Orlando Magic playing the “stock” market key to their defense

The Orlando Magic’s defense has gone up and down this year. The secret for the team’s potential success is their ability to create deflections.

Each game, Orlando Magic coach Steve Clifford and his coaching staff dutifully track deflections. The team has a goal of the number they want to reach — it is somewhere just less than 40 by their count — as a sign of their defensive activity and energy.

The Magic know defense is the key to their ultimate success. They have seen that number slip in the last 10 games as they have focused on rediscovering their offense and then shifting to make up for the loss of Nikola Vucevic.

After needing to outscore both the Washington Wizards and Phoenix Suns, their defense was rightly at the top of the list for the team’s focus. Even with those games, the Magic’s defense is slowly creeping up.

Orlando currently stands ninth in the league in defensive rating, giving up 104.4 points per 100 possessions. That comes after giving up 92.6 points per 100 possessions on Friday’s win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, the fourth-best defensive effort of the season.

The low score — a 93-87 win for the Magic on the road — was evidence of the defense enough. But so too were the final moments of the game. With the Magic clinging to a three-point lead after a Jonathan Isaac 3-pointer with about 5.5 minutes to play, both teams went into an offensive shell. Neither team was able to get much of anything going.

For the Cavaliers, that was largely because the Magic’s defense became all the more menacing.

Khem Birch blocked a Jordan Clarkson floater on the very next possession. Two minutes later, Jonathan Isaac came flying to swat a Tristan Thompson floater into the stratosphere in an especially impressive defensively play. Evan Fournier picked up a rare block on a Collin Sexton jumper. With one minute to play, Aaron Gordon and Khem Birch came flying to block a Collin Sexton shot off the backboard (granted, the league would say that call was incorrect and should have been a goaltend that would have made it a one-point game).

In the meantime, the Magic were hassling defensively. Birch blocked an alley-oop attempt in there and the Magic generally made it difficult for the Cavaliers to get the shots they wanted.

The Magic closed that game out solely with their defense and some timely shotmaking.

Orlando’s defensive activity was very chartable in that game. The Magic totaled 19 “stocks” (steals and blocks) and 16 deflections (according to NBA.com’s player tracking statistics). A total of 35 “true” deflections is a sign of the team’s overall activity.

A big part of this defense, as the coaches track, are those kinds of plays. The way the team can knock an offense out of rhythm with a carefully timed touch out of bounds or a block or steal to end the possession. These are game-changing plays and part and parcel to the team’s best defensive performances.

For the season, the Magic are averaging 14.7 deflections per game and 14.9 “stocks” per game. That would equal roughly 29.6 “true” deflections per game. Orlando’s “stocks” per game are second in the league behind the Los Angeles Lakers. Jonathan Isaac is tied with Anthony Davis in “stocks” per game.

That should show just how good the Magic’s defense can be. In Friday’s win, Orlando totaled a much higher deflection number than their season averages.

In the Magic’s best defensive games, these deflection numbers can jump through the rough. And even in poor defensive performances, high deflection numbers can keep the game close.

In the season opener against the Cavaliers, the Magic had an 83.3 defensive rating and 28 true deflections. Against the Memphis Grizzlies on Nov. 8, the Orlando Magic had an 86.0 defensive rating and 34 true deflections. In the Black Friday game against the Toronto Raptors, the Orlando Magic had 39 true deflections (including 21 “stocks”).

Those were the Magic’s three best defensive performances. Their three worst saw the team’s deflection numbers nosedive.

In the Magic’s Nov. 17 win over the Wizards, the team had a season-worst 119.8 defensive rating with 20 true deflections (including just eight “stocks”). In the Orlando Magic’s blowout loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 1, the Magic had a 119.4 defensive rating with 29 true deflections. In the Nov. 10 loss to the Indiana Pacers, the Orlando Magic had a 118.5 defensive rating with 31 true deflections (including 11 blocks in that game).

It is obviously not everything. The Magic can still give up a lot of points when they are active defensively and swarming for blocks. If the Magic are over 30 “true” deflections, they are likely to have a chance to win. If they are below that, things can get very ugly defensively.

Deflections are more a sign of defensive activity, although not necessarily defensive precision.

But this is a potential strength for the Magic when they are locked into their rotations around it.

The fact the Magic could defend and get into passing lanes like this, they can be very strong defensively. It is at least an indicator of the team’s general defensive activity. And if Orlando remains among the top teams in the league in “stocks” and gets those deflection numbers up, Orlando could rise up the defensive rankings again.

The team understands this is part of their process. Magic players will note they have yet to put together a complete game where both the offense and defense are working in tandem. If the team can do that, then those high deflection numbers will be even more devastating.

The Magic clearly have a ton of defensive potential. But they are still finding their way to play on that end just as much as they are on the offensive end. Activity and energy are a big part of that.

And one of the advantages the Magic have — whether realized or not — is their ability to generate deflections, blocks and steals.