Orlando Magic’s Terrence Ross starting to catch fire again

The Orlando Magic are starting to build some offensive consistency and Terrence Ross approaching his 2019 numbers is a big reason why.

The Orlando Magic’s biggest issue throughout the course of the season has been its poor outside shooting.

The Magic already were a team without a lot of respected shooters and it showed with how teams collapsed the paint. Orlando has lost a lot of games early on in the season where the difference in the game could easily be attributed to the difference in 3-point makes.

This emphasis on shooting, especially early in the season, turned toward the Magic’s best shooters who all seemed to come out of the gates slowly. D.J. Augustin, Nikola Vucevic and Terrence Ross all shot well below their career averages. Even Evan Fournier was inconsistent to start the season.

Those numbers have started to normalize during the last few weeks. The Magic’s offense has had a relative surge in the last 10 games. The offensive pieces are still coming together. Orlando is still losing games and struggling to shoot consistently.

Fortunately for Orlando, the team is starting to be able to count on one of its most important players again.

Terrence Ross has not had the “moment” so far this year. Last year the “Human Torch” was born on several clutch 3-pointers and his ability to catch fire quickly to score 20 points off the bench in the seeming blink of an eye, sparking the team to some incredible wins. Ross has not had those momentum-building moments yet.

Orlando is seeking the formula that led to such an incredible run to end last season. The bench’s overall success is still tied closely to Terrence Ross, even with D.J. Augustin joining him as an offensive reinforcement.

After Ross’ own slow start as he dealt with a knee issue, he is starting to provide consistency and the hot shooting the Magic expect.

Ross is averaging 12.7 points per game and shooting 33.5 percent from beyond the arc for a 50.2-percent effective field goal percentage. He is shooting 6.0 3-point field goal attempts per game (down from 7.0 last year).

All those numbers are down from last year. Ross is not putting up 15.0 points per game like he did last year. And the lowered 3-point field goal percentage has certainly been a detriment to a bench unit that has struggled to score all year.

But in his last 10 games, Ross is averaging 14.6 points per game and shooting 43.1 percent from beyond the arc for a 55.8-percent effective field goal percentage. These numbers are more in line with the “Human Torch” the Magic fell in love with last year.

In those 10 games, Ross scored 22 against the Phoenix Suns, 21 against the Cleveland Cavaliers and 23 against the Milwaukee Bucks. It was the first time this year he had scored 20 points in consecutive games this season and just the second time he had scored more than 20 points in consecutive games in his career — he only has five streaks of games where he scored 20 points in consecutive games.

Even with Ross’ potential, he is not the player the Magic rely on for big nights every night. But it is the big nights that could turn the team into something else. And his threat and even some of his gravity open things up for the rest of his teammates.

Orlando is not expecting those kinds of dynamite efforts from Ross every night. Certainly, to defeat a top-tier team, the Magic will need Ross’ supernova ability to hit several shots in a row. Last year, Ross’ shooting was often the catalyst to runs that would net the Magic some major wins.

That is the part that has not happened yet for Ross. But Ross is starting to shoot more comfortably and provide a more consistent outside presence for the team.

In their last 10 games, the Magic have a 114.4 offensive rating with Ross in the game and a +4.4 net rating with him on the floor. That is a signal of the bench unit’s overall strength of late — all the top players in on-court net rating over the last 10 games are part of that bench unit.

Ross is always a buoy for that group. The team runs a lot of offense for him — he has a 21.4-percent usage rate this season — and Ross has the green light to take a lot of shots, including bad shots.

Nobody on the team takes more shots against “tight” defense (defined as the closest defender between 2-4 feet) than Ross with 6.2 of his field-goal attempts coming against “tight” defense.

That is part of the bargain with Ross. There will be games and stretches where he struggles to shoot. And it will be tough for the Magic to replace that production. Certainly moving Augustin to the bench has helped on that front.

But the big part of the bargain with Ross is that he would be able to provide the scoring punch off the bench and a bit of unpredictability. So far, the Magic have not gotten that big performance.

The good news for Orlando — and at least part of why the offense has had a mini-surge lately — is Ross has started to shoot the ball better and approach his numbers from last year. Ross has started to catch fire and light the lamp more.

The Magic certainly need their “Human Torch.” And he is starting to heat up.