ORLANDO – Thursday’s game at the Amway Center started well enough for the Orlando Magic as forward Jonathan Isaac swatted the first two shots of the night, and for a brief stretch it looked like the home team was about to flex its considerable defensive muscles.
As it turns out, not much at all after those two Isaac blocks went right for a Magic team that looked flat for stretches and got shelled defensively much of the night.
Just three nights after not only winning in Boston, but never trailing, the Magic fell behind early and never managed to overtake the Portland Trail Blazers and superstar guard Damian Lillard in a puzzling 128-114 loss at the Amway Center.
``We weren’t good right from the jump. In the first five minutes, it was mistake after mistake,’’ Magic coach Steve Clifford fumed. ``We went from playing a game in Boston where we were locked into things, everybody knew our coverages and we were organized to tonight where, right from the beginning, (it was subpar). We had stretches where we were OK, but again, we weren’t thinking defense.’’
Orlando (2-3) put together a spirited 15-5 run early in the fourth period to close within three of the lead and send a brief scare into the Blazers (3-1). However, Portland came out of a time out with 7:54 to play and hit Orlando with eight straight points – all of them coming from Lillard and CJ McCollum – to squash the Magic momentum. Clifford and several of the Magic players pointed to ``blown coverages’’ leading to those shots, specifically Orlando not being physical enough with shooters coming off screens.
``We don’t lose that game with those two shots; we got dominated the whole game,’’ Magic guard Evan Fournier muttered. ``Very frustrating.’’
Lillard, long a Magic killer with his quickness and shooting out of high pick-and-roll plays, burned Orlando for 41 points, seven rebounds and six assists. He added five 3-pointers and 15 fourth-quarter points for a Portland team that burned the Magic defense for 55.2 percent shooting and 11 3-pointers. Lillard’s 41 points were the most ever scored by a Portland player against the Magic in Orlando’s 30 seasons in existence. Also, it was the 27thtime a foe dropped at least 40 points on the Magic.
Jusuf Nurkic (18 points and 10 rebounds) and McCollum (22 points) took turns hurting the Magic from the inside and outside. Zach Collins chipped in 17 points.
Orlando was hoping to build off the momentum of a strong road trip in which it pushed Philadelphia to the brink and toppled the stacked Celtics. Instead, the Magic lost for a second time in three games at the Amway Center.
Orlando fell into an 11-point hole in the opening quarter, trailed by 10 at intermission and saw the deficit swell to 16 in the second half. Other than a few brief runs at the Blazers, the Magic were never consistent enough defensively to have much of a chance at winning.
Consistency, as it relates to the Magic’s approach from game to game, has also been a big issue thus far. Orlando whipped Miami in the opener before losing by 32 points in the next game against Charlotte. Then, following strong showings against Philadelphia and Boston, the Magic played their worst defense of the season on Thursday against Portland.
``We just have to be more consistent, but if we’re going to defend like that, we’re not going to give ourselves to have sustained weeks of good play,’’ Clifford said. ``You’ve got to be able to play both offense and defense.’’
Added Magic center Nikola Vucevic, who had 24 points and 11 rebounds and tied Shaquille O’Neal for second in team history with 226 double-doubles: ``In Boston, we were great with (defense), but tonight we didn’t bring that focus that we needed and that communication that we needed. I won’t say that we didn’t have effort because I thought we did have some plays where we played hard and tried. But our focus wasn’t in the right place on that (defensive) end.’’
Orlando shot well enough to win the game (50.6 percent and hit 11 3-pointers), but it had far too few answers defensively. Reserve guard Terrence Ross poured in 21 points and hit five 3-pointers. Evan Fournier and Aaron Gordon each scored 17 points, while Isaac contributed 10 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots.
``It seemed like we couldn’t get any stops and we were playing from behind all night and that’s not what you want against a couple of lethal scorers like they have over there on that side,’’ Gordon said. ``We definitely need to cement our identity quickly and have a standard of play that we have every single night. The inconsistency is going to come back to bite us in the long run, so we’ve got to be more consistent on the defensive end.’’
Orlando will be back on the practice floor on Friday before departing for Milwaukee, where it will face superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks. It will be the Magic’s first look at the Bucks’ new homecourt, Fiserv Forum, in downtown Milwaukee.
Taking a cue from Clifford, a coach who has tried to intil a ``no excuses’’ mantra around the Magic, Gordon refused to blame Orlando’s inconsistency thus far on the team still learning a new coaching staff. Gordon said the team knows what to do and much bring a better focus to every game.
``We’re professionals and some of the best players in the world and should be able to pick up things quickly,’’ Gordon said. ``That’s on us, we’re going to have to keep working and turn it around the next game.’’
The game started with those two blocked shots by Isaac on Portland’s Al-Farouq Aminu, but very little else went right the rest of the way in the first half. The Blazers got buzzer-beating shots from Collins and Lillard at the end of the first and second quarters and led 58-48 at the half.
Collins, who scored 13 points in the game’s first 24 minutes, banked in a 28-foot 3-pointer as the first quarter ended. Lillard was mostly held in check in the early going, but he got by Bamba got a layup just before the halftime horn.
``The first quarter was just a lapse in concentration and he banks it, but that’s what happens when you’re not paying attention,’’ Clifford said. ``And then the end of the second quarter, we just butchered it with two bad, careless turnovers. We had (the deficit at) five and it ends up being 10. … (Lillard) is still going to get his (points), but to me it was the first half when everybody (from Portland) was beating us off the dribble.’’
Orlando had little offensive flow in the early going and turned the ball over five times in the first quarter and nine times by halftime. The Blazers turned those mistakes into 11 points.
Things have gotten more out of hand than they did – Orlando trailed by as much as 13 points at 47-34 – if not for the shooting of Ross and the energy of Isaac. Ross had 12 first-half points by drilling two threes, two mid-range jumpers and a dunk. As for Isaac, his six points came in a short burst and he had three blocked shots in the early going.
Orlando’s only other reliable offensive threat in the first half was Vucevic, who made six of his first eight shots and scored 15 in the opening half. Gordon, meanwhile, missed all five of his shots and misfired badly on three 3-point shots.
Following the game, Gordon said his first order of business was to review Thursday’s performance to see where the Magic suffered the biggest areas of letdown from Monday’s victory in Boston. If the Magic want to make strides this season, the team’s effort and focus must improve, Gordon stressed.
``I’m going to go back and watch tonight’s game because we’re a little idiosyncratic with this team,’’ he said. ``It seems like it differentiates from game to game with us.’’
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