Last Friday, the Orlando Magic were searching for answers following a 35-point loss at home to the Chicago Bulls.
No matter the skill level of the team or who they are, these moments deserve some introspection. How does a deficit get so bad and so beyond a team that they lose all contact?
Losses like that say a whole lot more about the losing team than they do the winning team.
It can even be something entirely small that turned a seemingly manageable nine-point halftime deficit into a 21-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter into something even worse.
And in the case of that game, it probably was not just the leftover turkey.
The Magic shot poorly in that game — 37.5-percent overall and 7 for 32 (21.9-percent) from beyond the arc. That was a big reason why the Magic ultimately lost the game — and have lost many of their games this season.
But the team continually pointed to their own mistakes and things they did that cost them.
It was turnovers that put them in a mode where they felt like they had to catch up and press. It sped them up beyond the pace they wanted to play and put them in a position to get the doors blown off them.
The Orlando Magic are struggling with turnovers and consistency as their offense sputters and the team knows it often beats itself.
Orlando had 15 turnovers for 22 points in that game last week. It was a key point in the Bulls’ 16-0 run that helped them take control of the game.
It became a key for the Magic in their loss to the Houston Rockets on Friday too. The Rockets, a team that likes to force turnovers and push the pace anyway, forced the Magic into 18 turnovers for 21 points. It was a huge factor in the game and the Magic made some lazy plays where they just let go of the ball.
In the end, Orlando has a small margin for error. And so giving away possessions with turnovers hurts even more.
This is undoubtedly a young team and mistakes will be made. But Orlando is trying to get to a point where the team takes care of itself better and where the team is not beating itself.
That is a point of consistency every team needs to hit. And for this young team, it remains a difficult task.
"“We have to do a better job taking care of the ball,” Wendell Carter said after last week’s loss to the Bulls. “The game is going to get sped up at times. The one thing that we can rely on as a team is just get a shot on the offensive end. That’s something I feel like even if it’s a bad shot, right now I feel like we’re just turning the ball over way too much.”"
Orlando has said to itself all year — and the numbers bear some of this out — that it is a solid defensive team in the half-court and most of the team’s problems come in transition. Indeed, it is easy to track the team’s difficulties with its turnovers.
During that tell-tale 16-0 run for the Bulls last week, the Magic committed four turnovers in a less than four-minute stretch.
In the loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers the following day, the Orlando Magic recovered and took care of the ball with just nine turnovers for eight points. The Magic were proud of that progression from one day to the next.
But turnovers rose up again in their next game against the Philadelphia 76ers. In falling behind by 12 points in the first quarter of that game, Orlando committed five of its 12 total turnovers in the opening frame. Similarly, against the Denver Nuggets, the Orlando Magic committed four of their 13 turnovers in the first quarter too.
The game against the Rockets on Friday was also full of turnovers.
Orlando had 18 turnovers for 21 points, committing eight in the second quarter (when Orlando still outscored Houston 32-23) and five in the third quarter when Houston came back into the game — including two in the final 3:29 of the third when the Rockets see-sawed back into the lead.
Players pointed to those miscues and mistakes as the deciding factor in the loss.
"“That’s something we have to do a better job of,” Carter said after Friday’s loss to the Rockets. “That’s another consistency part. Some games we do a really good protecting the ball and the next game we have 20-plus turnovers. We’re not going to win especially when we play really good teams, we’re not even going to give ourselves a chance to win. A game like tonight shows we have a lot more room to grow as a group.”"
For the season, the Magic are 25th in the league with a 15.3-percent turnover rate. They give up just 16.0 points off turnovers per game (15th in the league) and 11.2 fast-break points per game (seventh in the league).
The turnovers are more opportunities lost than things that are directly hurting or killing the Magic.
That is a natural thing young teams have to figure out how to do. Young teams are still learning how to win and to keep the consistency they need to manage a game and withstand any runs the team might give up and center themselves.
The Magic are still trying to make the right decisions to get themselves back in the game.
"“I think that’s what we’re going to continue to talk about: Making sure we take care of the basketball especially in situations like this,” coach Jamahl Mosley said after Friday’s loss to the Rockets. “We give ourselves a chance to get the game. Those turnovers that happen early on, they add up later on in the game because they limit our possessions.”"
Orlando wants to play fast and that will naturally lead to more mistakes. It does seem like a positive sign the Magic are able to limit those points off turnovers despite the high turnover rate. That shows signs of discipline.
But the volume ultimately buries the team. And the Magic cannot beat the opponent in addition to their own mistakes. Live-ball turnovers remain the biggest thing that disrupts and hurts the Magic offense. It already has a lot to overcome.
But better and more precise execution will help the Magic improve in all facets of the game. They just have to learn to do it.
"“You’ve got to move on from those live-ball turnovers and you have to learn from how they were getting them,” Mosley said after last week’s loss to the Bulls. “It goes back to are we setting the right, proper screens to get our guards open? Are our guards waiting on the setup so they can turn the corner? Making the simple extra help above the break when they are helping in at the nail. Can we find that possession and make the simple play? we keep talking to our guys about dominating the simple. Sometimes the simple play is just the easy throw-ahead pass.”"
Getting all that down will help the Magic a ton. But understanding the simple play and the simple execution is the best can be the most difficult thing to learn.