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Magic vs. Hornets: Postgame Report

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

By John Denton
Dec. 9, 2016

CHARLOTTE – Since the start of training camp and the start of the regular season, the Orlando Magic have touted themselves as a ``defense-first’’ team, vowing that ``defense travels’’ and insisting that frustrating foes will help them win on nights even when the offense sputters.

That mentality was never more apparent than on a recent road trip when the Magic ratcheted up the intensity defensively and ripped off impressive victories against San Antonio, Philadelphia, Detroit and Washington.

Whether it’s because of fatigue or just general inconsistency, the Magic have suffered some major slippage defensively of late. Orlando’s inability to control the ball and get stops, combined with some seriously sluggish and sloppy offense, led to Friday’s 109-88 defeat at the hands of the Charlotte Hornets at Spectrum Center.

``It started in Washington and we thought it was OK because we were winning and everybody was happy, but we forgot that we’ve got to set a tone (defensively),’’ said Magic center Bismack Biyombo, who left Friday’s game early because of a sore left shoulder. ``Everybody was smiling and everything was all great (after a 4-1 road trip) and then we came home and played terrible defense (Monday against Boston). Then, we came here (to Charlotte) and played terrible defense. This is the result.’’

How much has the defense dropped off? Orlando (10-14) blocked 12 shots on Tuesday in Washington in beating of the Wizards, but swatted just one shot in a lopsided loss to Boston on Wednesday. On Friday, it turned back only two shots in the ugly faltering against the Hornets (14-9).

``It’s a long season and (defense) is what we want our identity to be, but it doesn’t happen overnight,’’ Magic coach Frank Vogel said. ``The last three games we haven’t been good enough.’’

To fully understand the Magic’s frustration from Friday night, consider what happened to veterans Nikola Vucevic (seven points and four rebounds), Jeff Green (three points and four rebounds) and Biyombo (nine points and three rebounds). Vucevic was forced to play in protective glasses because of a scratched right eye and he smashed the spectacles to the floor early in the game after missing six of his first eight shots. Later, Vucevic had his feet knocked out from under him and he fell hard to the floor on his right hip and lower back. The longest-tenured Magic player stayed down for several seconds before limping off the floor and did not return.

Green twisted his right knee while trying to prevent a loose ball from going out of bounds. He did just that, but it was thrown right to Charlotte’s Jeremy Lamb, who dunked on the other end to give the Hornets a 93-72 lead. To make matters worse, Biyombo hurt his shoulder after falling to the floor on a blocked shot attempt.

The shoulder injury hurt less than the Magic’s poor performance, Biyombo said.

``Every game has to count, no matter if it’s a good team or a bad team and I don’t think in this league there are bad teams,’’ Biyombo said. ``We’ve got to figure that out. People have to be responsible for their actions and hold each other accountable. That’s how this league goes.’’

The only positive to come out of the night for the Magic? The score was so lopsided that Vogel was able to get the starters and primary rotation players out of the game with 8:28 to play, resting them up for Saturday’s home game against the Denver Nuggets. It will be the Magic’s fourth game in five nights.

Evan Fournier led the Magic with 14 points and two 3-pointers, while Serge Ibaka chipped in 12 points and seven boards. The Magic shot just 37.4 percent from the floor and connected on only nine of 34 3-point shots.

Charlotte, the leaders in the Southeast Division, got 16 points from both Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Nicolas Batum, while long-time Magic nemesis Kemba Walker added 15 points and five assists. The Hornets finished the game at 48.2 percent from the floor after getting as high as 53.1 percent through three quarters. Charlotte’s exceptional ball movement also allowed it to make nine of 22 3-pointers.

``We’ve got to wake up defensively,’’ Fournier said. ``It’s hard to explain (what happened in the third quarter), but there was just a bad vibe on the court. No energy and everybody was soft on the court for some reason. We have to fix it and we really have to start the game better and start the second half better if we want to have a chance.’’

Down just six after an ugly first half, the Magic let the game get away from them in a 39-24 third quarter. Orlando had no answers at all defensively, allowing the Hornets to make 13 of 20 shots and seven of nine 3-pointers in the one-sided 12-minute stretch.

``I wasn’t happy with our performance the whole night to be honest with you,’’ Vogel said. ``We have to be better on both ends.’’

It was the second game in a row that the Magic were done in by a lack of energy and sharpness to start the second half. Up one at the half on Wednesday, Orlando was outscored 36-23 by Boston in the third quarter.

The Magic are in arguably their toughest stretch of the schedule and they will be back in action on Saturday when they host Denver. It will be Orlando’s fourth game in five nights – an exhausting stretch that the NBA schedule-makers have worked to eliminate because of concerns over player safety. It is Orlando’s only four-games-in-five-nights stretch all season.

The Magic won in Washington on Tuesday, arrived back in Orlando just before 3 a.m. on Wednesday and then lost by 30 points to Boston 15 hours later. Friday’s game in Charlotte was the start of another back-to-back – something that has been a problem thus far for Orlando. On the second night of those situations thus far, Orlando is 1-3 and two of those losses (to Indiana and Boston) have been especially one-sided.

``The schedule is not going to change, so it’s on us to be more prepared physically, I guess,’’ said Fournier, who played 24 minutes on Friday. ``It’s not going to get easier and the schedule is what it is. We’ve got to be mentally tougher than that.’’

Orlando trailed 52-46 at intermission, but it was anything but easy to stay that close considering the rough patches in the first half.

The Magic missed their first seven shots of the game, four of them coming from the 3-point line, and fell behind 12-3 early on. From there, however, they made eight of the next 12 shots and rallied to take a 21-20 lead by the end of the first quarter.

But the Magic inconsistency got the worst of them again in the second period as they went a couple of extended stretches without getting good looks. A poor start to the quarter saw Orlando lose the lead and fall behind by double digits.

Vucevic was accidentally poked in the eye on Wednesday by Boston rookie Jaylen Brown while contesting a dunk. He wore protective glasses during Friday morning’s shoot-around session – prompting teammates to playfully call him ``Horace Grant’’ and ``Kurt Rambis’’ – and he clearly didn’t like wearing them in the game. He missed six of his first eight shots and smashed the first pair on the floor, causing one of the lens to pop out. Trainers scurried to get him another pair, but the new glasses did little to fix the unsightly look of the night for the Magic.

Whether Vucevic, Biyombo and Green will be able to play on Saturday is yet to be determined. What has been determined is that the Magic will need to show more fight to have a chance to win. Before leaving the locker room, Biyombo said that he will be there for his team on Saturday night.

``I’ve played through worse, honestly, I’ve played through worse and I’m going to do my best to be out there (on Saturday),’’ he said. ``I have to be out there (Saturday) for my team.’’

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.