5 takeaways for the 2020 season from rewatching Orlando Magic’s playoff series

Game 4: Aaron Gordon’s Emergence

Very few players could objectively say they had a good series against the Toronto Raptors. So few players did much positive consistently throughout the series.

Coming out of the series though, it was hard not think of Aaron Gordon positively. He led the team with 15.2 points per game and was second on the team with 7.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. Gordon shot a 53.2 percent effective field goal percentage.

As Mike Fratello put it on the Game 5 broadcast, Gordon’s scoring average in the playoffs stayed relatively the same and he needed to take his game up to another level. It is fair to say that about every player on the Magic.

In that framework, Gordon’s playoffs stood out because he was giving the Magic the same kind of production he did in the regular season.

The moments of brilliance that came from the Magic all seemed to come when Gordon was involved. He had several strong scoring bursts that showed his potential as a versatile forward. The team just had to get him in the right spots.

Most of that came when the team was able to get Gordon favorable matchups on switches.

He rarely attacked Kawhi Leonard with any success, scoring just 15 points on 6-for-20 shooting with four turnovers, according to NBA.com’s Second Spectrum player tracking statistics. But he torched Pascal Siakam for 30 points on 72 possessions and 12-for-19 shooting.

Gordon had his best stretch through Game 4 when he scored 11 points in the third quarter and kept the Magic from getting blown out. Of course, Leonard seemingly had an answer for every shot Gordon took and the Magic made no progress.

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That spurt as part of a 25-point, 7-rebound, 5-assist effort was his best of the series. But it was a prolonged version of several similar spurts throughout the series. And they usually coincided with the Magic’s best offensive play.

It was promising to watch Gordon take charge like that in the moments he did. He spent a lot of last season blending into the offense. He had fewer isolations and fewer wild forays to the rim throughout the season. He focused a lot more on becoming a better playmaker and making better decisions with the ball.

When the playoffs began though, it felt like the Magic were begging for someone to step up. And for long stretches that was Gordon.

Gordon still has some maturity to go. He has a penchant for bowling his way to the rim. The Raptors baited him into plenty of charges throughout the series. That foul trouble limited some of his effectiveness too — especially in Game 5.

Gordon said he has worked this offseason on his post-game and footwork. That will help him unlock the rest of his game.

But the next step undoubtedly for him is having the confidence and ability to more confidently and consistently test players like Leonard on a playoff stage like this.