Orlando Magic must find each other when offense does not work

For the first time all season, the Orlando Magic struggled to generate consistent offense. Facing this adversity, the team must learn to rely on each other.

Nikola Vucevic has played well with his new toy in his arsenal. His 3-point shot has helped transform his game and transform the Orlando Magic’s offense. It is one of the key reasons why the Magic have gotten off to such a hot start.

Nikola Vucevic has gone from a solid offensive player, able to put up numbers in bunches, to a stretch big with his own gravity creating lanes for others.

The Magic’s surprise this season was going from one of the worst offenses in the league to one of the best.

That is not how things will go for all 82 games in a season. The season is a long and winding road. There will be nights where things do not go your way.

Nights like Sunday night against the Charlotte Hornets.

In the first several minutes of the game, Vucevic found his way to the 3-point line as he has several times throughout the season. He confidently took his 3-point shot as he has hit on 45.5 percent of his shots so far this year. Dwight Howard was not coming out to the 3-point line to defend him. He was wide open.

And. . . clank. And clank again.

Vucevic made just two of his eight 3-pointers in scoring 15 points. The shots he took were open. No one could fault him for taking them. But they kept missing. And the Magic kept floundering offensively.

And as things got worse, the offense struggled to find that same beautiful rhythm from the last two weeks. The struggles spread to the defense where it seemed everyone was lacking intensity and not following their responsibilities.

The Magic were off. It started with the offense coming back to Earth.

Orlando entered the game second in points per game, second in field goal percentage, first in 3-point field goal percentage, second in offensive rating and second in effective field goal percentage. It is still far too early to call any of these statistically significant, but the Magic were rolling.

But Sunday, Orlando shot 42.3 percent from the floor and 11 for 33 from beyond the arc (33.3 percent). Orlando had a 102.3 offensive rating.

It was the team’s worst offensive performance of the season by far. The team looked stagnant and unable to crack a tough Hornets defense. They were caught struggling to break down the defense and create the ball movement and transition that characterized their offensive efforts the last two weeks.

It was not something the Magic could expect to last permanently, of course. The team knew there would be tough days ahead. The shots would not fall indefinitely. Not with a team that has a history of not shooting the ball well.

There would be shooting nights like this. The question is how would the team respond?

The Magic had to hope the team would rely on its defense and its constant call for switching and communication. That had to be the bedrock of everything they do. And increasingly in this game, it was not there.

It seemed Orlando was playing alone everywhere. The team was searching for some offense to bolster and energize the defense — not the other way around.

Aaron Gordon tried forcing some offense, driving into the teeth of the defense and throwing a shot wildly at the rim. Or D.J. Augustin would drive into the trees unable to find a good finish. Or Vucevic putting his head down after missing another 3-pointer.

The Hornets would take it and get to the other end quickly, attacking the Magic’s retreating defense. The attention to detail and focus the team had shown throughout its 4-1 run was not present. Orlando let things slip a bit more. Perhaps having too much faith in their abilities.

As the team forms its identity, it has to ask itself what can it rely on? Who is this team really?

Perhaps the team’s identity is still in the works. But the one thing that is clear is they have no one who can force things alone. They need each other.

Sunday was not a good showing. The team was caught flat-footed and trying to make up ground very quickly in the game. As the team missed more and more shots, the frustration seemed only to get deeper. What did the team have to fall back on?

The defense was not always reliable. The team was as disconnected and out of sync as it has been all year.

On multiple occasions, the Magic were left point at 3-point shooters as neither player was in a position to guard him. On multiple occasions, Orlando players failed to convert a switch, leaving a free runner down the lane.

Orlando was disconnected on both ends. The ball-sharing and movement that characterized their offense is the same kind of connectivity and sharing they need on defense.

Something has to be the team’s bedrock. Defensively, this togetherness this connection is what the team has to rely on. It is what makes the team work on both ends.

Orlando has to find that connection again — or, better, find it when things are not easy and the shots are falling.

Orlando Magic

This is a make-or-miss league. Teams can make shots off bad offense and miss shots off good offense. Offense is notoriously unreliable.

On Sunday, Orlando started off missing shots on good offense and then struggled to get things going. They forced play and started to become stagnant, relying on themselves and not each other.

That infected the defense. The team lost its connection. That is ultimately what delivers victories.

Coach Frank Vogel said after Friday’s win the team’s continuity bump has been greater than he anticipated. The way the team has worked together is the real reason for the team’s surprise early results.

When the offense failed to work Sunday, the team lost a bit of that togetherness. When the going got tough, the team could not reach for each other to pull them back out. Except when Jonathon Simmons was pushing and pulling for everyone. His shot of energy changed the game and helped the Magic get back into it.

Those spurts seemed too few to help the Magic in the end.

Next: Grades: Charlotte Hornets 120, Orlando Magic 113

The next question is whether it will be a lesson they learn for the next time out.