PHILADELPHIA – In recent weeks as the Orlando Magic have elbowed their way into the Eastern Conference’s playoff race with several signature victories, head coach Steve Clifford has been repeatedly questioned about adjustments made and motivational ploys used to coax this stirring stretch of play.
An old-school thinker and someone well aware that actions speak infinitely louder than words, Clifford literally grimaces at the mention of the rah-rah rhetoric that often accompanies success in the NBA. Instead, it simply comes down to more shots falling and players bringing increased levels of intensity as the difference between winning and losing sometimes, he said.
``Everybody keeps asking, `What’s the message?’ but if you have to keep giving these guys a message every game, then you’ve got the wrong guys,’’ Clifford said bluntly. ``That’s just how the (NBA) game works.
``Over 82 games, with back-to-backs, there’s not a lot of motivational speeches – and I’ve worked for some great coaches,’’ continued Clifford, a 19-year coaching veteran at the NBA level. ``You either have guys who want to win, or you don’t. I have a part to play in (guiding players), but the way we do things, from the way we do shootarounds, the way we practice and do film sessions, to me, that should set the tone every day. But if you have to get up (in front of a team motivating it) – there’s only so many times you can say, `this is an important game’ – they’re not going to listen to you.’’
Since being hired by Orlando as head coach last May, Clifford has been adamant that the Magic have ``guys who want to win,’’ and they have backed that up for months now with some resilient play that has resulted in the franchise’s best season in seven years. At 30-35 and tied for the No. 8 spot in the East standings, the Magic are far ahead of the struggles from recent years and the team is enjoying being smack-dab in a playoff race for the first time since 2012 – coincidentally when Clifford was an assistant coach in Orlando.
However, a bizarre, almost bipolar six-game sequence since returning from the break for the NBA All-Star Game has left the Magic scratching their heads? How, they and the fans ranting on social media wonder, can the squad continue to alternate between great wins and ``terrible’’ losses? How can the same Magic team whip Toronto (46-18), Golden State (44-19) and Indiana (41-23), while losing to Chicago (18-45), New York (13-50) and Cleveland (16-48)? How can the Magic be one of the few NBA teams with at least one win over every team in the East and own victories against Golden State, Houston, Utah, San Antonio, Milwaukee, Toronto (twice), Boston (twice), Indiana (twice) and Philadelphia, but also lose to Phoenix, New York and Cleveland?
The latest example of that erratic play came over the weekend when the Magic executed almost flawlessly in the fourth quarter of a win in Indiana only to play listlessly throughout a loss in Cleveland a night later.
Hall of Fame coach Chuck Daly, who coached the Magic during the 1997-98 and 98-99 seasons, used to utter an analogy that might perfectly describe the Magic’s dramatic highs and lows of this season. ``NBA teams can be like buckets of water,’’ Daly would say with his raspy voice and quick wit. ``They splash up and they splash down, but they always find their level.’’
Clifford, meanwhile, called it ``a losing mentality’’ for the Magic to put more emphasis on the big wins of the season instead of the quality of the team’s consistency.
``Listen, one thing in this league is if you’re not ready to play it doesn’t matter who you are,’’ Clifford said, referring to his team winning 10 of 13 games prior to Sunday’s 107-93 loss in Cleveland. ``In Orlando, we do the, `we’ve beaten these teams.’ So has everybody else.
``I keep trying to explain to (the team), `That’s not what this league is about; this league is about what you do against all the teams,’’’ Clifford continued. ``Every team counts the same and all the teams that don’t have great records beat the teams that do have great records. That’s the way that it works. And, we hide behind (big wins), but it’s a losing mentality and it’s a total misunderstanding of what the NBA is. The NBA is getting ready to play 82 times and we weren’t ready (Sunday in Cleveland).’’
FOURTH-QUARTER FORTUNES
Maybe no one statistic speaks to the Magic’s erratic nature than the one that covers the play of NBA teams in fourth quarters of games. Maybe, just maybe, the Magic’s fortunes in fourth quarters – both the good efforts and poor ones – have been something of fool’s gold, tricking them into believing they are better than they truly are when they rally to win and crushing their spirits when they allow foes to come back on them.
