ORLANDO – Looking for something – anything, really at this point – to spark their sluggish offense and a defense that has shown signs of slight slippage early this season, the Orlando Magic broke up their usual starting five and turned to newcomer Markelle Fultz at point guard on Saturday.
However, not even the insertion of Fultz and his dynamic dribble-penetration game could do much to shake the Magic out of a shooting slump that has soured their start to the season.
Up as much as 12 in the early going and by five at halftime, Orlando’s offense went ice cold once again in Saturday’s second half, allowing the Denver Nuggets to escape the Amway Center with a 91-87 victory even though they actually shot even worse than the Magic.
Orlando (2-4) likely would have thought holding high-powered Denver (4-2) to 91 points and 37 percent shooting would have been good enough to win, but not with the way its offense is struggling to create and make open looks.
``That (solid defense) gives you an opportunity, but you’ve still got to score the ball,’’ said guard Terrence Ross, whose potential game-tying 3-point shot with 51.9 seconds to play was negated by an offensive foul on teammate Nikola Vucevic. ``You’ve got to play both ends of the floor. We’ll figure something out.’’
Orlando lost for a second time in as many nights at home, falling to Milwaukee and Denver. Whereas the Magic were gashed defensively on Friday, the problem on Saturday was a gaping 28-7 free throw disparity and an offense that simply can’t find the range.
Orlando came into Saturday last in the NBA in field goal percentage (39.1 percent) and 28thin 3-point shooting (29.6 percent), and those unsightly numbers took another hit following another wayward shooting performance. Against Denver, the Magic shot just 43 percent overall and made only six of 29 3-point shots.
``I think it’s starting to come around, but the ball is still sticking a little bit too much,’’ said Magic forward Aaron Gordon, who meshed well with Fultz and finished with 21 points, nine rebounds and three assists. ``I think as we get more comfortable with the sets and feel more comfortable, we’ll be able to nuance the offense and be able to score from different reads. We’re not shooting the ball well right now, but that’s going to change because we have a lot of hard workers in this locker room and guys who have put in a lot of work. That will change and we’ll start knocking down shots and put numbers on the board.’’
In six games, Orlando has yet to score 100 points – the only team in the NBA that’s failed to crack triple digits thus far. The Magic mustered just 42 second-half points on Saturday by hitting just 40 percent of the shots over the final 24 minutes.
Rather than the shooting woes, Magic coach Steve Clifford chose to focus on his team’s inability to defend without fouling on Saturday night. As a result, Denver got to the free throw line 39 times and hit 28 of them. By comparison, the Magic made just seven of 11 tries.
``It’s obvious that the difference in the game was the free throws,’’ Clifford said. ``We did some good things, but when you are minus-21 at the free throw line it’s going to be hard to win.’’
Orlando was back in action less than 24 hours after getting throttled 123-91 by the Milwaukee Bucks at the Amway Center. In that game, Orlando had an early 20-7 lead, but it got overwhelmed by Milwaukee’s 3-point shooting and trailed by as much as 34 points in the fourth quarter.
Clifford responded to that loss by calling Fultz on Saturday morning and informing him that he would be the starting point guard later in the night. Fultz, who made his first start in a Magic uniform since coming to Orlando in a trade last February, scored nine points and handed out two assists in 25 minutes.
``It makes me feel really good (to get the start), and it’s more motivation. It’s not the end of the world or the best thing every, but it definitely shows the trust that (Clifford) has in me,’’ said Fultz, who made four of seven shots and missed his one 3-point try. ``It shows the trust that he believes that I can help this team out. I just want to go out there and compete my hardest and help the team win.’’
Vucevic (24 points, seven rebounds and two assists) matched the play of close friend and counterpart Nikola Jokic (20 points, seven rebounds and four assists), but Orlando’s big man had just four shot attempts and seven points after halftime. Both big men were all-stars last season and have developed a tight friendship through the years. Vucevic dominated play in the first half (17 points and seven rebounds), while Jokic got his own game going in the third quarter (12 points in the period) to help the Nuggets take their first lead of the game.
Jokic also had one of the biggest baskets of the game, drilling a 16-footer with 1:53 to play after Orlando had gotten to within 82-81.
Jamal Murray scored 22 points, while Gary Harris chipped in 13 points.
