon said he felt he still needed to get his defensive legs under him.

Certainly, he was easing himself into the preseason in that first game, showing bursts of defensive attention, including a big block on Mike Conley.

Overall, he agreed the team’s ball movement was fantastic for the first game. That was certainly something to build from and continue on throughout the preseason. The team’s unselfishness was very noticeable.

That was much of the analysis coming out of the first game as the Magic got back to practice to improve and clean up things before their next preseason game Thursday.

"“We tried to share the basketball,” Vogel told Orlando Magic Daily following the team’s open practice. “Our shot selection wasn’t great, but we did try to make the extra pass. We tried to work hard on the defensive end. I liked the quality of the shots we got for the most part when we didn’t settle for a quick shot. That’s to be expected. We didn’t shoot the ball that well in the first preseason game. That’s all right, I’m more concerned with the quality of the shots.”"

The Magic will certainly look to keep the unselfish ball movement that marked the first game and add a few more wrinkles and development.

Vogel said the team will have to improve its on-ball containment and its one-on-one defense from the last game too. Those are all normal things a team has to clean up after the first preseason game. The team was far from perfect. And nobody expected them to be regular-season ready so soon.

The Grizzlies broadcast noted Vogel had told them before the game he went heavy with conditioning in training camp and so he expected the team’s legs to be heavy. That might account for some of the missed shots and poor defensive rotation. Players after the game also noted they needed to improve their defensive communication in pick and rolls.

All of that can get resolved with time and drilling in practice. The Magic had two practices to get things right before their next game.

Overall, it would seem the Magic were encouraged by their first outing.

"“We had good things obviously,” Evan Fournier told Orlando Magic Daily on Wednesday. “Talking about when I was on the floor, with the first unit the pace was really good. We shared the ball, that was really good. Now obviously, we have a long way to go. I thought it was pretty good. Defensively, the rotations need to get better. Honestly, I think it was pretty good for a first game.”"

The next step for the team is to do it again and build on it. That is what the Magic know they have to do. The second game Thursday against the Dallas Mavericks will be a chance to get better and improve those marks.

Next: Orlando Magic eager to put on a show for fans

The team will slowly sharpen its skills and get ready for the season. The goal for Thursday is to be better than Monday and take that next step.