5 takeaways for the 2020 season from rewatching Orlando Magic’s playoff series
Game 3: The Power of Size
One thing has always stuck out about the end of Game 3.
In a close game, Orlando was in need of stops. That was something they could always rely on. Their defense was their backbone. But this is a playoff series and it comes down to a series of plays. It comes down to matchups.
And that defense was suddenly not so reliable. The matchups were not in Orlando’s favor.
Those late stages of Game 3, a game where Orlando effectively bottled up Kawhi Leonard through a mixture of Nikola Vucevic more forcefully shading Leonard on every pick and roll and Leonard apparently suffering from the flu, saw Pascal Siakam with the ball on the block, feasting on the Magic’s smaller defender.
Orlando, rightfully, stuck to its typical closing lineup. Coach Steve Clifford has said he prefers offensively focused lineups late in games because defenses typically play better late anyway. No one would complain about replacing Jonathan Isaac for Terrence Ross in those lineups and late stages of the game.
But Siakam is waiting for this. He scores several times on the block against Ross to stem the tide and keep the Magic from getting all the way back. The Magic are scrambling and eventually falter.
That matchup was something Toronto sought out all the time.
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Siakam had a great series regardless — he averaged 22.6 points per game. That was even going up against Jonathan Isaac, who bottled him up throughout the regular season. But Isaac’s size mattered against him. It did not stop him, but it certainly slowed him down.
Siakam ended up scoring 7.8 points per game on a 54.2 percent effective field goal percentage with Isaac as his defender, according to NBA.com’s Second Spectrum player tracking statistics. That was 39 points on 171 possessions (22.8 points per 100 possessions).
Against all other players? Siakam averaged 14.6 points per game with a 60.2 percent effective field goal percentage. That is 75 points on 199 possessions (37.7 points per 100 possessions).
Taking out Aaron Gordon’s numbers (Pascal Siakam went just 5 for 11 on 49 possessions against Gordon), and it looks even worse. Pascal Siakam especially victimized Evan Fournier for 29 points on 52 possessions. Most of his 3-pointers came with Fournier at least as the nearest defender.
Isaac certainly struggled in the playoff series. He faced foul trouble especially in Game 4 making things even worse. But he made a bigger difference against Siakam and his size than anyone else.
It is under this lense that signing Al-Farouq Aminu made a lot of sense. It gives the Magic the opportunity to play two big and versatile wing forwards at all times. It gives them the chance to shift Ross more to the shooting guard against these bigger lineups.
That appears to be what the Magic want.
Orlando has always valued size. But in the playoffs, they faced a team that was objectively bigger than them and used that size to beat them in the end. It was most evident in the deciding moments of Game 3.
The Magic appear determined not to let that happen again.