By John DentonNov. 1, 2015
CHICAGO – Their fourth-quarter finishes almost exclusively the problem in two heartbreaking losses to open the season, the Orlando Magic flipped the script on Sunday and instead slogged through much of night before inexplicably finding the rhythm late.
An Orlando team that scored at will much of Wednesday and Friday in building late leads against Washington and Oklahoma City didn’t find its offensive flow on Sunday until it was too late.
The Magic turned to their reserves and clawed back from 15 points down to within one, but more sloppiness from the offense returned and the Magic were left with a 92-87 loss to the Chicago Bulls.
On this night, frustration from another near miss replaced all of the heartbreak from the past week.
“We’re a little too undisciplined right now, the lack of energy led to a couple of breakdowns and we let the momentum snowball,” said forward Aaron Gordon, who had four points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots in 24 minutes. “We picked it up there in the fourth quarter, but we can’t do that because that’s not a formula for winning.”
Orlando came into the game on the heels of one of the most heartbreaking regular-season losses in franchise history. After falling to Washington by one point in the opener, the Magic (0-3) seemed poised to beat Oklahoma City by surging ahead to an 18-point lead. However, OKC rallied, got a banked-in 3-point shot from Russell Westbrook at the end of regular season and they crushed the Magic 139-136 in double overtime.
The Magic seemed to be victims of a nasty hangover on Sunday as they played lifelessly for long stretches and struggled to find energy. After adopting a `no excuses’ mantra this season, the Magic wanted nothing to do with blaming Friday’s emotional haymaker for Sunday’s lack of fire.
“We didn’t have that juice and energy that we normally have and the ball wasn’t moving like it normally does,” said Magic guard Victor Oladipo, who had 13 points, but made just five of 13 shots. “We’re not even thinking about (Friday’s loss). We lost today and we should have come out stronger and ready to play. We gave that game away.”
Added Tobias Harris, who made just five of 14 shots and scored just 11 points after having 30 on Friday: “That (Friday loss) is too easy to point to as an excuse. Once you are on that floor and the other team is on the floor and it’s five-on-five you have to bring your energy every night.”
Magic coach Scott Skiles said that if the Magic truly were feeling sorry for themselves and are still down from Friday’s loss that, “then, this is going to be a long year and that’s the reality of it.”
Skiles has told his players that they will be held accountable for their actions and he stuck to that on Sunday by benching Harris (five of 14 and 11 points), Elfrid Payton (two of seven and four points) and rookie Mario Hezonja (zero of three, no points in just five minutes) midway through the second half. The coach was most upset with how the Magic had little life in their legs, they missed defensive assignments and they never really shared the ball, as evidenced by the eight assists in the first half and 21 for the game.
“One minute into the game, we got a rebound and if I said there were three guys jogging up the floor that would be too fast,” Skiles said. “I thought both teams were just walking around, but we stood out. The (final) score was close but we had multiple busted coverages, we weren’t focused and we weren’t ready. We went searching for any combinations that would work and we probably found one a little too late.”
Down and seemingly out, Orlando came alive in the final half of the fourth quarter with a stirring 14-0 run. They trimmed a double-digit deficit down and got to within 83-82 with 3:36 to play. But the Magic followed with four straight missed shots and two turnovers and it went scoreless for a 3-minute, 19-second stretch.
Huffed Skiles: “We started getting some stops and pushing the ball up the floor, which is our game, and Jason Smith came in and gave us a big lift and knocked down a couple of shots. But at the end we took a couple of bad ones. … We’re trying to focus on playing the right way and it’s just very disappointing that when the ball goes up and we’re not ready to play.”
Fresh off a game where they pumped in 136 points against OKC, the Magic were mostly a mess in every phase offensively. They shot just 38.9 percent from the floor, made only seven of 23 3-point shots and turned the ball over 17 times. And in another sign of the the Magic’s lack of aggression in going to the rim, they attempted fewer free throws (17) than the Bulls made (19) and got outscored by nine points from the charity stripe.
Because of those offensive issues, the Magic remain winless. Skiles was hired in late May to bring structure and toughness to the youthful Magic and the team seemed to make major strides during a 6-2 preseason. But facing three powerhouse teams so far in Washington, OKC and Chicago, Orlando has had few answers in figuring out ways to get over the hump and find success.
Guard Evan Fournier had 19 points, while Nikola Vucevic chipped in 15 points and 11 rebounds.
But it wasn’t nearly enough. Oladipo, who played some of his best basketball against Chicago the past two seasons, went long stretches without affecting Sunday’s game and scored just 13 points.
Reserve power forward Jason Smith and point guard Shabazz Napier gave the Magic lifts off the bench. Smith had eight points and a 3-pointer, while Napier chipped in seven points.
“I’m not going to use the excuse of the double overtime because OKC just won against Denver, but maybe we have to get loose or something. But we definitely have to play harder,” said Fournier, who made eight of 15 shots and two of his four 3-pointers. “We have to be tougher mentally because we had a tough loss against Oklahoma and we have to come back tougher mentally to keep playing that way. If we would just play like we did in the first couple of games we would win a lot of games this season.”
Chicago got 16 points from both Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic. They won despite shooting just 37.9 percent and getting very little production from former MVP Derrick Rose (six points, eight assists and seven rebounds).
The Bulls (3-1) are one of the teams that the Magic played especially well against last season. Orlando pumped in 121 points in the Windy City last January and it dropped games by one point and two points to the Bulls last spring in Orlando.
However, Sunday’s game wasn’t close for long stretches after the Bulls strung together a 15-2 spurt midway through the first quarter. The Magic led 15-12 early on and never again, allowing the Bulls to run out to a lead as big as 15 points.
“We can’t play any game flat and we have no room for error and we have to play like it’s our like time doing this,” Oladipo said. “We have to come out better ready to start the game. Overall, we just didn’t play hard enough.”
So sharp passing the ball and cutting for open looks in Friday’s first half, the Magic were a mess early on in Sunday’s game. Because of 36.4 percent shooting and 10 misses on 12 3-point shots, Orlando trailed the Bulls 54-40 at the half.
To put into perspective Orlando’s early struggles, it scored 67 points in Friday’s first half and carved up OKC at will. But on Sunday, the Magic seemed to have big problems with the length of Gasol, Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson on the inside.
“The ball was sticking a little bit,” Gordon said. “Basketball is a funny game. You are either moving the ball and it’s contagious or it’s sticking and it’s contagious. That’s kind of what happened.”
Vucevic hit his first three shots and had six points in the game’s first four minutes. However, he and Harris went to the bench four minutes later and didn’t return until the midpoint of the second quarter. By then, Orlando had already fallen into a 43-34 hole. Harris, in particular, had trouble finishing on the inside around Chicago’s bigger post players and missed seven of this first 10 shot attempts.
“We didn’t get off to a good start because of our energy and demeanor out there,” Harris said. “We fought hard at the end and came up short, but we shouldn’t be in that position. We have to start out games with more energy and really bring it out there.”
Gordon is just 20 years old, but he is beyond his age when it comes to maturity and analyzing big-picture issues. He feels that the Magic not being rewarded with success following strong performances in the first two games took a toll on the squad tonight. If the team can just get a one win – starting Tuesday in New Orleans – Gordon feels the Magic can start building some positive momentum.
“I just think it would be huge for us (to win) and once we get a little sip of that blood, I think we can keep it rolling,” Gordon said. “We’ve got to get some momentum before it gets too far out of hand.”
