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Magic Have Intense Practice to Prepare for Pistons

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

By John Denton

Jan. 21, 2015

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Upset about his team’s wavering competitive spirit in an ugly home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday, Jacque Vaughn took measures in practice to ramp up the intensity for the Orlando Magic.

The hope is that the competitiveness bred out of a fiery and grueling practice will carry over to tonight when the Magic (15-29) face the rugged and resurgent Pistons (16-26) in suburban Detroit.

Following Sunday’s 127-99 loss to OKC, Vaughn talked of his team being to play with a nastiness and a toughness. He said the old-school competitor in him was always taught him that it was healthy to have some contempt for the team that you are playing and the person that you are guarding.

In Tuesday’s practice before the team flew to Michigan, Vaughn divided the Magic roster into two units, stressed his desire to see more physicality and hustle and staked ramifications for the losing squad. Playing with a distinct sense of urgency was something that Vaughn was taught through the years while playing for Jerry Sloan, Gregg Popovich and Doc Rivers, and he did his best to pass along that pointed message to the Magic in the lead up for tonight’s game.

``The entire practice was about competition,’’ Vaughn said. ``It was black (jerseys) vs. white (jerseys) the entire time in every drill. That’s the mindset that we have to have. You’re coming into this game and it’s competition and there’s only going to be one winner. A lot of times it’s that guy who is aggressive who is going to have a leg and a hand up.’’

Orlando will need to be hyper-aggressive against a Detroit team that brings the physicality with twin big men Andre Drummond (12.2 ppg. and 13 rpg.) and Greg Monroe (14.9 ppg. and 10 rpg.). Those two grabbed 13 of Detroit’s 16 offensive rebounds when the Pistons whipped the Magic 109-86 in Orlando on Dec. 30.

Detroit, which is led by former Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, is 11-3 since waiving malcontent forward Josh Smith on Dec. 22. The Pistons rely more on Monroe’s post-ups and Drummond’s rolls down the lane, so Magic center Nikola Vucevic knows about the challenge that the Magic will face.

``We definitely want to play better against them than we did in the game where we played at home,’’ said Magic center Nikiola Vucevic, who is averaging 18.8 points and 11 rebounds a game and he is tied for the NBA lead in double-doubles with 24. ``From the first time that we played them in Detroit to the second time that we played them (in Orlando), they are a different team. They play much better, so it will be on us to have a better showing and have more physicality. We have to make sure that a game like that (lopsided loss on Dec. 30) doesn’t happen again.’’

The magic are hoping to see the return of small forward Tobias Harris, who was upgraded to questionable on the injury report Wednesday morning. Harris, Orlando’s second-leading scorer this season, missed five games with a bone bruise in his ankle following a sprain last Friday in Los Angeles. Harris was able to go through parts of practice on Tuesday and his availability tonight will be determined following another pre-game workout session.

Orlando played impressively in recent wins against Chicago and Houston and even in a narrow home defeat to the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday. But the Magic were never a threat on Sunday against the Thunder, falling behind 13-0 from the start and by as much as 38 points in the first half.

What proved to be the most troubling to Vaughn was his team’s lack of fight when things started going poorly. Orlando did play much better in the second half, contesting shots at the rim better and running back on defense harder.

And coming on Tuesday’s highly competitive practice, guard Victor Oladipo feels that the Magic are ready to bring the fight tonight against the Pistons.

``There’s no question that guys were upset that we lost (on Sunday) and they wanted to win (Tuesday in practice),’’ Oladipo said. ``You could see the competitive nature of our guys in practice and it was good for us. Now, we’ve just got to have it transfer over to the game. We’ve got to do a great job of always having an edge in every game.’’

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