Orlando Magic get reminder their success is fragile

The Orlando Magic once again had a rough outing that reminded the team of its difficult past. It is a reminder their success is still fragile.

Everyone in the building seemed to hold their breath when Nikola Vucevic fell to the ground in the first quarter of Friday’s loss to the Indiana Pacers.

Nikola Vucevic had done a move he has performed millions of times. Turning over his shoulder of a hook shot over Myles Turner. Except for this time, Turner crowded him just a bit too much. He landed on Turner’s foot and turned his ankle. Replays showed how he sprained his ankle and it felt fortunate it was nothing more than a mild sprain.

Vucevic stayed on the ground trying to get back up as the Orlando Magic got a stop on the other end. By the time the Magic were back on offense, Vucevic was standing again and trying to work his way through post position. Aaron Gordon actually found him for a layup but it was clear he could not continue. Orlando fouled to get Vucevic out of the game.

The Magic playing without Vucevic at this point is a dicey proposition. He has been the Magic’s most consistent player by far and someone who makes the offense go. The Magic are a significantly worse team when Vucevic is off the floor.

Not that Vucevic helped much in Friday’s game. The injury was a scary moment. But he returned to the game shortly after and said afterward he did not think the injury was serious. He hopes he will not have to miss any time.

But it was not like his return made much of a difference. Vucevic led the team with 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. He had a -8, the lowest mark among the Magic’s rotation players.

Indiana outworked Orlando from the start, putting the team on its back foot. The Magic were chasing the entire night and did not seem to have the proper energy or physicality to compete.

One game is no reason to panic. Every team in the league will lay a few duds and not have it on certain nights. It is an 82-game marathon and it is impossible to be on point for every game.

But this game though was a painful reminder for the team of just how fragile their success really is.

Orlando is this new resilient, tough team that can compete with anyone and has Playoff expectations. It is also still that team from last year that struggled on both ends and won just 25 games.

Coach Steve Clifford put it best after the game. This play was more reminiscent of the Magic’s terrible first six games this season than the beautiful play they have largely had for the last month.

The Magic shot a horrid 40.4 percent and 8 for 33 from beyond the arc. It almost felt like at times the Orlando Magic thought their hot outside shooting from Wednesday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets would carry over. But they did so without doing the work of attacking and penetrating the paint.

The defense was even more of a disaster with the team rarely stringing together enough effort and energy plays to keep Indiana off the board.

The Magic can certainly win games when they give up 110.9 points per 100 possessions. That is not a good number by any means, but only slightly worse than the team’s overall average. But it will not happen with a 90.0 offensive rating. The Magic’s offense was playing without energy or much organization.

The more concerning part of this is that games like these have become fairly routine for the Magic.

The Orlando Magic have lost blowout defeats to the Charlotte Hornets (120-88 on Oct. 19), Milwaukee Bucks (113-91 on Oct. 27), LA Clippers (120-95 on Nov. 2) and Denver Nuggets (112-87 on Nov. 23). The alarming part is that this seems to be an occurrence about once every two weeks for the Magic that they come out without the proper attention to detail or intensity. Almost all of those games came after a day of rest too.

The Magic’s margin for error is still very small and requires their complete attention to compete on most nights. That is still a reason to be cautious with completely buying in with this team even though they have largely played well.

Orlando Magic

No team should be judged by its worst day, just like it should not be judged solely on its best days. The Magic have shown how good they can play. And their 12-14 record continues to suggest there is something different about this team.

But there are still these reminders of how far this team can fall.

The Magic started like this in 2016, going 19-13 after a strong December. But they won just twice in January and fell from a firm Playoff position to outside the picture with 35 wins by the trade deadline.

Last year’s team cited that strong start and collapse as a reason to stay vigilant as they went 8-4 last season. That lesson was not heeded as the team quickly fell away.

The Magic have stayed in the race to this point. They have fought against piling up losses and found a way to gut out wins to stay in contact with .500 and the overall Playoff race.

This team is different for that reason, at least so far. The Magic have not let losses pile up without some response. How the Magic respond to this loss to the Pacers will be critical to the mentality and confidence for this team. As it has been in response to each of those other big losses.

The Magic know their bad habits are not too far behind them. And in several instances, they have popped up again. Like they did Friday night.

Orlando still has a lot of work to do. They know it. Their effort is consistent but their attention to detail and execution is far from it.

And games like Friday night remind them how fragile their success can be. If they do not keep their focus, they could meet a similar fate as previous years.