Orlando Magic’s offense coming alive, creating reason to believe

In the first eight games, the Orlando Magic were struggling to score. Eight games later, the offense is a strength. And there is a new reason to believe.

D.J. Augustin had seen plenty of open lanes to the basket and through the lane throughout the third quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers. He was crossing up Josh Hart, pinning Lonzo Ball on Nikola Vucevic on pick and rolls and just darting through the lane with purpose and finding anybody he wanted.

This is the Magic’s offense in a flow. And it can be difficult to stop. Ask the top-10 defense in the Philadelphia 76ers who saw this team burn off a 21-0 run in a come-from-behind victory.

And now ask the Lakers.

D.J. Augustin had his option this time. And with the confidence the Magic are now feeling on offense, Augustin could afford to add a little flair.

The defense began closing in on Augustin this time as he got into the lane. So he whipped a behind-the-back pass to Aaron Gordon standing in the corner open for a 3-pointer. Aaron Gordon seemed a bit surprised to receive the pass. but he adjusted and lined himself up for a three.

Swish.

And on this night the Magic had no problems scoring. Their 130 points was a season high. They scored 75 points in the second and third quarter and had cleared 100 points by the end of the third quarter.

The Magic’s offense is not the same offense it was at the beginning of the season. Not by a long shot. This team has found its rhythm and the path for its success.

"“I think we’re just moving the ball and trusting each other a little bit more,” D.J. Augustin said. “The ball is moving. Everybody is getting open shots. If we play like that every night, pretty much it will be the same outcome. There will be nights where we don’t knock down shots, but the ball movement and the body movement has been great.”"

The offense was the biggest concern throughout the first eight games of the season. The Magic had the worst offense by offensive rating in the league by far and were the only team scoring fewer than 100 points per 100 possessions.

The last eight games, where the Magic have gone 6-2 and climbed into the early Eastern Conference Playoff picture, the team is seventh in the league in offensive rating scoring 112.0 points per 100 possessions.

The team’s 55.7 percent effective field goal percentage is the third-best mark in the league in that time.

It is a far cry from the 46.5 percent effective field goal percentage the team shot through the first eight games of the season.

"“We’ve just been playing smarter, more efficient,” Nikola Vucevic said. “We’ve also been making more shots, especially 3s. We have to keep it going. Our ball movement has to be top-notch every night if we want to have a chance.”"

Some of that is certainly the team finally finding its stroke after everyone seemed to be missing even open shots at the start of the season. these sample sizes are still too small to draw too many conclusions. The Magic are probably not as good as they have played in this recent stretch just as they are not as bad as they played to start the season.

Orlando Magic

But plenty has clicked.

Orlando has looked much more comfortable within the offense. They understand their roles and responsibilities a whole lot better. And so now they are playing much more reacting to the defense.

Vucevic’s big game is an example of this.

Vucevic scored 16 of his 36 points in the third quarter. Often times it came simply from taking advantage of the defensive mistakes the Lakers made. They continually tried switching on every screen, hoping to use their speed and perimeter length to force the Magic to downsize.

That never came. Vucevic continually pinned smaller players in the post for easy shots. Or he popped out to the 3-point line and drained jumpers to loosen the defense. It was a perfect working of a mismatch the Lakers continually gave them.

And it continued the beautiful play from the Magic in general. Orlando forced this matchup, but it never felt forced. Orlando put the ball in positions where Vucevic could score quickly and easily.

When the team did not find him, the group moved the ball quickly to the open man. The ball moved side to side and found the open man. The Lakers were left without an answer. The Magic had eight assists on their 16 field goal makes in the third quarter. For the game, Orlando finished with 28 assists on 50 field goal makes.

The Magic know they need to move the ball to be successful. Steve Clifford said when the team moves the ball offensively and avoids stagnation and over-dribbling, the team’s offense is very effective.

It is a constant fight to keep this tenet in mind as the team tries to keep its offense moving.

"“Good NBA teams, all they think about is getting better,” coach Steve Clifford said. “What the next game is and getting better. Big picture thing is obviously we feel we can be fighting for the Playoffs. But that is only going to happen if we are playing in a manner that gives yourself a chance to win every night.”"

The team is certainly playing with a greater confidence. And the team has gotten progressively better.

Part of that is familiarity. The team has had some time within the offense now. They understand better what Clifford is asking of them and where they can find shots within the offense. The team’s flow is much better.

The defense is also a part of this puzzle. As Clifford pointed out, it was actually the defense that helped pick up the Magic’s overall energy and spark the team’s offense in the second quarter. The two are certainly connected, feeding off the other’s energy.

And that obviously feeds the Magic’s fast break. That was in full effect throughout the game especially after the Magic took control in the first half.

"“I think we made big steps with each guy getting more comfortable in the offense, where your shots might come from and how you want to play,” Vucevic said. “But he wants us to play with an initial action and then flow into our offense. We have some structure he wants us to do, but it is just reading the game. At the end of the day, it’s basketball. It’s not science. You have to know the game, understand the game and have a feel for it. I think the guys are doing that and playing for each other."

There is still a lot to learn for the Magic. But the team has shown plenty of progress.

The optimism and confidence surrounding this team are at an all-time high. And fans certainly have a reason to believe as the team climbed to 8-8 and .500 once again.