Denton: Magic-Thunder Postgame Analysis

By John Denton
November 8, 2009

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. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.

All of the injuries, sickness and suspension finally caught up to the snake-bitten Orlando Magic on Sunday night.

A Magic team down to just nine available bodies got shredded defensively and didn’t have near enough offensive firepower against the young, hungry Oklahoma City Thunder. The result was not a pretty one for the Magic: Oklahoma City scored almost at will, led by as many 33 points and routed the Magic 102-74 at the Ford Center.

Frustrated Magic coach Stan Van Gundy refused to blame the injuries on the loss and instead pointed his finger directly at Orlando’s mentality and lack of defense. Van Gundy has been steaming for a week over the Magic’s defense, and he vented Sunday night with a blunt assessment of the team.

``We’re not a good basketball team right now. I’ve been saying that, but nobody is listening,’’ Van Gundy said. ``We’re totally predicated on shooting, we do not have any kind of defensive mindset, we don’t have much toughness and we’re not very smart. So right now, we’re not a very good team.’’

It was a shocking result pitting one of the NBA best teams in the Magic (5-2) and the young, scrappy Thunder (3-3). Or maybe the result wasn’t that surprising considering that Orlando was missing Vince Carter (ankle sprain), Ryan Anderson (ankle sprain) and Rashard Lewis (suspension). Matt Barnes played despite flu-like conditions, but was hardly his usual stat-stuffing self.

``There’s no question it’s a factor, but we can’t use that as an excuse,’’ Magic guard Jameer Nelson said of Orlando’s injuries. ``We have to play with who we have and keep hustling. We will get better. It is still early in the season.’’

The Magic actually led 25-23 after one period and by as much as four points in the second period. But Orlando fell apart in the second quarter and got outscored 65-37 over the final 30 minutes of the game.

The Magic’s lack of depth and the missing scoring that almost certainly would have come from Carter, Lewis and Anderson reared its ugly head. Remarkably, one of the NBA’s highest-scoring teams had just 30 points in the second half.

From a Magic perspective, there was a lot of ugliness to come out of this one. Here’s a closer look, and obviously tonight will be loaded with more bad and ugly than good:

THE GOOD

---- Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant looked like a star in the making, throttling the Magic for 28 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals. He made 11 of 17 shots on a variety of curl jumpers, 3-pointers and pull-up drives to the hoop. He showed why many feel he’s on his way to someday soon leading the NBA in scoring.

---- OKC got some surprising shooting from guards Russell Westbrook and Thabo Sefolosha in the surprisingly easy victory. Westbrook came in having made just one of 10 3-pointers, but he hits three of four shots from beyond the arc. And Sefolosha, easily more of a defensive threat than an offensive weapon, made all three of his 3-pointers and added 13 points and 10 rebounds. Westbrook scored 17 points and had 10 assists, outplaying Nelson.

THE BAD

---- Where to start for the Magic? An Orlando team that had few answers defensively in Friday’s narrow defeat of Detroit was gashed again and again on Sunday. Oklahoma City shot 57.1 percent from the floor and 56.3 percent from 3-point range (nine of 16).

Durant had his way with Mickael Pietrus and Barnes, Nenad Krstic (14 points) hit one jumper after another over Dwight Howard and Sefolosha easily got the best of Orlando’s J.J. Redick.

``(The problem) has got to be defense, giving up 56 percent field goals,’’ said Barnes, who played through flu-like symptoms in order not to leave the Magic further short-handed. ``It is early in the season and we have a lot to work on defensively. I think this is still a very talented team and we are going to do really well.’’

Orlando entered the game 20th in the NBA in opposing field goal percentage (46.1 percent), 21st in opposing 3-point percentage (37.1 percent) and 28th in free throw attempts allowed (30.7 per game). And those numbers will only be worse now.

``We don’t make an effort. There’s no defensive mentality, no toughness,’’ Van Gundy fumed. ``All you have to do is look at the numbers – we’re one of the worst defensive teams in this league. Those teams will not win on the road, they won’t win games that they don’t shoot the ball well and that makes you mediocre at best, and that’s what we are.’’

---- Orlando set a new NBA record with 60 3-pointers in the first five games of the season, but you never would have guessed it by watching Sunday’s game. The Magic were just three of 16 from beyond the arc. The Magic went almost two quarters between their first 3-pointer and their second one.

Orlando’s entire offensive scheme is designed on surrounding Howard with four 3-point shooters and daring teams to double team. But when those shots aren’t falling, teams can surround Howard and dare the Magic to try and beat them from afar. Clearly, this is where Orlando missed Lewis, last season’s NBA leader in 3-point makes and attempts, and Anderson, the team leader in 3-pointers this season.

Orlando had so many missed shots Sunday night that Oklahoma City outrebounded the Magic 45-30.

THE UGLY

---- Redick, who has filled in so admirably for Carter, suffered through a dismal night against the long-armed Sefolosha. He missed all six of his 3-point tries and misfired on nine of his 11 tries. Redick had three turnovers – all on ball-handling errors – and he was pulled out of the game at one point when he passed up taking an open 3-pointer.

All of the injuries piling up at once has somewhat baffled the Magic, Redick said.

``It’s always good to be a deep team, but this is kind of unexpected what’s happened to us early in the season,’’ he said. ``We knew Rashard was going to be out, but we didn’t expect everybody else to be going down.’’

---- One of Nelson’s best moments of the game – a straight-on 3-pointer – actually turned out negatively. He landed on Westbrook’s foot, slightly buckling his left knee. It was that kind of horrible night for Nelson, whose Magic were outscored by an almost unthinkable 37 points during his 28 minutes on the floor.

And Brandon Bass’ first start in a Magic uniform was a forgettable one. He missed seven of 10 shots offensively and got only two rebounds. Van Gundy has been on Bass for weeks to rebound more and defend better, but that certainly didn’t happen on Sunday night.

John Denton writes for Orlandomagic.com. His Orlando Magic ``Behind the Scenes’’ segment can be heard on ESPN 1080 AM on Thursday at 5:05 p.m. Submit questions to John for his ``Ask J.D.’’ mailbag feature that will appear every Friday at AskJD@orlandomagic.com.