Orlando Magic must punch first if they want to make the playoffs

From the start Thursday against the Detroit Pistons, the Orlando Magic were on their back foot. They got punched and staggered and could not recover.

On the Orlando Magic’s first possession of their game against the Detroit Pistons, something was clearly off.

The team got the ball inside to Nikola Vucevic and he kicked it out as he always does. But the pass was low. Too low, slipping between Evan Fournier‘s legs and toward mid-court. Evan Fournier was able to fend off the defender and find a runway to the rim.

He got going and got to the basket. Only for Andre Drummond to swat the ball into the Magic bench.

Tone set. And Drummond would add five more blocks in the game, including three more in the first quarter. The Pistons were not playing around in this one. They were re-asserting their hold over the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference and shutting down any thoughts from the Magic of extending their win streak to seven.

They threw their punch first. They took the lead and never truly let it go.

And that was truly the difference. The Pistons did not simply out-execute the Magic throughout the game. Detroit physically made sure Orlando knew it was not going to win the game.

The Magic were playing a bit tentative around the basket They were struggling to assert their dominance and were always playing catch up.

This is rarely a formula for success for the Magic. Especially at this stage of the season. Playing catch up will leave the Magic trailing far too often. Especially when a team dominates them physically like this, exposing many of their weaknesses overall.

Sure, the Magic came back and were able to keep pace for one quarter. But Orlando was not playing a style that was going to be conducive to winning.

The other shoe was about to drop. There was not rescuing themselves in this game like they did against the Memphis Grizzlies and Miami Heat. The Magic were due for a fall after those kinds of poor efforts to start. They finally hit it.

But unlike those games, the Magic still carried a physical advantage. Their play in those games quickly turned to their style. Their defense was lax early on, but the Magic were able to keep their head above water. They were still able to operate as they wanted, as imperfectly as it was.

The Pistons left no doubt who was winning this game early on. Detroit was first to every loose ball. The defense forced Orlando into poor shots and frustrating drives and over dribbling to try to break them down. When the Magic got in the paint, Andre Drummond was there to meet and crowd them.

Orlando could not operate as normal on offense.

It was worse for the team’s defense. There the Pistons dictated the game too.

Detroit may not have gotten to the foul line, but they had Orlando backpedaling all night. Guards came around screens clean forcing Nikola Vucevic into difficult decisions to step up and defend the ball handler or keep contact with Andre Drummond. As he does when he is at his worst, he tried to do both and gave up both anyway.

Off the ball, Wayne Ellington came around screens completely free without much interference. That is how he hit five 3-pointers in the third quarter as Detroit put the game fully away, leading by as much as 26 points.

Orlando simply did not dictate what Detroit would do. The Pistons had their way on both ends, controlling the game in almost every way you can measure. The Magic were trying to make up ground they gave up early on.

This was the inevitable way the team was headed with recent efforts. Against the Memphis Grizzlies, Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat, the Orlando Magic gave up the early lead but were able to reel themselves back in. Their defense dictated play and forced their opponent into the shots they wanted them to take.

Every single one of Orlando’s comebacks in those games came from the defensive end first. The Magic were physical and dictated the pace of play.

Inevitably a team would hit tough shots and break the team’s defense. It was literally playing with fire. And it is too tough in this league to constantly have to come from behind and win after trailing by so much.

The Pistons burned the Magic. They were playing with playoff urgency to hold onto their spot. Orlando seemingly skated in high on the team’s win streak and expected to reach into those reserves when necessary.

The loss must serve as a reminder of how the Magic must play throughout the entire 48 minutes. Not just for 24. This was a reminder the team cannot get fat and happy with success.

It was also a reminder of how easily the Magic’s defense can slip up. And while the Magic have not had many slips this year — especially since Jan. 9 — they can easily slip up.

This though is a matter of will. The Magic know they can execute defensively at a high level. But it still takes immense focus and intensity. In some ways, playing defense at the level the Magic have played still goes against their nature.

It is not simply about Vucevic holding his line defensively to cut off dribble penetration. It is about perimeter defenders bumping and guiding players to take a wider angle to allow them to get over the screen and allow Vucevic to recover.

Too often Thursday, Vucevic was caught in the no-man’s land that characterized his entire career. He was too afraid to push up and defend the ball handler and leave the big man rolling free to the basket. Vucevic failing to make a decision to guard someone is almost worse.

But putting him repeatedly in that decision and that position is a signal of a team that is not playing with the physicality they need.

For sure, the Magic have to set that physical tone early. They need to bring that intensity and focus to how they need to play from the start. They need to make their punch first again and take the lead out of the first quarter rather than playing from behind.

Certainly, when a team like the Pistons plays a physical game as they did, the Magic have to be able to meet it and match it. Really they should not need another team to punch them first to play that way.

Playing with physicality is essential to their defensive success. And for the next six games, they will need to bring that physicality first to make the playoffs.