By John DentonFeb. 11, 2015
ORLANDO – With thoughts of beach time, fruity drinks with little umbrellas and extra sleeping time obviously on the minds of Orlando Magic players as they prepare to scatter about for the next week, interim head coach James Borrego is doing his best to get the team to focus on the task at hand.
The task now for the Magic – who will once again be without second-leading scorer Tobias Harris tonight – is to play well against the New York Knicks and end the stretch before the extended break for the NBA All-Star Game on a positive note.
Orlando (16-39) played some inspired basketball under Borrego, beating the Los Angeles Lakers in overtime and pushing the Chicago Bulls to the brink before some late-game errors cost it a chance at a second straight victory. The Magic looked like a mentally and physically tired team in Monday’s loss in Washington, and Borrego wants the best out of his team tonight against the Knicks (10-42) at the Amway Center. Tipoff is just after 7 p.m.
``The focus is tonight’s game and it’s the most important game for us no matter if it is the all-star break or what have you,’’ said Borrego, who took over the team last Thursday when Jacque Vaughn was dismissed as head coach. ``Tonight is about the win and playing well.’’
There is concern about wandering focus of every coach in the NBA now because the break for the All-Star Game has been extended out several extra days. Whereas in years past teams would be off Friday, Saturday and Sunday and return to practice on Monday, teams now aren’t allowed to return to practice until Wednesday or Thursday of next week. Orlando won’t play again until Feb. 20 when it squares off against Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Hornets at the Amway Center.
Borrego has already stressed to players the need to get in cadio and strength training during the break to make sure that they don’t lose their conditioning. Magic Strength and Conditioning coach Bill Burgos has already armed players with suggested workout regiments to make sure they don’t lose their conditioning during the time off.
For players like Nikola Vucevic, who has played 49 games, logged more than 34 minutes a night and leads the Magic in scoring (19.4 ppg.) and rebounding (11.2 rpg.), it be a balance of rest and workouts while being off for six days before returning to practice next Wednesday.
Vucevic knows that it is important for the Magic to bounce back from Monday’s ugly loss in Washington and end the stretch of the season before the break with a victory. The Knicks, who could also be without all-star forward Carmelo Anthony, beat the Magic 113-106 on Jan. 23 in New York, and Orlando will have to play well tonight.
``A win tonight would help us start off the second part of the season with a better taste in our mouths,’’ Vucevic said. ``If we can finish off tonight with a win everybody will feel better going into All-Star break. Then, we can come back with fresh minds, start over and be ready to go. But if we lose tonight that would be three (losses) in a row and we’ll have the pressure of getting off the losing streak.
``So tonight is important for us and I think we’ll have a good chance to win at home in front of our fans to have a better performance than we’ve had most of this year,’’ Vucevic continued. ``We need to end it the right way.’’
Immediately upon taking over the team, Borrego stressed that a turnaround for the Magic would come only if the team made some dramatic improvements defensively. Orlando went a stretch of 14 games of allowing more than 100 points, including games of 127 to Oklahoma City, 128 to Detroit and 113 to the offensively challenged Knicks.
However, since Borrego took over Orlando has held three straight foes under 100 points. The Magic totally smothered the Lakers in the fourth quarter and overtime, they got significantly better on defense after a 32-point first quarter against the Bulls and the team was solid on Monday despite its troubles scoring without Harris.
``It’s just about us buying in and going out there and covering for each other,’’ Magic guard Victor Oladipo said. ``We’re making it tough for (other teams’) guys and we’re having each other’s backs. We’ve just got to keep building off of that.’’
Defense could be a premium with Harris once again out of the lineup. The talented forward injured his knee in Sunday’s loss to Chicago and had to sit and watch Orlando struggle through a 96-80 loss on Monday. The Magic shot just 39.8 percent from the floor, made only four of 22 3 –point shots in the game and clearly missed Harris’ 17.4 points per game.
A MRI on Monday revealed no structural damage in Harris’ knee. He said the injury was deemed a bruise and he expects to return fully following the break for the All-Star Game.
Oladipo will be plenty busy during the break, competing in the Rising Stars rookie/sophomore game along with teammate Elfrid Payton on Friday night and then participating in the Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday night. While Oladipo said on Wednesday that being a part of the All-Star festivities is a ``dream,’’ he knows the most important thing now is to get a win tonight for the Magic.
``It would be so good for us (to get a win tonight) going into the break to give us some momentum after,’’ Oladipo stressed. ``We’ve just got to take every game seriously. But this would be big for us to get a win tonight. So it’s on us to go out there and play as hard as we can tonight.’’