Orlando Magic know their defense must continue improving

The Orlando Magic have established themselves as one of the best defensive teams in the league. But that is not a given and the group must get better.

The Orlando Magic were left searching for answers after Sunday’s 109-102 loss to the Indiana Pacers.

For the most part, they finally got their offense moving and scored enough points to win the game. But their defense struggled throughout the game. The game was only the second time all season the team had given up more than 110 points per 100 possessions and only trailed the blowout loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in terms of poor defensive performances.

Coach Steve Clifford said the team struggled from the very beginning of the game to get around screens and defend the ball-handler. That was the main culprit throughout the game as the Pacers were able to get into the lane and hit mid-range jumpers.

That was the formula throughout the entire game and the Magic’s defense struggled to adjust and adapt. It struggled to find that fire.

And that ultimately cost the team the game on a night where it finally hit better than 40-percent of its 3-pointers and hit a season-high 15 from beyond the arc.

If there is one thing the Magic have learned through the course of the first 10 games, it is their defense can be elite and devastating. Teams will find it tough to break them down. But it is far from a given. And lapses in attention or focus or execution will lead to big problems.

Orlando is already a strong defensive team. It has to continue to get better.

"“It’s what we have to understand,” Clifford said after practice Tuesday. “If we’re going to be a good team, which we should be, we’re going to have to defend at an elite level. We’re more than capable. We need to have the mindset that no matter what we’ve got to defend whether we’re scoring or not scoring.”"

The Magic are still among the elite teams defensively in the league.

In the early season, Orlando ranks fifth in the league, giving up 101.1 points per 100 possessions. The team is fifth in defensive rebound rate (75.9 percent), seventh in opponent effective field goal percentage (49.2 percent) and second in blocks per game (7.2 percent). Teams are shooting 56.3 percent at the rim against the Magic this year, the third-best mark in the league.

About the only place Orlando is struggling defensively is in forcing turnovers. Their 14.6 percent turnover rate is 23rd in the league. Increasing those deflections and charging the fast break would certainly help the team create a little easier offense. That is when the Magic have their better games, Clifford said.

Still, the defense has been an overall positive for this team and the backbone for its potential success. It is something the team is continuing to cultivate and focus on.

"“I think in every aspect we can get better,” Markelle Fultz said after practice Tuesday. “That’s what’s so exciting we’re showing spurts of us being so good. But we all know we can get a lot better. It’s pretty exciting for a lot of people. I know for me, I’m excited at getting better at everything. The sky is the limit truly.”"

It is still early and the numbers still fluctuate wildly, even game to game. But Orlando has established itself as one of the tougher defensive teams in the league to this point.

Still, the team faltered a bit in that game against the Pacers. They have had some rough defensive games and even as the offense has picked itself up some, the Magic have turned in some less-than-stellar defensive performances.

Clifford said nothing in this league is a given. The team has to do a better job getting into the ball more on the perimeter to avoid the problems from Sunday’s loss. They are still working to get their deflection numbers up and become even more disruptive.

Orlando is still seeking consistency on both ends of the floor. The defense might come naturally to them, but it still a work in progress. Especially when it comes to using the defense to generate easy offense.

"“We’re still missing some low man sometimes, [messing] up the coverages,” Evan Fournier said after practice Tuesday. “There are still areas where we can get better. We are good, but we can be even better and become elite.”"

Evan Fournier was at the center of a lot of the Magic’s struggles in Sunday’s game. He had the primary defensive assignment on Malcolm Brogdon but got eaten up on screens from Domantas Sabonis throughout the game.

Clifford said most of the blame for the Magic’s defensive struggles were from the guards and their difficulties working around screens. The centers were in their drop coverages fine in his estimation.

This is where the team needs to improve getting more physical on the ball and trying to make it harder for ball handlers to initiate screens. Fournier said he has to do a better job reading the angles to negotiate screens like that. It is on the guards to negotiate screens and stay attached to ball handlers.

There is still some unity the team needs to find. Terrence Ross said the team can still get better playing on a string and staying with their coverages. They are still making little mistakes that give up points here and there.

Especially late in games, that has cost Orlando.

The Orlando Magic have had some poor defensive coverage in some notable late-game situations that cost them wins against the Atlanta Hawks and Toronto Raptors already. Orlando has a 107.8 defensive rating in clutch situations so far this year (a small sample size of 24 minutes).

Those mental lapses have cost the team. So there is plenty to sharpen up. The team still has to put all the pieces together on both sides of the ball.

But defense will be their backbone. The team is not going to win many games without a strong defensive effort.

It is already a huge benefit for them and a huge part of their success and potential success.

The Magic have shown plenty of flashes of their potential elite play on defense. But the team still has work to do to get where it wants to be.