By John DentonDec. 19, 2014
ORLANDO – The Utah Jazz scored 29 first-quarter points, made 17 of their first 24 shots and were 16 points ahead before Friday’s game was even 13 minutes old – numbers that run counter to the Orlando Magic’s mission of being a team built on defensive grit.
And then things proceeded to get worse for the suddenly sinking Magic.
In the second half, the lightly regarded Jazz often scored at will whether it was with guards getting to the paint off the dribble or the frontline playing with more force and purpose. The Jazz laid a 32-point third quarter on the Magic and were never truly threatened down the stretch by holding the advantage in paint points, fastbreak points and second-chance points – more numbers that belie Orlando’s devotion to being a team that can always count on its defensive fight.
Maybe the most troubling aspect of Orlando’s 101-94 loss to Utah on Friday night was that the defensive woes were merely a continuation of the issues that also transpired on Wednesday when gashed by Boston. The Magic talked in the hours leading up to Friday’s game about the defense being better, but it amounted to being just that – talk with little action behind it.
That disappointing defeat, which gave Orlando (10-19) a fifth loss in the past six games, left several of the Magic’s players grumbling about the team’s collective toughness and fight through this rough patch.
``It’s about playing harder. We start the game flat with no energy,’’ said Magic guard Evan Fournier, who had 21 points, four 3-pointers and four assists. ``I don’t know if it’s because we’re on the road so much (over the past six weeks) or if the warm-up is not good enough. We’re just not tough enough, you know, and sometimes that’s just what it comes down to. We need to play harder to at least be in the game.’’
Fumed forward Tobias Harris, who had 24 points, three 3-pointers and three assists: ``We’re not playing tough enough – that pretty much sums it up right there. Anytime a team is getting to the basket and paint at will, that shows you that we as a team have to be tougher mentally and tougher physically. I just think we’re playing too soft and too comfortable. For a team that’s got something to prove, that’s not the formula for winning.’’
Maybe it was only fitting that the halftime entertainment for Friday night’s game was the incomparable Quick Change, the two-person act that goes through more wardrobe changes than a boy band concert. If the sagging Magic don’t find a way to make a quick change with their porous defense, they very well could be in for another long season.
``It definitely could get out of control. Mentally this wears on you, but with the people that we’ve got in our locker room and the guys on this team, we’re built for getting back to what we do best,’’ Harris said. ``That’s about playing our type of basketball. As someone that knows that it can go all downhill from here, you’ve got to stay encouraging and stay on people to keep (pushing) to get wins.’’
The Jazz, a team that Orlando whipped 98-93 two weeks ago in Utah, shot 53.4 percent for the game and answered every Magic run with a spurt of their own. Utah (8-19) didn’t dip below 60 percent from the floor until a half-court heave just before the first half horn and it never was truly threatened in the second half by an Orlando team that simply couldn’t string together enough defensive stops.
After spending two days talking about playing better defense, the response was baffling to Magic head coach Jacque Vaughn. He wondered aloud late Friday night if Orlando’s roster – statistically the fourth-youngest in the NBA – was being overwhelmed by being asked to produce at a more consistent rate.
``I thought we had a great shoot-around today. I thought our guys were focused. Like I said before the game, this is new territory for a lot of the guys on our team,’’ Vaughn said. ``Being able to respond, produce, have energy, effort and concentration on a nightly basis (is needed). Their production is tied into us winning or losing and we are still learning that and calling on guys to be there for us.’’
One such young player, second-year guard Victor Oladipo, didn’t have it on Friday night, missing all five of his second-half shots and scoring just two points. Just two weeks earlier in Utah, Oladipo gutted the Jazz for 20 points and six assists. But he couldn’t match long-time rival Trey Burke (11 points, five assists and one steal) on either end of the floor.
This certainly was not the way that Orlando had hoped to begin one of their longest stretches of the season at home. The Magic opened the season with a road-heavy schedule with 19 of the first 28 games away from home. Having easily played the most road games in the NBA, the Magic started a four-game home stand with Friday’s game against the Jazz. Orlando hosts Philadelphia (Sunday), Boston (Tuesday) and Cleveland (Friday) at the Amway Center over the next week.
Sunday’s game will be the first time in nearly seven weeks that the Magic have played consecutive games at the Amway Center. The Magic hosted Washington on Oct. 30 and Toronto on Nov. 1 and have since 47 games without playing two straight games at the Amway Center. In that time, they have played seven one-game ``home stands.’’
