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By John Denton
Feb. 6, 2016
ORLANDO – If an Orlando Magic team that has been slumping the past six weeks is looking for a break from the NBA’s schedule-makers the rest of the way, they aren’t going to like this statistic:
Of their remaining 33 games, 20 are against teams with winning records. That’s tied for the most games against plus-.500 teams in the NBA along with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Starting with Sunday’s 1 p.m. matinee against the Atlanta Hawks, the Magic’s remaining opponents have a .510 winning percentage, which is the second-toughest in the Eastern Conference behind only the Hawks. Coincidentally, the Magic (21-28) and Hawks (30-22) will be playing a rare home-and-home back-to-back in Orlando on Sunday (1 p.m.) and in Atlanta on Monday (8 p.m.).
Orlando still has 13 games remaining against the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference: Cleveland (one), Toronto (one), Atlanta (two), Boston (one), Miami (three), Chicago (one), Detroit (two) and Indiana (two). Against the West’s top eight, the Magic still have six games to play: Golden State (two), San Antonio (one), Memphis (one) and Dallas (two).
“We have to come play because those aren’t the kind of teams that you will play down to the competition and do well,” said Magic forward Tobias Harris, who expects to play on Sunday despite need seven stitches to close a gash above his left eye. “They’re all top teams for a reason. They execute their stuff and they run their stuff good and we have to be really sharp and on our game for all these games coming up. We’ve already seen it in the games with San Antonio and OKC. For us to be at that level we have to play at that level also.”
The Magic have lost three in a row since beating the Celtics last Sunday at the Amway Center. Those three losses have come against the second-best (San Antonio), third-best (Oklahoma City) and fourth-best (L.A. Clippers) from the Western Conference. Orlando lost in frustrating fashion on Monday and Wednesday, losing fourth-quarter leads against the Spurs and Thunder. On Friday, Orlando fell behind early following a slow start on both ends of the floor and they were never able the Clippers in a 107-93 defeat.
That loss was the Magic’s 15th in the past 17 games, something that is still shocking to the team considering that it was once 19-13 and up to as high as fourth in the Eastern Conference standings. But a large regression on the defensive end of the floor and a team-wide slump on offense has put Orlando back in hard times.
“Right now it’s just about finding a way to get out of this because none of us are happy with where we are,” said center Nikola Vucevic, who struggled through a poor shooting night on Friday and expressed his frustrations in a variety of ways by smacking the basket stanchion and barking at the officials. “We’ve played with better energy lately against some of these really good teams, but we’re still not there yet. So we’ve got to keep working.”
The Hawks will make the Magic work what with their patient, disciplined style of offense. They have used their balanced offense and crisp ball movement to beat Orlando twice this season and in 17 of the past 20 meetings. That style will test the Magic’s ability to be patient and disciplined defensively.
“They make you be very sharp. (Jeff) Teague and (Dennis) Schroeder are good with the ball out front, but (Kyle) Korver is running off screens, they’re a good dribble hand-off team, both bigs can shoot and drive and know have to know who the shooters are who is in the game with them at all times,” Magic coach Scott Skiles said. “That’s another team that’s not afraid to go side-to-side and side-to-side and take the clock under 10 because they have some bail-out guys who can bail them out. And they’re going to work every possession and try to make you break down. And if you break down, they’re going to score.”
This season, the Magic are 12-10 against teams with sub-.500 records, meaning they have at least progressed to the point that they are beating many of the teams that they are supposed to be. However, Orlando is just 9-17 against teams with winning records. The Magic’s most impressive victories against elite teams have come against Toronto, Boston (twice) and Houston.
Magic guard Victor Oladipo had one of the best games of his career on Wednesday against Oklahoma City, making 13 of 19 shots for 37 points. However, he struggled on both ends of the floor on Friday against the Clippers. Oladipo likes that the Magic have plenty of games remaining against several elite teams because it will require that Orlando play at a high level.
“Oh yeah, I look forward to these kinds of games and I look forward to the competition that we’re going to have the rest of the year,” Oladipo said. “It allows you to see where you are both individually and as a team. … It would be huge for us to beat one of these teams. It’s not going to be easy, but we’ve just got to find a way to do it.”
