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By John Denton
Dec. 6, 2015
LOS ANGELES – On one hand, the Orlando Magic have plenty to be happy about what with them reaching the quarter pole of the NBA’s marathon 82-game season with a better record, a better defense and a dramatically better competitiveness against elite teams.
On the other hand, the Magic can’t help but wonder now where they would be had they been able to avoid the heartbreak of repeated fourth-quarter collapses against the likes of Oklahoma City, Houston, Washington (twice) and the Los Angeles Clippers.
As excited as the Magic are about the strides that they have made so far, they are equally as frustrated about the games that they let get away. At 11-9 the Magic are four wins better than than they were at the 20-game mark last season, yet they can’t help but wonder what their record would be if they were better in games decided by five points or less (4-5) and in games decided by three points or fewer (3-3).
`We had a very hard schedule to start and we let a couple of those games get away,’ Magic guard Evan Fournier said. `The OKC game … the game against Washington … we let all of those slip away. But what can we say now because it’s over?’
Another one of those “what if’ moments came on Saturday night when the Magic impressively throttled the Clippers much of the second half and led 96-86 with 5:28 to play. However, the ball movement that Orlando used to repeatedly get into the lane for scores stopped and they couldn’t corral longtime nemesis Jamal Crawford. An 11-0 spurt gave L.A. the lead and a 17-5 finish soured Orlando’s night with a bitter 103-101 defeat.
`We were driving into traffic and trying to make shots that we shouldn’t be trying to make,’ said coach Scott Skiles, who was frustrated by the Magic getting away from what had worked for them early in the game. `Typically we’ve not been making those mistakes, but we just gift-wrapped this one for (the Clippers).’
The poor finish was somewhat surprising considering Orlando’s recent run of stellar play in the fourth quarter and its five-game winning streak – the longest such spree since January of 2012. The Magic squandered a 17-point lead in Minnesota on Tuesday, but thrived down the stretch for a big road win. And on Thursday, the Magic saved their best basketball of the night for the fourth quarter when they rallied past Utah for another victory.
But Saturday’s setback brought back memories of previous collapses against good teams. In the season-opener against Washington, Orlando led by eight midway through the fourth quarter and was up five with 90 seconds to play, but lost 88-87. Against OKC, Orlando led by as much as 18, had a 15-point bulge in the fourth, but lost in double-OT because of Russell Westbrook’s half-court shot at the end of regulation and his 48 points. Similarly, other games against Houston (up three with 3:58 to play) and Washington (up four with 5:30 remaining) left the Magic with empty losses.
Skiles has preached to his team all season that it is no longer good enough to play an elite team close and lose at the end. That’s another reason why these narrow misses have left the Magic feeling so hollow.
“So many of the losses that we’ve had this season easily could have been wins,’ said Magic forward Aaron Gordon, who gave his team a lift on Saturday with 10 points and seven rebounds. “But it’s a long season and all you can do is try to continue to churn out wins. Encouragement when you’re taking the loss, that isn’t very encouraging.’
One-quarter of the way into the season and Orlando has clearly made strides in a variety of areas. Their defensive efficiency rating is seventh in the NBA, up dramatically from 25th last season. Orlando is holding foes to 42.2 percent shooting – the fourth-best mark in the NBA and 24 spots better than last season.
And those numbers were even better during that five-game winning streak that started after Skiles made a couple of daring rotation changes. Moving standout guard Victor Oladipo to the second unit and starting power forward Channing Frye to get more spacing and shooting onto the floor brought more balance and consistency to the Magic.
Despite all of the improvements made so far, Skiles said the Magic still have several areas that they need to get better in if they want to have a special season. Offensively, Skiles wants his group to continue to share the ball and trust the system, while defensively he said the Magic must limit their fouling. The veteran coach feels that Orlando should use its youth as a positive, meaning that the squad should always play hard and have high energy even as the season drags on and the games keep coming in rapid-fire succession.
`I think we’re still a better 3-point shooting team than we’ve shown and, as I’ve said many times before, we’d like to get to the (free throw) line more,’ said Skiles, referring to the areas where the Magic need improvement. “We’ve had a few games where we’re 62 percent in finishing at the rim and we need that to be regularly in the high 60s. The things that have hurt us in our losses need to be better. We feel like we’re heading in the right direction, but we still need to do a lot of things better.’