Evan Fournier scored 11 points, but he missed four of five 3-point shots. Ross, whose 3-pointer got the Magic within 77-76 with 6:20 to play, finished with 10 points, five rebounds and three assists. However, he continued to struggle with his shot, making four of nine looks and only two of six 3-point shots. So, too, did Jonathan Isaac (three of 13 overall and one of five from 3-point range), Al-Farouq Aminu (zero of five overall) and D.J. Augustin (two of six overall).
``I think part of it is we’re getting a lot of good looks and we’ve just got to knock them down,’’ Vucevic said. ``With our ball movement, we’ve got to make decisions quicker, move the ball quicker and try to get to the second and third action to make the other team really work. You keep a team like Denver to (91) points, that’s good defense. We also fouled a lot, so it’s just going to be hard to win like that.’’
Magic second-year center Mo Bamba, who was rested on Friday as a precautionary measure related to the stress fracture he suffered in his left leg last season, struggled badly on Saturday night. He fouled out in just 10 minutes of play. He missed all three of his shots, scored one point and grabbed six boards before fouling out.
Denver has dominated the recent series against the Magic. The Nuggets swept the season series each of the past three years and has now won seven straight and 12 of the last 14 against the Magic. Orlando’s last win against Denver was back on March 15, 2016, a losing skid that will continue at least until December when the two teams play in the Mile High City.
After playing on Friday and Saturday, the Magic will get a much-needed day off on Sunday. Orlando will return to the practice floor at the Amway Center on Monday before departing for Oklahoma City where it will face the Thunder on Tuesday. A night later, the Magic will play in Dallas in their second-back-to-back set of games of the season.
Refusing to stand pat in hopes that their early-season struggles resolve themselves, the Magic made the bold move of altering their starting lineup on Saturday. Clifford turned to Fultz in place of Augustin, one of the Magic’s steadiest players last season.
Orlando was the only team in the NBA to return all five starters from the end of last season. Augustin, of course, was a big part of that mix, starting all 81 of the games that he played in last season. He also started the first five games of this season, averaging 8.4 points and 4.6 assists while shooting 40 percent from the floor and 27.3 percent from 3-point range. Dating back to Feb. 9, 2018, when he replaced former Magic point guard Elfrid Payton as the starter, Augustin had started all 115 games at point guard that he had played in.
Inserting Fultz for Augustin had plenty to do with defensive analytics and nothing to do with any sort of injury to the 31-year-old Augustin. In 59 minutes together early this season, the Magic had a 101.6 defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) with Augustin on the floor with Nikola Vucevic, Evan Fournier, Jonathan Isaac and Aaron Gordon. When the Magic have played Fultz with those four starters – in 28 minutes prior to Saturday’s game – the Magic compiled a 95.2 defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions). The offensive numbers with Augustin (96.7 offensive rating) and Fultz (96.8 offensive rating) were virtually the same.
Fultz was thrilled to get a Saturday morning call from Clifford, telling him he’d be the team’s starter at point guard for the foreseeable future.
``I got a call, (Clifford) called me and me and Cliff have talked a lot since I’ve been here about stuff that I can do to help the team,’’ Fultz said. ``He reached out to me on the call and let me know. I was excited, I thanked God and made sure that I was prepared. Coming into the game, you want to have a good start and I wanted to help my team.’’
Up as much as 12 points early on and by five at intermission, Orlando saw its offense grind to a halt in an ugly third period. When the Magic made just seven of 25 shots and one of eight threes in the third, Denver was able to grab a 69-63 edge. During a 7-minute, 20-second stretch of the third period, Orlando’s offense badly stalled and it mustered just four points. The Nuggets closed the third on a 19-5 run to grab their first lead of the night.
Fultz had two baskets in the first half, one coming early in the first quarter and the other coming just before the conclusion of the second period. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound guard got around Jokic for a layup early in the game and he got into the heart of the defense with 2.3 seconds remaining in the opening half for a floater as he was fouled. The Magic were a plus-five on the scoreboard in his nearly 13 minutes of game action in the first half.
Most of Fultz’s best plays of the night involved Gordon and he feels the two already have the kind of chemistry that can jump-start the Orlando offense in the days and weeks ahead. Both of his assists on the night were to Gordon, and Fultz had a layup late in the night that was set up by a Gordon pass.
``I reached out to a couple of guys, asking what I could do to help and me and A.G. consistently talk,’’ Fultz said. ``We’re trying to get a lob game and play off our penetration by cutting back door and throwing lobs. There’s just a connection there, me communicating and trying to learn these guys’ games and let them know I’m going to do whatever I can to help them win. (The chemistry with Gordon) is going to be something that’s good for us this season.’’
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.