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Borrego: "I Saw Great Progress Out There"

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

By John Denton

Feb. 27, 2015

ATLANTA – The Orlando Magic have made far too many monumental strides over the past three weeks for them to focus too much of their attention on a couple of steps backward, interim coach James Borrego said Friday morning.

The mission for the Magic (19-40) is to bury the memory of Wednesday’s heart-breaking loss and train their attention on trying to beat the Eastern Conference-leading Atlanta Hawks (45-12) tonight.

Orlando squandered an eight-point lead in the final 37 seconds of an overtime loss to the rival Miami Heat on Wednesday night, but Borrego did his best on Friday morning to help his team move beyond that ugly loss. The Magic lost similarly 2 ½ weeks ago when they allowed a six-point spread with 32 seconds get away from them in a one-point defeat to the Chicago Bulls.

Borrego, 4-3 since taking over for Jacque Vaughn on Feb. 5, said the team’s focus should be on the monumental growth that it has made of late rather than the two wins that got away. Since making the coaching change on Feb. 5, Orlando ranks first in the NBA in paint points allowed (32 ppg.) and first in fastbreak points allowed (9.3 ppg.). Also, over the past seven games, Orlando is second in the NBA in field goal percentage allowed (41.6 percent) and third in points allowed (92.7). A Magic team that yielded 100 points or more in 14 straight games from Jan. 9 through Feb. 4, has held seven straight foes to less than 100 points since Borrego started holding players accountable for getting stops.

The Magic were at least in position to win on Wednesday night because of the continued improvement of their defense. Even in defeat, Orlando held Miami to 38.1 percent shooting and it forced 14 turnovers.

``I watched the film and I saw great progress out there. I saw a team that is growing together and we were more impressive on film than what I saw in the game,’’ Borrego said. ``Although we’re beating ourselves up (for not winning the game), I saw great progress. I’m not going to focus on the last minute; what I focus on – and what our lens today will be – is growth and progress. In progress, there’s some mess sometimes and it’s imperfect. That’s what we saw at the end, but I will focus on 47 ½ minutes of basketball that we put ourselves in a position to be up eight (points).’’

Orlando’s defense will be put to the test by a Hawks squad that placed four players in the NBA All-Star Game. Led by head coach Mike Budenholzer – a close friend and former co-worker of Borrego’s – Atlanta has been an offensive juggernaut most of the season. The Hawks rank second in the NBA in assists (25.6), second in 3-point accuracy (38.3 percent), fourth in field goal percentage (46.7 percent) and seventh in points per game (102.9).

Magic standout guard Victor Oladipo said that his team has no time to pout over Wednesday’s loss what with the Hawks dead ahead tonight. Tipoff is just after 7 p.m. from Atlanta’s Philips Arena.

``It takes a minute (to get over Wednesday’s loss), but it’s got to be out of the way right now because we have a game tonight and we have to be ready for the best team in the East,’’ said Oladipo, who had a key free throw miss in the final seconds of regulation. ``The Hawks come at you in many different ways and they can score inside and outside. They share the ball really well and that’s what makes them really difficult to guard. We’ll have to be ready and in tune defensively.’’

Borrego said that Orlando will use much of the same resolve that it mustered to get through the rocky coaching change earlier in the month to get over Wednesday’s defeat. He said despite some end-of-game struggles he is confident that the Magic are building something special and have the makings of a blossoming team.

``There’s a foundation being built here and it’s getting stronger and strong,’’ Borrego said. ``We were up eight against Miami with 40 seconds to go and up six against Chicago with 30 seconds to go – to me that’s progress and that’s what I will focus on. The details of this thing, we’ll figure it out. You build a house, you start with the foundation. Closing out close games, we’ll figure those out and get better at it. We’re going to continue to put ourselves in position to win every single night.’’

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