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Magic Still Learning How to Close Out Games

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

By John Denton

March 25, 2015

ORLANDO – Seemingly facing a far more experienced team every game, the youthful Orlando Magic are still trying to figure out how to shorten their learning curve and soothe their growing pains when it comes to closing out close games.

The Magic outplayed the East-leading Atlanta Hawks for the first 43 minutes on Wednesday night, leading by as much as 13 points in the first half and holding a seven-point edge with slightly less than 9 minutes to play. However, the Magic faded badly down the stretch when they tightened up as Atlanta ratcheted up the late-game pressure. An unsightly 17-2 finish left the Magic with a 95-83 loss and more frustration in an already highly disappointing season.

As the Magic (22-51) head into tonight’s home game against the Detroit Pistons (27-44), they are still trying to figure out how to play as well at the end of games as they have in the first three quarters of games. Of Orlando’s 21 wins, 16 have come after entering the fourth quarter with the lead. However, the Magic have lost 13 times this season – some of them in last-minute, heartbreaking fashion – when leading after three quarters.

The best way for the Magic to learn how to close out games, interim head coach James Borrego said, is for them to keep putting themselves in the position of playing in close game and learn from the mistakes that have been made in the past.

``The biggest part is (playing) through fire,’’ Borrego said of his Magic learning to deal with the white-hot intensity of closing out games. ``You just have to play through the fire. These are just moments that we are going to have to grind through, live through and learn through. There is no magic drill that we can go in there and run (in practice) to simulate what it’s like in a game. So the more times that we’re putting ourselves in that position (late in close games) the better.

``We will get better through these moments,’’ Borrego said. ``These are growing pains and tough, fiery moments for us, but that’s where poise is built in these (late-game moments). With our young group it’s not going to come overnight, but it’s a step at a time and we will get there.’’

Long before the closing minutes of tonight’s game the Magic will honor legendary center Shaquille O’Neal with an induction into the team’s Hall of Fame. O’Neal, the top pick of the 1992 NBA Draft, led the Magic to three playoff appearances in his four seasons in a Magic uniform, namely the 1995 NBA Finals and the ’96 Eastern Conference Finals.

O’Neal, who recently turned 43 years old, will be inducted into the Magic Hall of Fame on Friday afternoon and then he will be introduced to the fans during the Magic-Pistons game at the Amway Center. O’Neal joins Magic co-founder Pat Williams and former teammate Nick Anderson as the only members of the Magic Hall of Fame. But it was the 7-foot-1, 350-pound ``Shaq’’ who is credited with making the Magic a world-wide brand with his larger-than-life game and personality in the 1990s.

``He was one of the most dominant players ever to play basketball,’’ said Magic center Nikola Vucevic, who said he grew up in Europe marveling at the sheer size of strength of O’Neal. ``His name was huge all over the world, not only because of his play, but because he knew how to take advantage of his personality and he knew how to take `Shaq’ and make a big name out of it.’’

One of O’Neal’s former coaches, Stan Van Gundy, will be in attendance tonight as he is now the coach and president of basketball operations of the Detroit Pistons. Van Gundy previously served as the highly successful head coach of the Magic, leading the franchise to the 2009 NBA Finals and the ’10 Eastern Conference Finals. Van Gundy coached O’Neal for a season-and-a-half in Miami, getting the Heat to the East Finals in the 2004-05 season.

``In Shaq’s time in the league, there was nobody that forced you to adjust more than Shaq did,’’ Van Gundy said Friday morning. ``You can argue there might have been a handful of guys – not many – as good as Shaq, but nobody forced you to adjust like he did. With his size and quickness – at least in my time in the league when I started in the mid-90s – he’s still the most difficult guy to matchup with.’’

Orlando is hoping to close out this season with as many wins as possible and build some momentum going into the summer and next season. To do that, the Magic must become better closers late in games so that they can capitalize on their play early in games. The Magic led 42 of the game’s first 43 minutes on Wednesday night only to see the final five minutes undo all of their good work earlier in the game. Seven fourth-quarter turnovers – five of which came down the stretch – sabotaged any chance Orlando had of upsetting the Hawks for one of their best wins in weeks.

``I actually think the biggest thing for us is our defense,’’ Magic forward Tobias Harris said. ``Whether or not our offense is strong, it’s about defending. Against Atlanta we didn’t defend well the last five minutes and on top of that – we watched this on the film yesterday – and for four minutes there we only got up two shots (because of turnovers). It’s about us letting our defense fuel us because we’re a better team and we’re better offensively when we’re not having to take the ball out of bounds and we’re running. That starts with our defense and getting stops.’’

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