Steve Clifford calls out his players as Orlando Magic must make their last stand

Coach Steve Clifford called out the Orlando Magic after a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. He is feeling the urgency to win. Will the players follow?

Orlando Magic coach Steve Clifford went to the dais at the Amway Center and started before anyone could get a question in edgewise.

He said a line familiar to those who have covered him so far this year — he would not be able to comment much until he watched the game over. The tape never lies and Clifford has always been careful not to judge too much off his first impressions.

This game though, he felt certain of his conclusions. Enough to say exactly what was on his mind and then leave without taking any questions.

In the Orlando Magic’s 126-117 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, he saw a team making losing plays, reaching in and giving away ticky-tack fouls throughout the first quarter, giving up 32 points in the opening frame and 69 points in the first half — plus 26 total free throw attempts.

He saw a team that struggled to get back throughout the game, giving into frustration from poor shots or a non-call or even celebrating a momentary success. Oklahoma City had 18 fast-break points in the game and dictated the pace throughout as Orlando tried desperately to catch up.

He saw a team that struggled to move the ball — particularly in the fourth quarter — settling for tough outside shots against the Thunder’s switching defense. The Magic had seemingly learned nothing from the previous times they encountered this defense throughout the season.

It was a fundamental failure in a lot of ways. The Magic had a three-point lead at 101-98 and proceeded to give up an 18-2 run to essentially give the game away.

Clifford’s final line, spoken about the team’s penchant for cheap fouls early in the game, was perhaps the most prescient. This team is too smart to be making these kinds of dumb, losing plays.

And they are losing plays. The Magic’s record is what it is — 20-31 — because of these plays. These plays that lead to the team consistently blowing 15-point leads in the second half or struggling to execute down the stretch or simply play solid defense from game to game.

And now, the team’s Playoff hopes are fading faster and faster now as the losses pile up.

What is perhaps most disappointing and frustrating is that this is not merely a matter of a team lacking talent. If that were the case, they would get blown out more often. The 16-point lead the Thunder built in the third quarter would have remained. Orlando has not lost a game by more than 20 points since the loss to the Charlotte Hornets on New Year’s Eve (although losses to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Sacramento Kings on the ensuing road trip certainly qualify as “blowout” losses). The days of those embarrassing losses seem behind them, at least.

This is a team that is fighting and can clearly compete with just about any team in the league. The Magic are more than capable of making a Playoff push and playing like a Playoff team.

The difference is becoming something completely different.

The pattern of these losses in the last eight games — seven losses in the last eight games with five coming down to virtually the final possession — is nearly the same. The Magic’s own lack of attention to detail and commitment to the game plan gets exposed when the pressure gets turned up. And Orlando crumbles.

Clifford said it bluntly in regards to the team’s inability to stop Oklahoma City’s vaunted fast break. It does not take talent to get back on defense. That is pure effort, composure and will.

So the Magic now sitting at 20-31 and five games out of the final Playoff spot are well past the point of making grand pronouncements of change. The season has already hit its tipping point and it is now about surviving the fall to try to climb back up while there is still time.

If the team wants to hold onto its Playoff dreams, there must be an urgency to their play.

Team captains Evan Fournier, Nikola Vucevic and Aaron Gordon have all said the right things. They understand the moment. What no one on the roster has been able to deliver is the next level to get them over the hump.

It used to be simple things like execution down the stretch and making shots. Now it seems to be more fundamental things like keeping the team’s composure and playing hard even through mistakes. It is sticking together even in the face of adversity.

Those are much harder things for a coach to teach and correct. That is wholly up to the players. And it is exactly the thing that has fractured the team in previous seasons.

As was the case throughout this season, it is on the players to turn this team around. They were given another chance to squeeze as much as they can out of themselves and make a push for the Playoffs.

As Evan Fournier said after the win over the Atlanta Hawks, they knew this was the last chance for this group before management would have to make major changes. Those major changes might have come regardless of their success or not. This season is all on them.

That is probably what Clifford was appealing to as he called out his team Tuesday.

The dream and the team’s most basic and simple goal is slipping away at this moment. The team is losing touch with the pack — closer to the tanking teams now than the Playoff teams — and Clifford knows it.

This is a time when the Magic need to sharpen their attention and recommit to what works. Instead, the Magic are letting the frustration and doubt that characterized their previous teams sink in. The remnants of the team’s poor culture and years of losing still exist.

This is how the team has fallen apart before after promising starts. They stop playing with confidence, allowing other teams to dictate the pace to them or blow them out on crushing runs. They stop playing together, hoisting bad shots off minimal passes. And they give into frustration, looking elsewhere for answers when it is wholly within them.

There is still some time to save it. Clifford knows that.

He must hope this kind of public reprimand — and surely the private one after he reviews the tape — will heighten their senses again as it did after a loss to the Detroit Pistons in November. It worked then as the Magic won five of the next six.

It has to work now. Because time is running out — both in the season and before the trade deadline.

The Magic are probably well past the point they needed this harsh reminder. But here comes their last stand for the season.