featured-image

Magic Must Quickly Put Tough Road Trip Behind Them

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

By John Denton
Jan. 19, 2017

ORLANDO – When the Orlando Magic left Central Florida nearly two weeks ago, Frank Vogel told the team that its goal of making the playoffs was still within reach if it could get a handle on the issues bedeviling it.

The Magic are finally back off a trip that saw them travel 6,692 miles to play six games in five cities over 12 nights. And even though they went a disappointing 1-5 on the longest excursion of the season, Orlando is still within reach of the playoffs – with one major difference, Vogel said.

``Each loss puts that (goal) further out of the picture, but it is still within reach,’’ Vogel said. ``We’ve got to keep competing, trying to get one win at a time and chip away at it.’’

Orlando (17-27) is still in the race, in large part, because of some topsy-turvy play from others in the Eastern Conference with similar desires to get into the playoffs. The Magic are still just 4 ½ games back of the No. 8 spot and the same amount behind Friday night’s opponent – No. 9 Milwaukee (20-21).

The next game at the Amway Center should be one filled with a great sense of desperation considering that both the Magic and the Bucks have lost their last three. Milwaukee, which has already beaten Orlando twice this season, fell in Houston on Wednesday.

Further complicating matters Orlando is the fact that its top two options at shooting guard – Evan Fournier (bruised right heel) and Jodie Meeks (dislocated right thumb) – could be out of action for several more days. Fournier, the team’s top scorer, has yet to test his ailing foot after feeling he returned too soon from the injury last time and making the pain worse. Meeks suffered his injury on Wednesday when the knee of Anthony Davis knocked his thumb out of joint. X-rays on the thumb were negative and a MRI on Thursday afternoon should reveal the extent of the damage suffered.

Second-year guard Mario Hezonja and converted shooting guards D.J. Augustin and C.J. Watson could end up seeing more time at off guard for the Magic.

Orlando last won on Friday in Portland, dropping games in Utah, Denver and New Orleans since then. The last two of those losses saw the Magic trail by 28 and 22 points and fall by a combined 33 points, inciting palatable frustration among the team’s veteran players. Nine-year NAB forward Jeff Green was the most vocal, saying if the team doesn’t soon channel its frustration into playing harder the season will be lost.

``There shouldn’t be a message,’’ said Green, pointing out that the team has done enough talking. ``If you’re not mad by the next game, if you aren’t going to come out and play hard, then you shouldn’t be on this team and you shouldn’t be out there on the floor, plain and simple. If you’re not upset with how we’ve been playing then there’s no reason to go out there on the floor.’’

Center Nikola Vucevic, the longest tenured player on the Magic at 4 ½ seasons, said the squad’s desire to do the right things needs to come through in actions rather than bold talk. Vucevic feels that the Magic too often get away from their core principles of sharing the ball offensively and helping one another defensively, leading to the lopsided nature of many of their games of late.

Orlando has had just eight games decided by five points or less this season and it is a respectable 3-5 in those. However, 20 games have been decided by double digits and the Magic have been on the losing end of 15 of those.

``I don’t think anybody is happy with where we are,’’ Vucevic said. ``Yeah, we’ve got to show up mad (to the next game), but that doesn’t mean going out there and doing dumb stuff; playing smart and playing the right way, that’s how you win.

``Being mad and showing some passion, you’re supposed to do that if you play basketball,’’ the 7-footer continued. ``That should be automatic and there shouldn’t ever be a question of whether you (play with passion). … But we just don’t play the right way. We can play as hard as we want, but if we keep playing like this, this is how it’s going to be.’’

Orlando played well enough offensively to win in Denver with 50.6 percent shooting and 28 assists, but it was done in by a defense that yielded 125 points – a season-most 76 of them coming from the paint.

On Wednesday, the defensive issues were just the opposite as New Orleans attacked Orlando’s lineup with Vucevic and 6-foot-10 power forward Serge Ibaka with superstar Anthony Davis and four perimeter players. The result: 38 fast break points and 15 3-pointers yielded.

Vogel has changed the starting lineup and the rotation a host of times, trying to find something to make the Magic better defensively against small-ball lineups. Little of it has worked as he and his coaching staff have tried to adjust their way of thinking.

``The game is changing before our eyes,’’ Vogel said, still somewhat amazed by what he’s seeing every game. ``Obviously, it’s been an evolution over the last three, four or five years in a lot of ways, but this year it seems like it’s more dramatic than ever.

``Night-in and night-out, we’re seeing so many `spread-five’ looks,’’ the veteran head coach continued. ``It’s forced a lot of us to adjust our line of thinking with the way we coach offensive basketball, with the way we coach shot selection and the defensive coverages have required adjustments to the way we did things a couple of years ago.’’

The next adjustment the Magic need, Vogel said, is in dealing with the pervasive feelings of doom and gloom brought on by the team dropping nine of the past 11 games. After all, Vogel said there is no reason for the Magic to feel sorry for themselves what with the playoff chase still being just a winning streak away.

``You keep working at it – that’s the only thing you can do,’’ Vogel stressed. ``It’s not about (pushing) buttons (with more lineup changes). You keep grinding, trying to figure out the puzzle and improve the things that you know work for you. … There is no `woe-is-me.’ We’re going to try to work to figure it out. It’s that simple.’’

Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors.