ORLANDO – In many ways, head coach Steve Clifford is the Orlando Magic’s lone on-court link to the most recent glory days when the franchise was a perennial playoff power and a feared opponent in games held in Central Florida.
An Orlando assistant coach from 2007-12, Clifford was a part of Magic teams that reached the playoffs five straight years (six overall) and advanced to the 2009 NBA Finals and the ’10 Eastern Conference Finals.
A common denominator during those years – besides Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis, Jameer Nelson and Hedo Turkoglu? It was the Magic’s ability to protect their home court – whether it was at the since-demolished Amway Arena or at the state-of-the-art Amway Center since 2010.
``If we’re going to become the team that we need to be, we need to start winning in our building and with our fans,’’ said Clifford, Orlando’s head coach since May. ``This should be a very good homecourt advantage and the fans here are great. When I was here before, we never lost in this building and that’s what it’s got to get back to.’’
Orlando (14-15) heads into Wednesday’s home game against the San Antonio Spurs (16-15) with a pedestrian 8-8 home mark. However, two of those victories came last week in Mexico City when the Magic were the designated home team and playing in very unfamiliar, sometimes hostile surroundings.
Orlando came into Tuesday in the No. 8 spot in the Eastern Conference. Its eight home victories are the fewest among the other 15 teams currently in playoff spots in the Eastern and Western Conferences. Philadelphia has already won 14 times in the City of Brotherly Love, while Golden State and Milwaukee have already notched 13 home victories.
Taking it a step further, all 16 of the teams that made the playoffs last spring were well over .500 at home. In fact, Milwaukee and New Orleans were the only two teams that didn’t win at least 10 more home games than they lost. On average, last year’s 16 playoff teams won 16.4 more games at home than they lost.
Magic guard Evan Fournier, who is in his fifth season with the franchise, knows the Magic must pick up their play at home if they want to make a run at the postseason this spring.
``Winning at home is very important, first of all, to get the fans involved and having a good showing,’’ said Fournier, one of the heroes of Orlando’s defeat of Utah on Saturday in Mexico City. ``And (winning at home) helps to build confidence. When you play for a good team, like my first year (in the NBA) in Denver, we only lost two games at home, it gives you a feeling of, `They have to come here, and we know we’re not going to lose that game.’ It’s huge for a team when you know you’ve got (the win) and it doesn’t matter who is in front of you.’’
Orlando’s mission of winning at the Amway Center on Wednesday could prove much more difficult if it is forced to play without standout center Nikola Vucevic. The Magic’s longest-tenured player became a first-time father on Tuesday when his wife, Nikoleta, gave birth to the couple’s son. Filip Vucevic weighed in at 8 pounds, 12.4 ounces and measured 22.5 inches upon birth.
Vucevic has been the steadiest and most productive player on the team all season, leading the Magic in scoring (20.6) and rebounding (11.7). He’s led the team in scoring 13 times, in rebounding 22 times and in assists six times. He has four 30-point efforts this season, 16 20-point nights and 16 double-doubles to put himself in contention for the first all-star berth of his eight-year NBA career.
If Vucevic exercises his paternity leave rights to stay with his newborn son and his recovering wife, it could mean the first professional start for rookie center Mo Bamba. Not only did the prized pick from last June’s NBA Draft have nine points, four rebounds, four blocked shots and two assists in 17 minutes on Saturday, he did a bulk of his damage in the fourth quarter when the Magic were rallying past the Jazz.
Orlando will be facing a Spurs team that it defeated 117-110 on Nov. 4. The Magic came into that game 2-6 and riding a four-game losing streak, but they jumped all over the Spurs in San Antonio and led by 26 points with nine minutes remaining. The Spurs would rally late, but Orlando ultimately quelled it and won behind 26 points from Aaron Gordon.
``We’ve got to put that (performance) in the past because (the Spurs) are going to be a whole new team coming in here,’’ Gordon said on Tuesday. ``They’ve had a new piece (in guard DeMar DeRozan), they’ve had to make some adjustments and (head coach Gregg Popovich) has had to adjust a little bit to his new team. So, it looks like they’ve got it rolling. It’s going to be a good ball game.’’
Winning in San Antonio is a microcosm of the toughness that the Magic have shown away from home this season. Thus far, the Magic have notched impressive road victories in Boston, Miami, Los Angeles (vs. the Lakers), San Antonio and New York. Also, they found a way to gut out the victories over the Bulls and Jazz in Mexico City even though players admitted those games felt very much like road games.
Fournier joked on Tuesday that maybe one reason the Magic have failed to gain much traction at home is because they have rarely been there much of late. Of the past 11 games, only two have been played at the Amway Center.
``How about that schedule, man, how about that?’’ said Fournier, whose Magic will be back on the road on Thursday and Friday for a game in Chicago. ``It’s the worst I’ve ever seen. Winning on the road is hard and going West is always hard, so you have to take advantage of every opportunity that you have to win games at home, including Mexico City.
``It just feels like we’re never home,’’ Fournier continued. ``I got into my bed (Monday) night and, you know, it feels like I haven’t been in my bed in years. I don’t know – it feels like we’re always on the road this year.’’
While the Magic have made themselves feel at home on the road, they have been somewhat different playing in Orlando. The Magic have lost in lopsided fashion to Charlotte, Portland, the Los Angeles Clippers and Indiana at the Amway Center. Comparing their 16 home games to their 13 road games (6-7), the Magic have averaged more points (104.9 to 102.8) and shot better overall (45.8 percent to 43.9 percent) at the Amway Center. For whatever reason, the Magic have been better from 3-point range (37.6 percent to 33.5 percent) and the free throw line (79.6 percent to 77.9 percent) on the road than at home. Then, there’s this: They are surrendering 108.5 points per game at home as opposed to 104.5 points per game on the road.
``I don’t sense a different readiness or approach in terms of how we practice or anything like that,’’ a baffled Clifford said. ``So, I don’t know.’’
Added Gordon: ``We’ve just got to put a full game together. Put a full game together and that’s what we’re looking to do.’’
Clifford knows that his Magic have some work to do to equal the success set during his first run in Orlando from 2007-12. When he was in Orlando before, working for then-head coach Stan Van Gundy, the Magic went 25-16 in 2007-08, 32-9 in 2008-09, 34-7 in 2009-10, 29-12 in 2010-11 and 21-12 in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 at home. Clifford knows that winning at home is a must if the Magic want to make a serious playoff run this season.
``It’s critical,’’ he stressed. ``When you think about it, a terrific year in the NBA would be 50 wins, right? So, usually, they always say the formula for (50 wins) is to be .500 on the road and win 30 of the 41 at home. We’re not going to do that, obviously, but we’ve played a lot better on the road than we have at home and that’s got to change.’’
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