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By John DentonApril 13, 2016
CHARLOTTE – Once a promising 19-13 and looking every bit like a team that would be in playoff contention all the way to the middle of April, the Orlando Magic’s season got sidetracked and careened out of control when their defense fell apart at the start of 2016.
Too many 3-pointers yielded, too much dribble penetration given up and rebounding woes on the defensive boards proved to be the haunting nightmares in Orlando’s playoff dreams.
The Magic seemed to get a handle on their defensive issues during a stirring late-season charge, but those same troubling problems returned again to sabotage any chances of garnering a win in the regular-season finale.
Orlando will be on the outside looking in once again when the playoffs start this weekend largely because of defensive woes like the ones that led to Wednesday’s disappointing 117-103 loss to the Charlotte Hornets at Time Warner Cable Arena.
The Magic (35-47) came into the game having won six of nine games, including impressive defeats of Miami, Indiana and Memphis. But they hardly had a chance to extend that run on Wednesday because of a defense that surrendered 54.7 percent shooting and 11 3-pointers to the playoff-bound Hornets (48-34).
Because of the defensive issues, Orlando trailed by as much as 22 points and never led. It did get within two twice early in the fourth quarter, but that run was short-lived and the Magic were throttled again over the game’s final 10 minutes.
Magic head coach Scott Skiles has had great success on the defensive end of the floor in previous stops with the Suns, Bulls and Bucks, but for whatever reason it didn’t translate to Orlando this season. A top-five team in field goal percentage early in the season, the Magic have since fallen in the NBA’s bottom 10 in that category – something that is still plenty troubling to the head coach.
“That’s something we talk about every day. We just got away from some of the things that we were doing well on that end. We’d sprinkle in a couple of games where we’d get our opponent down to 42 percent and a decent percentage from three, we didn’t foul so much and the opponent didn’t get to the line so much, so there’s a lot of things that have gone into (the drop-off). I just don’t have a great answer for that question, quite honestly.”
Evan Fournier, arguably Orlando’s most consistent and valuable player all season, pumped in 22 points by making eight of 14 shots, four of five 3-pointers and he connected on two free throws.
Aaron Gordon, back from a three-game absence because of a concussion, showed off his tremendous growth over the season by scoring 22 points and grabbing five rebounds off the bench. Center Nikola Vucevic added 17 points, while rookie Mario Hezonja struggled through a three-of-11 shooting night and had 10 points. Charlotte, one of the NBA’s most improved teams this season, locked up the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Hornets got 26 points off the bench from Al Jefferson.
The Magic made strides at home this season, but it continued to be mostly road kill outside of Orlando. Winners of 23 games at home, the Magic went a disappointing 12-29 on the road this season. Two of those losses, of course, came in Charlotte.
The Magic welcomed back injured Vucevic (right leg contusion) and Gordon (concussion) on Wednesday night. Vucevic, Orlando’s leading scorer and rebounder a second straight season, missed 13 games from March 7-30 with a groin strain – an injury that harmed Orlando’s chances of putting together a late playoff push. Gordon was back a week after suffering a concussion when he was accidentally hit in the head by an elbow. Gordon was cleared by independent doctors earlier in the day and he was eager to play even though he easily could have sat out of the season finale.
Standout guard Victor Oladipo, who suffered a concussion and a gash over his left eye, did not make the trip to Charlotte. The concussion is his second in five months, but Oladipo said earlier in the week that he isn’t worried about the blows he’s taken to head two different times this season. Oladipo, the second-leading scorer on the team, ultimately missed the final three games of his third NBA season.
Once down as much as 22 points, Orlando got within 86-84 and 88-86 on a jump shot by Jason Smith and a Hezonja dunk early in the fourth quarter. But with reserves from both teams in the game late, the game turned ragged and the Hornets rebuilt a double-digit advantage.
Down a disappointing 16 points at the half, Orlando outscored the Hornets 29-20 in the third quarter to draw within 86-79. Fournier and Vucevic, best friends off the court and a strong one-two punch on the court, combined for 20 points in the third period. Fournier had 11 in the third period to briefly give Orlando a chance.
The Magic were systematically picked apart in the first half by Charlotte’s shooters and they trailed 66-50 at intermission. The Hornets shot 61.5 percent from the floor in the first quarter and made six of 12 3-pointers by the midpoint of the second quarter. And when reserve guard Troy Daniels drilled threes on back-to-back plays, the Hornets had a commanding 65-43 lead on a rattled Magic squad.
Gordon and Vucevic showed no ill effects from their absences, playing well in the first half to keep the Magic within striking distance. Gordon had a hard-nosed post-up, two attacking layups and a corner 3-pointer in a nine-point first half. Vucevic, who has a long history of playing well on the offensive end of the floor against Charlotte, made four of his first six shots for eight first-half points.
Orlando was efficient offensively in the early going, shooting 47.8 percent and using 15 assists to set up their 22 field goals. But their defense was so weak that they fell behind by as much as 18 points in the first quarter and by as much as 22 in the first half.
