Turnovers will determine Orlando Magic’s ability to compete

The Orlando Magic are trying to move the ball. Give them that.

This team has absorbed some of the initial shocks and punches that come early in the season and have taken their lumps.

The team had to do some soul searching to find that resilient identity the team was trying to build. And certainly, there will be more of that building to come. Resiliency is not something you just do. It has to be worked on and fought for with each moment.

The fear of getting absolutely rushed in the first half should be gone after the way the team started.

So too should the fear of this team not putting in the work and making the hustle plays. There are bell plays all over the place for this Magic team no matter what the score is. And they are starting to find their groove and their focus to play with that intensity throughout the course of the game.

Orlando’s identity is getting carved out. And both the New York Knicks and Miami Heat found out how pesky the Orlando Magic can be.

That effort is part of the core of the team’s identity. But effort alone is not winning anyone games. It might create some moral victories or be signs of what the team can do. It does not lead to wins.

Only precision and focused effect can do that. The Magic have flown around with their share of chaos and have struggled with organization.

The Orlando Magic are still forming their way to win. But their struggles with turnovers have certainly held the team back offensively.

But where they have clearly struggled most to get settled early on this season is with their turnovers. And these mistakes more than any others compound.

"“I think we had to do a better job taking care of the basketball,” coach Jamahl Mosley said after Monday’s loss to the Heat. “Looking just at the sheet, they had 21 fast-break points, 18 turnovers for us, that was similar to the first New York game. Just being able to get those possessions and taking care of the basketball are the big things that stand out to me right now.”"

The Magic currently sit at 26th in the league in turnover rate, turning it over on 16.8-percent of their possessions. What is worse is how quickly those mistakes turn into scores. The Magic are giving up 18.5 points off turnovers per game (19th in the league) and 19.8 fast-break points per game (29th in the league).

Those two numbers do not completely reflect the Magic’s struggles in transition or the true effect of their turnovers. But right now, the Magic are a high-turnover team and those turnovers appear to be going directly into points and, more specifically easy points.

This was certainly the case against Miami on Monday.

The Heat scored 20 points off 18 turnovers in the game. But in the two quarters where the Magic gave up big runs, turnovers played a huge part.

In the first quarter, Miami won the period 27-15 to stake a double-digit lead they largely would not give up, Orlando had six turnovers for six points. It is easy to see why the Magic stalled in these moments offensively.

Diving a bit deeper, turnovers played a key factor in the big runs during that game.

The Heat went on a 17-2 run in the over six minutes in the first quarter to take a 21-9 lead. Orlando committed five of their six first-quarter turnovers for all six of the points off turnovers in the first quarter.

On a 16-8 run to open the second quarter, Orlando committed four more turnovers for six Miami points. And on the decisive 19-6 run for much of the fourth quarter, the Heat turned four turnovers into two points.

In this game, it may not have been turnovers leading directly to scores — the Magic’s transition defense has gotten better. But these turnovers are coming in bunches and hampering the team’s ability to remain competitive in these games.

Turnovers are how manageable deficits turn into blowouts.

"“It was very obvious in the first half right? We talked about it at the half,” Franz Wagner said after Monday’s loss. “We gave them basically 24 points — 14 in transition and 10 at the line. Just giving a team like that points, you are going to have a hard night. It’s going to be really hard to win. At the end, that’s one of the things we have to get better at from these first four games. You can really see that.”"

That has been the case throughout the season. The team will go through nearly half-quarter stretches where they both cannot shoot the ball and turn the ball over, leading to direct run-outs and easy shots for their opponent.

It has been a mix of both of these negative outcomes that have put the Magic consistently in a hole.

In the New York Knicks’ crushing 16-0 run near the end of the first quarter Friday, the Orlando Magic had two turnovers for four points. In the soul-crushing 20-6 run to open the second quarter, the Magic had another three turnovers for four points.

In the San Antonio Spurs’ decisive 25-5 run in the third and early fourth quarters, the Orlando Magic had four turnovers for four points.

Clearly, turnovers are not the lone cause for the Magic’s struggles. They have struggled with defensive pressure and switching schemes throughout the early part of the season. Their offense will devolve into isolations and late-shot-clock heaves on occasion too.

Orlando’s offense as a whole has struggled to generate good shots. The team’s turnover struggles are a symptom of this larger problem rather than the cause of it.

Still, many of the team’s turnovers are something the team can correct in the short term. Orlando would rather be in a position where it is missing shots and that is the reason they are falling behind rather than giving away possessions and free run-outs as the team is routinely doing now.

Many of these large runs are only made worse by the team’s own mistakes — whether it be an intercepted pass or an offensive foul or fumbling the ball out of bounds.

There is a lot still to work on and improve upon. Turnovers are something the team can absolutely control.

Playing against quality defensive teams to start the season has certainly added to the struggles.

Orlando has to control what it can control to improve the offense. And that is going to start with turnovers.