Frustratingly bad shooting is holding the Orlando Magic back

The Orlando Magic were grinding and fighting. Give them the credit for that.

Down by double digits in the first half on the road against an undefeated Oklahoma City Thunder team, the Orlando Magic were doing everything they could to get themselves back into the game.

And so they fought. They dug out some steals and turnovers. They forced themselves to the rim. They got to the foul line. The Magic were inching closer as the deficit shrunk to 11. It felt like the Magic needed just one shot to go down to get over the top and back into the game.

That never came. The Magic went 1 for 17 from three in the first half. And the second half brought little relief.

The lack of any shooting pressure is too much to overcome. Especially when Isaiah Joe went on a three-point binge of his own, making three straight late in the third quarter to extend the lead back out to 20 and spearhead an 18-4 run that put the game too far out of reach.

That binge alone matched the Magic's 3-point total to that point in the game.

Orlando recovered enough in the fourth quarter to show promising signs again on defense and even on offense as they got to the paint and to the foul line. But the answer for this team is simple after a 102-86 defeat to the Thunder, they need to make shots if they want to win.

Nothing else really matters even if the team is making progress in other areas. They need to make shots, even if they are getting some fantastic looks.

"Great looks. Great looks," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Monday's game. "You can't ask these guys to play any better or the right way, sharing it moving it and trusting the pass. And then defensively the effort that we put in that second quarter along with the fourth to try to make a comeback. That's the effort and energy we have to continue to play with. You can't control if that ball goes in the basket. But you have to continue to try to get the right looks and step in with confidence."

There were all those signs of progress defensively and with the team's intention and effort. But there is also still the reality of an offense that cannot score enough to compete at the moment.

A difficult shooting night/week

The Orlando Magic's final tally is a frustrating one to read.

Orlando finished the game shooting 35.4 percent -- their second straight game shooting worse than 40 percent overall. The Magic made only 1 of 17 3-pointers in the first half and finished shooting 5 for 34 (14.7 percent). That marks the second straight game shooting worse than 20 percent from three.

Orlando overall posted an 86.0 offensive rating, their third time in four games during this losing streak scoring less than a point per possession and the second straight with an offensive rating worse than 90.0 points per 100 possessions. The Orlando Magic only had one game under a 90.0 offensive rating all of last season—the March blowout loss to the New York Knicks.

Even some of their best shooters are frustratingly struggling.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, signed for his shooting acument, missed all five of his shots and both 3-point attempts in Monday's game. He is shooting 22.2 percent for the season.

Jalen Suggs has cooled off considerably since his hot start. He made only 1 of 4 3-pointers in Monday's game and has settled at 35.7 percent. Among rotation players he trails only Franz Wagner at 36.1 percent from deep (a welcome sign after his struggles).

Gary Harris, who did not play in Monday's game, is shooting a lowly 33.3 percent. Anthony Black, who hit two big 3-pointers in last week's win over the Indiana Pacers, is shooting 29.4 percent from three.

The Magic, of course, are a better 3-point shooting team than that. Or at least they should be. It is hard to imagine a team shooting worse.

So the question then goes to whether the team is getting good looks. Even there, it is hard to argue against the shots they are taking. Most of the looks the Magic got are the kind of shots they are looking for—feet-set threes off good passes.

If nobody senses any panic from the Magic as a team about this, it is because they trust that process of how they are getting these shots.

"We talk about the process of things. I thought it was amazing today," Jalen Suggs said after Monday's game. "Our mental space was in the right place. We didn't let calls, emotions, missed shots take us out of defense or out of playing the game. You can't expect them to go in every day. We put the work in. We put shots up. Everyone is taking the extra time before practice and after practice. How can you not trust the work when we get out there? We have to continue to hammer at it, continue to shoot the ball with confidence."

Shooting struggles are hiding progress

But this is the reality. The shots are not going in for the Orlando Magic. And in the modern NBA, it is impossible to win without a steady stream of shots going in. Orlando simply cannot keep up.

Nothing else the team does really matters, even as the team is settling into its reality without Paolo Banchero.

Overall, the Magic held the Thunder to a 101.0 defensive rating—the Thunder posted a 113.7 offensive rating in the first half and 109.1 through three quarters. Those are both good enough to give the Magic a chance to win. . . if they could score.

Orlando even did several things it needs to do to win.

The Magic got to the line for 27 free throw attempts, making 23 of them. The Orlando Magic outscored the Oklahoma City Thunder in the paint 42-38, going 21 for 39 in the paint after a poor showing against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

Through three quarters, the Magic were 15 for 17 from the foul line and were winning the paint 30-28. Orlando padded its stats some in the fourth quarter, facing a garbage-time final quarter for the third straight game. But that still suggests the team is coming out of it.

Again. . . if they could make a shot.

"We defended well. We got great looks. Wide-open threes. That's what we want," Goga Bitadze said after his return game Monday. "The ball didn't go in. We have to move on, keep on playing defense and do what we got to do. It's going to come. It's a long season. This is game eight. If we stay consistent and play how we play, good things are going to happen."

Shooting is the secret, duh

But it should be undeniable that even mediocre shooting is the missing element.

Better shooting means fewer transition and secondary break opportunities for an Oklahoma City Thunder team that can hunt mismatches. It means getting the defense set and settled to lock out the paint. It means confidence in everything the team is doing.

It even opens lanes to get into the paint and score at the basket.

Shooting affects everything. It is the very nature of the game. You cannot score if you cannot put the ball in the basket.

And while the Magic have a lot of hurdles to climb and a lot of areas to overcome missing Paolo Banchero. These shooting struggles are not all about what they are missing without Banchero, although his gravity certainly creates more of the quality open looks the team is emphasizing this year.

This is a deeper problem with the team. A crisis of confidence and execution that is holding the team back from moving forward.

All the other problems the Magic might be facing seem irrelevant in the face of these shooting woes.

Orlando is struggling right now. And nothing can change until they start hitting shots with some regularity. They just have to keep working and hope the tide changes.

"We will not stop working, I can promise you that," Mosley said after Monday's loss. "This is a group that works. They come together and pull for one another. We are not going to stop working just because the result is not what we want in this moment. There is a process to everything that we do. They will continue to stick to that process and trust what we did tonight."

All Mosley and his team can do is hope that turning point is coming.