DETROIT – As if his job wasn’t already difficult enough coaching an Orlando Magic team with a thin margin for error, Steve Clifford has been forced to try and find new ways for his shorthanded squad to generate offense without two of its best scorers.
As Clifford and the Magic found out once again on Monday, generating points for a half or in short bursts isn’t that difficult. Doing it over the course of a full game, however, is quite challenging without all-star center Nikola Vucevic and standout forward Aaron Gordon in the mix.
Orlando led by as much as 11 points in the early going, held a two-point edge at halftime and was even ahead at the midpoint of the third period. However, when the offense hit a wall during a particularly ugly stretch of the third quarter and it extended into the fourth, it resulted in an unsightly, and somewhat predictable 103-88 loss to the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena.
``Obviously, offensively we don’t have a lot of room for error, but again the point is how you play,’’ said Clifford, who was highly upset with what he thought was a lack of ball movement in the second half. ``You have to play in a way that you can get shots. One guy dribbling the ball six or seven times in one spot is not doing that.’’
Orlando (6-10) lost a third straight game on this four-game, nine-night road trip when it shot just 39 percent from the floor, made only eight of 25 3-point shots and struggled to find reliable scorers in the second half. The Magic were outscored 50-33 over the final 24 minutes of the game.
Evan Fournier, who finished with 17 points, saw his six-game stretch of torrid shooting come to an end on Monday. He made just five of 16 tries and missed all five of his attempts from 3-point range when the Pistons trained their focus on taking him out of the game. Fournier said that while the Magic’s offensive options are limited without Vucevic and Fournier, they can’t give in now to pity.
``It was a little bit of everything – they played good defense, they were pretty much up on everything and it was an off night as well,’’ Fournier said. ``It’s personal. It’s got to be personal and if you are not motivated then you’ve got nothing to do here. We know that (giving in) is not even a thought for me or this team. We’re going to fight. Obviously, three losses in a row is not easy, but we’re going to fight. We were 11 games under .500 last year, so we’re not going to quit, obviously.’’
The Magic’s offensive slide began midway through the third quarter when they missed their final 12 shot attempts of the period – missed that turned their one-point lead into an eight-point deficit. Orlando made just five of 21 shots and only one of five 3-point attempts in the game-turning third quarter when it was outscored 25-15 by the Pistons.
Clifford was asked prior to the game about finding enough ways for his offensively challenged team to generate scoring opportunities, and he admitted that the Magic were a team still searching for answers. But his belief is that the Magic have enough talent and depth to win – if the ball and player movement principles stay intact throughout the game.
``Our troubles come more with overdribbling, looking off a teammate who is right beside of you to try and make a better play and that’s not our team,’’ Clifford said. ``When the ball moves freely, we can play good offense. We reverted in the second half to what has been our biggest problem since I got here.
``If we play the right way and we lose, that’s one thing, but that’s not what we did,’’ he added. ``In this league, you’re going to pay a price. Things are working and we played a good first half. Then, we go out and it’s the same thing (with poor ball movement).’’
Detroit (6-11) came into the night ranked second in the NBA in accuracy from 3-point range and it lived up to its reputation by drilling 14 shots from beyond the arc. Luke Kennard (20 points and three 3-pointers), Svi Mykhailiuk (12 points and four 3-pointers) and Langston Galloway (12 points and four 3-pointers) buoyed the Detroit offense throughout and crushed the Magic’s hopes of a rally. Blake Griffin (17 points) and Andre Drummond (seven points and 18 rebounds) commanded plenty of attention inside to free up Detroit’s shooters.
``It was just rotations and we’ve got to communicate more on defense,’’ Fultz said of his team surrendering so many open looks from 3-point range. ``I think we had some breakdowns on defense where we were trying to get to the low man when Blake (Griffin) was posting up and they had some kick-out 3-pointers. It was multiple different (Detroit) players (making shots), so I’ll have to watch some film to see what was happening.’’