They hoped to draw energy from finally being back home, but instead the Magic offered little resistance defensively and dropped to 3-7 at the Amway Center.
``We have to be the aggressors, especially when we play at home,’’ said center Nikola Vucevic, who added 16 points and nine rebounds. ``We have to be the team that is the aggressor on both ends of the floor. We have to take the ball to the paint, try to draw fouls and get easy ones. And on defense we have to protect our paint and do a better job. It’s big for us to keep our guy in front of us.
``It has to be a team effort,’’ Vucevic continued. ``When we’ve won games, we’ve played well as a team and when we haven’t (won), we didn’t play well as a team.’’
Harris scored 17 of his 24 in the second half, but not even that could help Orlando slow down the Jazz. Derrick Favors (23 points and 10 rebounds) and Enes Kanter (11 points and seven rebounds) pounded the Magic on the inside, while Gordon Hayward had 20 points on a series of mid-range jumpers off the dribble.
Fournier, who streak with at least one 3-pointer ended at 32 games on Wednesday, hit four threes on Friday. Rookie point guard Elfrid Payton played his finest game in weeks with 11 points and 11 assists.
``We have to take ownership of what’s happening and be accountable individually. We have to stay in front of your man and don’t depend on help,’’ said Payton, referring to the defensive woes. ``Then, when we do have to depend on help, we have to be there for our teammates. … We have to do a better job of making that (defense) our main focus. We’ve got to get stops and take pride in (the defense).’’
Magic power forward Kyle O’Quinn (seven points, six rebounds and three steals in nearly 23 minutes) was assessed another flagrant foul and is now dangerously close to a NBA-mandated suspension. O’Quinn, a third-year pro, was whistled for a common foul after he whacked Utah’s Hayward in the head, but that call was upgraded to a Flagrant 1 – which by definition is a foul with unnecessary contact – upon the referees looking at the televised replay.
On Dec. 3, O’Quinn was ejected, fined $15,000 and assessed a Flagrant 2 foul (unnecessary and excessive contact) when he accidentally hit Blake Griffin in the face on a collision at the rim. Two nights later, O’Quinn was whistled for a Flagrant 1 foul when he leveled Utah’s Burke at the rim.
Per NBA rules, players receive one ``point’’ for Flagrant 1 fouls and two ``points’’ for Flagrant 2 fouls. If the player’s season total exceeds five ``points,’’ he will receive an automatic suspension following the game in which his point total exceeds five ``points’’ and for each additional flagrant foul committed during that season. O’Quinn is considered to have four ``points’’ and will be suspended a game if he commits another Flagrant 1 foul this season. No other player in the NBA this season has more flagrant foul ``points’’ than O’Quinn with four.
Orlando showed some life early in the third quarter to get within four points, but the hot-shooting Jazz soon pulled back ahead by a comfortable margin by systematically picking apart the Magic. Utah boosted its lead to as high as 17 points in the third quarter and took an 81-66 lead into the fourth period.
The Magic simply had no answers defensively, giving up 40 paint points in the first three quarters. Too often, Orlando’s guards were beaten off the dribble and big men either fouled or gave up layups when they came over to help stop the ball penetration. Through three quarters, the lightly regarded Jazz shot 56.1 percent and had an advantage in paint points, fastbreak points and second-chance points.
Orlando was within 49-43 at intermission and, quite frankly, it was lucky to be that close considering what took place on the defensive end of the floor early in the game.
The Magic came into the night talking about wanting to be much better defensively after yielding 108 points and 55 percent shooting on Wednesday in Boston. However, that defensive focus didn’t manifest itself early on as Utah did as it pleased early on. The Jazz made 14 of their first 20 shots to spring ahead 29-17 by the end of the first quarter.
It was a sign of what was to come the rest of a very long night for a Magic team that is searching for something – anything, really – to answer their problems defensively.
``I just think we’re not playing hard enough and we’re letting them get to wherever they want to get,’’ Vucevic said. ``We’re not taking them out of their plays and we have to play with more aggressiveness on that (defensive) end. We have to take some of their stuff away.
``We have to be the ones who hit first,’’ Vucevic continued. ``We’ve got to put this one behind us, go back (Saturday) at practice and work on what we did wrong. That’s the only thing we can do. The next game we have to come out more aggressive and be the aggressors.’’
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