By John DentonNov. 7, 2015
ORLANDO – Sure, it’s still early in the season, but the Scott Skiles effect on the Orlando Magic is starting to show tangible evidence in how the team has taken major strides defensively.
Skiles, who has a long history of success coaching defense in Phoenix, Chicago and Milwaukee, made defensive improvement the top priority with the Magic after taking over as head coach in late May.
And through five games, Orlando has certainly responded to Skiles’ demands that the team get significantly better on the defensive end of the floor. The Magic entered Saturday night’s game as the NBA’s best defensive team in the NBA in terms of field goal percentage allowed (40.4 percent), according to Elias Sports Bureau. Also, the Magic rank third in 3-point percentage allowed (28.4 percent).
“(The defense) has been pretty solid considering the strength of our opponent and those are pretty good numbers,” said Skiles, whose Magic held the previously undefeated Toronto Raptors to 34.9 percent shooting and 5 of 23 (21.7 percent) from 3-point range. “If (the defensive numbers) hold firm the whole season we’d be a top defensive team. Except for our fouling, we give up too many points per game. But the straight field goal percentage and 3-point percentage have been good and now we’ve got to piece the whole thing together.”
To put the Magic’s defensive improvement into perspective, you must understand where the team has come from. Last season, Orlando was mostly abysmal at stopping foes and ranked 28th out of 30 teams in field goal percentage allowed (46.3 percent) and 29th in 3-point percentage allowed (36.8 percent). Orlando was so porous defensively last season that it once had a stretch where it yielded 100 or more points in 14 straight games.
Skiles told the team before the season that field goal defense is the most accurate statistic in telling whether a team is playoff worthy. In the past 20 years, 94 of the 100 teams that finished the season in the top five in field goal percentage allowed went on to reach the postseason.
Making the Magic’s defensive improvement even more impressive is the fact that they have done it against some of the top teams in the league. Five the teams faced so far were in the playoffs last season and Oklahoma City is headed there this season with a healthy Kevin Durant. Orlando has held four teams – Washington, Chicago, New Orleans and Toronto – to shooting percentages les than 40 percent. And four foes – Washington, Oklahoma City, Chicago and Toronto – failed to break 30 percent from 3-point range.
BORED, BUT ENCOURAGED: Out with ankle injuries and concussions in years prior, Nikola Vucevic has spoken about his disdain for sitting out of games. If all goes well with the treatment on his right knee, Vucevic is hopeful he won’t have to sit out many more games.
Vucevic missed his second straight game on Saturday night after suffering a bone bruise in his right knee. He is travelling with the team on the road and he underwent treatment on the knee Saturday morning and planned to go through another session of rehab on Saturday night in hopes of speeding up the recovery process.
“It’s getting better and it’s not as painful and as sore today,” Vuecvic said. “It’s getting better. (Treatment) is one of the things that I can do to get it better. It’s day by day.
Vucevic, who is averaging 15.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.4 blocks a game, went down in a heap on Wednesday night when his knee buckled without getting any contact. He is hopeful that the pain will soon subside and he can get back on the court to test out the strength in the knee.
“I still have some pain when I walk and stuff. First, I have to have that go away,” Vucevic said. “Today was much better because I was able to walk a little more pain free. So it’s day by day.”
Vucevic was a spectator on the bench for Saturday’s thrilling 92-87 defeat of the Raptors. And he was none too happy having to watch the game.
“It was boring and annoying that you can’t be out there with your teammates,” he said. “Especially when it’s a close game, everybody is so pumped and the crowd is into it. I’ve got to just stand on the side and wave a towel. But (injuries) are a part of the job that we do and I’m trying to help my team any way that I can by talking to them and be maybe an assistant coach.”
GORDON GOING STRONG: While it might have come as a surprise to some when Aaron Gordon played almost all of the fourth quarter and overtime in a narrow loss to the Houston Rockets, the second-year forward knew full well that as long as he kept producing he’d stay out on the floor.
Gordon had the finest game of his career in Houton on Wednesday, scoring 19 points, grabbing eight rebounds and blocking a shot. As a reward, Gordon played 32 minutes and stayed on the floor during crunch time – something the Magic coaching staff wants to do more of because of Gordon’s ability to guard multiple positions when team try to induce switches on pick-and-roll plays.
“(Skiles) is a player’s coach and if you are playing well he’s going to leave you out there,” Gordon said. “There’s no politics or anything. He’s looking to win the game and put the players who are performing the best out there on the floor.”
Just 20 years old and arguably Orlando’s best all-around athlete, Gordon certainly can handle a heavy workload. That could come in handy for a Magic coaching staff looking to use him at both forward slots in hopes of exploiting matchup advantages. Gordon appeared in each of the Magic’s first five games – something that has allowed him to develop his rhythm after foot and jaw injuries caused him to have to stop and start much of his rookie season and training camp this year.
“I’m starting to feel more rhythmic and understand what Scott wants from me. The more games that I get under my belt, the better I’m going to feel and the smoother that it’s going to look out there,” Gordon said. “I feel like athletically, when the other teams might be tired, I’m the type who can catch my second wind and sprint up and down the floor. That’s where I can get easy points. It’s a long game and I feel like I’m ready to go the distance.”