Orlando had little going offensively outside of Fournier, Fultz (16 points) and Terrence Ross (19 points), and even they struggled throughout an unsightly second half. Ross (14 first-half points) and Fultz (10 first-half points) did most of their damage in the game’s opening 24 minutes, while Fournier never got much going other than a couple of floaters in the lane and seven free throw makes.
Jonathan Isaac, who had a career-best 25 points in Saturday’s 111-106 heartbreaking loss in Indiana, managed 10 points, six rebounds and four blocks. He made only four of 11 field goals.
``It’s on us and we’ve got to do better than that,’’ Isaac said. ``I think you can give (the offensive struggles) up to (bad habits and poor ball movement). We’ve just got to do better. I think it’s just staying with it – even when we have a couple of possessions where we don’t score.’’
Second-year center Mo Bamba played his best stretch of basketball in the first half when he was active on the glass and effective defensively. But, much like the Magic, he didn’t have much to contribute in the second half.
Orlando was once again without Vucevic (right ankle sprain) and Gordon (sprained right ankle) and key reserve Michael Carter-Williams (hip irritation). Vucevic and Gordon were hurt on Wednesday in Toronto and have missed the past 2 ½ games, while Carter-Williams has been nursing his injury since last Sunday and has been out for three consecutive games.
On Monday, both Vucevic and Gordon reported making progress in their recoveries through work in the pool, weight room and on the stationary bicycle. While Vucevic’s injury is considered to be far more serious, Gordon is hopeful of going through a full work out on Tuesday in Cleveland. He is holding out hope that he’ll be able to play on Wednesday when the Magic face the Cavaliers.
``We’re definitely talking about that,’’ Gordon said prior to Monday’s game. ``I’m definitely going leave it up to (High Performance Director) David Tenney and (Athletic Trainer/Manual Therapist) Aki (Akihito Tajima). So, it’s going be up to them.’’
Monday’s game was the first of four this season between the Magic and Pistons. Last season, Detroit won three of the four regular-season meetings, but Orlando grabbed the higher seed (seventh as opposed to eighth) for the Eastern Conference playoffs.
So good in the early going while helping the Magic build an 11-point bulge and a two-point halftime lead, Orlando’s second unit fell flat in the third quarter. Orlando missed its final 12 shots of the period and had just two free throws from Fournier over the final 6:07 and trailed 78-70 after three quarters.
The Magic took a 68-67 lead with slightly more than 6 minutes remaining in the third period on a thunderous dunk by Fultz. However, that’s when the offense ground to a halt and the Magic hardly threatened the rest of the way.
Orlando led 55-53 at the half largely because of the collective play of their reserves. That second unit, who helped the Magic to storm to a lead as large as 11 points early on, has had its troubles throughout the season, but it was locked in and ready on Monday and made a significant difference in the early going. The four reserves that played a bulk of the minutes all had a positive plus/minus ratio in the first half.
Ross made five of his first seven shots – and drilled two 3-pointers – for 14 points in the first half.
Just as significant was the energy and aggression showed by Bamba, who had easily his best stretch thus far in 13 first-half minutes. He scored four points, grabbed eight rebounds, blocked three shots and nabbed two steals in the early going when he played with the decisiveness and force that the Magic have been asking for from him. Bamba’s work on the glass – four of his boards came on the offensive end – allowed the Magic to have a 25-18 rebounding edge by halftime.
Little of that first-half success when the Magic couldn’t find enough ways to score over the final 24 minutes. Clearly, the Magic are a limited team now without the 35 points a game that they are missing with Vucevic, Gordon and Carter-Williams out injured. Finding other options has Clifford constantly searching for ways for the Magic to generate points.
``I don’t know about creative; I think you have to be pragmatic,’’ Clifford said when asked prior to the game about the difficulty in finding offensive options because of injuries. ``When you lose guys, especially guys who score the ball, that’s when you better know the other guys … Who can get more (shots)? Who can get you enough points so that you can win? So, you had better know your team well.’’
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