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- Tickets: $29-$609+ on StubHub
- Season Series: Magic 105, Nets 98 in Orlando on Nov. 14; Tonight in Brooklyn; Feb. 5 in Orlando
Orlando Magic at Brooklyn Nets: Stats and 3 Keys to Watch
Orlando | Brooklyn | |
|---|---|---|
101.2 | Pace | 97.7 |
114.8 | Off. Rtg. | 112.3 |
113.6 | Def. Rtg. | 116.7 |
53.2 | eFG% | 53.2 |
31.3 | O.Reb.% | 29.9 |
13.6 | TO% | 16.1 |
32.1 | FTR | 29.4 |
1. The inconsistency of it all
Right now, the Orlando Magic are just an inconsistent mess. They have alternated wins and losses for the past 13 games, going 6-7, meaning they are due for a win tonight against the Brooklyn Nets.
In those 13 games, the Magic have a 113.1 offensive rating (21st in the league) and 117.1 defensive rating (22nd in the league). It is honestly a miracle the Magic have scratched out the wins. They have stayed stable since Franz Wagner's injury.
That is all the Magic are doing right now: staying stable.
They are hardly playing good basketball, with long stretches of basketball where the offense is stagnant or non-existent, and some pretty poor defense. Orlando has given up 120 points per 100 possessions in five of the past nine games. They gave up that many points in just eight games all of last season -- they are already at 11 this year.
So which Magic team will show up tonight?
That is the ultimate question right now. If the Magic show up, they can beat anybody. When they do not show up, they can look really poor.
2. Uncharacteristic play
The place to start then is to look at what the Orlando Magic are not doing that is uncharacteristic.
In Tuesday's game, it was turnover -- 19 turnovers for 29 Washington Wizards points. The Magic had an 18.1 percent turnover rate. That is among the worst for the Magic this year.
But Orlando is fourth in the league with only a 13.6 percent turnover rate. The Magic have had a turnover rate of less than 10 percent in four of the last seven games. Turnovers are not something the team worries about.
So it was odd seeing the Magic turn the ball over in the silly ways they did. It was the first sign that there was trouble on Tuesday.
Other times during this stretch, it has been rebounding. The Magic are fourth in the league with a 71.1 percent defensive rebound rate and lead the league, giving up 13.3 second-chance points per game.
But they had a 70.0 percent defensive rebound rate in Tuesday's game. They have had a defensive rebound rate of worse than 70 percent in six straight games, ending with the loss to the Toronto Raptors last week.
It feels like the Magic solve one of their problems and get back to their type only for another problem to emerge.
3. The bigger question
What is underlying all of this is the Orlando Magic simply are not defending anywhere near the level they would expect.
They expected to take a step back defensively as they added more offense to the table. They previewed that throughout the season, they would need to reconfigure things on defense. But this is a major step back.
Orlando is 11th in the league in defensive rating at 113.6 points allowed per 100 possessions. And the team has struggled defensively during this stretch, especially with Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs out.
There is a hope that their returns -- whenever it might be because both are OUT for Wednesday's game in Brooklyn -- will paper over some of these problems.
The Magic have a lot of the characteristics of their best defensive version except for one thing -- forcing turnovers.
Orlando is 15th in the league at forcing turnovers at a 14.6 percent turnover rate. The team was second in the league last year. The team was relentless in hounding teams into mistakes.
The Magic are 16th with just 18.1 points off turnovers per game. Another major problem because the Magic's offense needs transition opportunities to operate at its best.
The Brooklyn Nets are 28th in the league with a 16.1 percent turnover rate. Even though the Nets ' defense has turned into a juggernaut since Dec. 1, they still turn the ball over a lot.
Orlando needs to find that will to force turnovers again.
Orlando Magic at Brooklyn Nets: Injury Report & Projected Lineups
Orlando Magic Injury Report
- Franz Wagner - OUT (Left High Ankle Sprain)
- Jalen Suggs - OUT (Right Knee MCL Contusion)
- Moe Wagner - OUT (Left Knee Injury Recovery)
- Colin Castleton - OUT (G-League Two-Way)
Brooklyn Nets Injury Report
- Ben Saraf - OUT (Left Knee Soreness)
- Haywood Highsmith - OUT (Right Knee Surgery Injury Recovery)
- E.J. Liddell - OUT (G-League Two-Way)
- Tyson Etienne - OUT (G-League Two-Way)
- Chaney Johnson - OUT (G-League Two-Way)
Projected Starting Lineups
Orlando | Brooklyn | |
|---|---|---|
Anthony Black | PG | Egor Demin |
Desmond Bane | SG | Terance Mann |
Tristan da Silva | SF | Michael Porter Jr. |
Paolo Banchero | PF | Noah Clowney |
Wendell Carter | C | Nic Claxton |
Orlando Magic at Brooklyn Nets: Prediction
Our Record: 21-16/15-22 ATS
Who knows what is going to happen in this game?
The Orlando Magic have had a lot of dispiriting losses this year. And they have had to go on a back-to-back to respond to those losses.
They responded to the loss to the Detroit Pistons in October by blowing out the Charlotte Hornets. They responded to a lifeless fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors with a solid effort and a win over the Portland Trail Blazers. They responded to a lifeless home loss to the Charlotte Hornets by upsetting the Denver Nuggets.
It is frustrating that it takes a major loss to wake the team up and return things to calm. But here we are again. Will the Magic respond?
The Brooklyn Nets are not a pushover team. They had the top defense in the league in December. But that has begun to slip, perhaps because Nic Claxton missed games for personal reasons (he is expected to return Wednesday).
Brooklyn is still not a great offensive team even with Michael Porter Jr. playing like an All-Star. And the Nets play at a slower pace, which might benefit the Magic a bit.
The point is the Nets will pounce on the Magic's mistakes. So this game is more about the Magic playing their game. If they play with energy and focus, they can still come out on top. And that is the question.