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

Game 5: Turnovers and Transition

The final game of the series was pretty much pro forma.

The Toronto Raptors blitzed the Orlando Magic and took a 20-point lead quickly in the first quarter. Orlando made a run to cut it to 15 and flirt with making another run at the lead. But the Raptors would just extend the lead again.

Orlando faced foul trouble to both Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic in this game. With both of their best players handicapped in their aggression. The game was played to reach the end and for the series to end.

The Magic were pressing and trying hard to stay in the game. They got some good looks that just would not go down. And the Raptors ran on them.

In some ways, the Raptors played exactly how the Magic want to play. Their defense was their base, forcing turnovers and misses and then using that to charge a fast break.

Orlando was a fairly poor fast-breaking team last year. The Magic averaged 10.8 fast-break points per game (25th in the league). That is not at all what you would expect for a team with some incredible athletes like Aaron Gordon and Jonathan Isaac and shooters like Evan Fournier and Terrence Ross.

Toronto Raptors

The Magic should be a team that can get out on the run. And part of the reason they could not was their struggle to create turnovers. Orlando forced 13.0 per game (26th in the league) and averaged only 15.2 points off turnovers last season (24th in the league).

There is an opportunity there for the team to improve. If the biggest thing the Magic have to do to improve is to generate more offense, hen finding a way to create easy points in transition is vital. Just like the free throw issue from before.

Orlando has to find easier ways to score. And transition opportunities are perhaps the easiest and best way for the team to get there.

Coach Steve Clifford said he would like to see Orlando play with better pace next year. He wants to see them pick up their pace and get out in transition more. It was easy to see that power in Game 5.

Toronto could upend the game and turn a relatively competitive series into a runaway because they could turn misses into transition opportunities and easy baskets.

Clifford is not likely to advise his team to go after steals and lose their discipline defensively. But the team will likely look to take steps to run more off misses and look for these easy opportunities.

It is vital to their ultimate success offensively.

The Magic’s five-game series with the Raptors was perhaps not as much of a blowout as it might indicate. Orlando still did some good things throughout the series. But the Magic struggled to break a set and active Raptors defense.

Orlando’s offensive weaknesses were all laid bare against that team. Toronto had Kawhi Leonard able to step up in a big way and got Pascal Siakam to play above his regular-season level too.

Ultimately, the Magic lost that series because they could not raise their game to another level. Whether it was the Raptors’ strong defense, the stage or something else, the Magic were unable to meet the challenge.

It laid a blueprint for their improvement in 2020. But ultimately, Orlando will not see how much the team has improved until it gets back tot he postseason and gets a shot at redemption.