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By John Denton
Jan. 20, 2016
ORLANDO – The manner with which the Orlando Magic played in December – whipping the ball around the perimeter, keeping everyone involved offensively and also trusting one another on the defensive end – was, in a word, “fun” for the squad.
When the Magic (20-20) hit the Amway Center floor tonight for the first time in 11 days to face the Philadelphia 76ers (5-38), they will be hoping to return to the “fun” style of play they featured during their best stretch of the season.
“We’ve just got to go out and have some fun because we’ve been pretty stiff lately,” Magic forward Channing Frye said candidly. “It’s been like, `Hey, I wanna do this’ and `I wanna do that,’ but we’ve got to let the game flow to us, trust our teammates and enjoy the process.”
The Magic haven’t had much fun lately as they’ve lost seven of the past eight games. Once 19-13 at the end of December, 2016 hasn’t been kind to a Magic team that has had extreme signs of slippage on the defensive end of the floor and offensively as the ball movement has stalled.
Human nature is that when things go bad, people often tense up and put more pressure on themselves. That’s what Magic guard Evan Fournier thinks has happened to the Magic of late. Instead of playing with a relaxed and sharing mentality, Fournier feels the lack of success of late has caused the Magic to press and it’s been extremely counterproductive to the style that they want to play.
“We have to start over basically and get back to playing good defense, have pace in our offense and have intensity for 48 minutes – stuff that we were doing not too long ago,” Fournier said. “I think there’s been a mix of a little bit of everything – a little bit of fatigue and injuries – but those aren’t excuses for anything. We still have to get the job done.”
Orlando will once again be without standout guard Victor Oladipo, who sprained his right knee last in last Thursday’s OT loss to Toronto. Oladipo missed Monday’s game in Atlanta, and the Magic felt the aftereffects of missing one of their most athletic and energetic players. Head coach Scott Skiles called the team “slow” following Monday’s frustrating 98-81 loss in Atlanta.
Skiles and his staff have contemplated making a change to the starting lineup tonight. Twice, Skiles has altered the way Orlando has started games and both had positive effects. Moving Frye in with the starters produced a 13-5 stretch, while promoting Oladipo two weeks ago led to the best shooting and scoring (20.4 points per game over a five-game stretch) of the season from the guard.
For a Magic team seeking athleticism and energy, Skiles could turn to second-year forward Aaron Gordon as a starter at power forward. The 6-foot-8 Gordon has shown major signs of blossoming of late and he pumped in 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds on Monday in Atlanta.
Regardless of whether Orlando makes a lineup change or not, it must play with more vigor and conviction – and yes, even have more “fun” – if it is going to avoid losing to a high-energy Philadelphia team that has made strides since trading for former Magic guard Ish Smith. Since starting 1-30, the Sixers have won four of the past 12 games and they have forced the Bulls and Knicks into overtime games.
The Magic are focusing more on themselves than the opponent, knowing that nothing will change until they get back to playing the style of basketball that made them successful early in the season.
“The approach has to be there and we need to make sure that we have a good start,” center Nikola Vucevic said. “We need to be the ones that throw the first punch, that we’re the aggressors. That’s very important for us.”