On the one hand, the Magic are tied for first in the NBA in wins (eight) when trailing at the start of the fourth period. Conversely, Orlando has lost nine times this season when starting the fourth period with the lead – also tied for the most in the NBA.
Orlando rallied to beat Golden State with a 33-15 fourth quarter and it surged past Indiana with a 34-25 burst over the final 12 minutes. On Sunday in Cleveland, the Magic were throttled 40-21 in the fourth, easily negating their five-point lead after three quarters of play.
ROSS TO THE RESCUE OR REELING
Guard Terrence Ross, Orlando’s best reserve all season, has played a big role in those swings. In the Magic’s 30 wins, Ross has averaged 16.2 points a game while shooting 46.5 percent from the floor and 38.4 percent from 3-point range while posting an offensive rating of 111.4 (points per 100 possessions). However, in Orlando’s 35 losses, Ross’ numbers have dipped to 13.3 points a game while shooting 39 percent from the floor and 35.9 percent from 3-point range with an offensive rating of 93.9 (points per 100 possessions).
To take things a step farther with Ross, you must look at how he’s performed in the fourth quarter of games. Not only is he Orlando’s leading scorer in the fourth quarter of games (5.3 points per game), but he has repeatedly rescued the team by piling up points late in games to wipe out deficits. He had 11 of his 16 in the fourth quarter of the Golden State victory and 16 of his 23 in the final period of the defeat of Indiana. In other instances, Ross struggled mightily to make shots in recent losses in New York (one of 10 overall and one of six from 3-point range with three points) and Cleveland (one of 12 overall and zero of six from 3-point range with two points). In just fourth quarters of Magic wins, Ross has posted a 121.4 offensive rating and a 20.2 net rating, while in the fourth quarters of Orlando losses those numbers have been dramatically different (a 94.1 offensive rating and a minus-21.6 net rating).
Because Ross is the unquestioned leader of the Magic bench, his play is usually quite contagious for those around him. In the two most recent losses, the reserves were outscored 75-7 against the Knicks and 47-13 on Sunday against the Cavaliers when Ross didn’t play well.
``It’s tough and I wish I would have made more of my shots,’’ Ross said on Sunday night after going zero of three from the floor and zero of two from 3-point range. ``Some of them felt good and some of them I was just trying to find my rhythm. It happens and not everybody is going to have a great shooting night (every time). The thing I have to keep doing is keep shooting. And the next game, I’m going to play the same way that I always do and (shots) just have to drop.’’
CLIFFORD PREACHING ACCOUNTABILITY
Clifford despises when someone mentions to him that the Magic are facing a big game. In his eyes, the preparation and focus should be the same for every game regardless of the quality of the foe across the way. That’s a lesson that Clifford learned while working for Pat Riley, Jeff Van Gundy and Stan Gundy through his nearly two decades in the NBA.
Dead ahead for the Magic will be the revamped 76ers, a team that declared itself to be on a championship-or-bust mission earlier this season and again at the NBA trade deadline in early February by trading for standouts Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris to put around Ben Simmons, J.J. Redick and the injured Joel Embiid.
The opponent actually matters little to Clifford, who keeps the pressure on his players with demands that they prepare with great focus and deliver in big spots. That’s the manner in which some of the greatest coaches in sports have operated, and Clifford certainly doesn’t shy away from holding players accountable. More so than making groundbreaking adjustments or giving rah-rah pep talks before games, Clifford feels it’s a coach’s job as a leader to demand accountability and consistency. How those players respond will determine whether or not a team will be successful or not.
``That’s the way it would be in any profession,’’ he said of holding NBA players to high standards on a daily basis. ``The tone and the environment with the guy in charge, he is supposed to take responsibility for that.
``Study leadership – read those Jim Collins’ books and it’s always going to go back to the same thing – it’s who you hire (on the roster),’’ Clifford continued. ``(New England Patriots’ coach Bill) Belichick, for instance, one of the greatest quotes of his I’ve ever read is, `If you want a smart, hard-playing, intelligent, professional football team, it’s got a lot more to do with who you draft, who you trade for and who you take in free agency than it does how you coach or what you do in practice.’ So, that’s what it’s about to me.’’
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