The Orlando Magic’s
Woeful shooting hampers Magic as Bulls roll
offense goes cold and falls back to earth as the team loses 105-83 against the visiting Chicago Bulls.
If you like smart basketball, you would’ve appreciated the intent behind the Orlando Magic’s opening two possessions Friday night against the Chicago Bulls.
On the first, the ball careened from Terrence Ross to Nikola Vucevic to a cutting Aaron Gordon as Gordon sped into the lane. Gordon then hurled the ball to the left corner for Shelvin Mack, who missed a wide-open 3-pointer.
On the Magic’s next trip down the court, Evan Fournier drove into the lane and kicked the ball out to Vucevic, who sent the ball to Ross in the right corner. Ross clanged his shot off the rim.
The high-quality ball movement eventually disappeared.
And so did the Magic’s hot streak. The Magic lost to the Bulls 105-83 at Amway Center as the Magic shot poorly from 3-point range, failed to attack the basket and rarely pushed the ball upcourt.
“I think that this game can
show us that there’s still a lot of work to do, that we haven’t accomplished anything,” Vucevic said.
Orlando entered Friday as the best 3-point shooting team in the NBA. Fueled by stellar ball movement, the Magic had made 44.2 percent of their attempts from deep, an unfathomable success rate even early in a season. Those long-range makes propelled the team to its best start in eight years.
On Friday, however, the Magic missed shots early and then gradually drifted away from the formula that had invigorated them during their first eight games.
“I thought when we got behind or we weren’t making shots, we kind of fell into some bad habits,” coach Frank Vogel said.
It also didn’t help that the Magic (6-3) played with only one healthy point guard, Mack, a journeyman signed this offseason.
Elfrid Payton missed his seventh consecutive game because of a strained left hamstring, and D.J. Augustin sat out his first game of the season because of a strained left hamstring as well. The Magic had gone 5-1 with Augustin as the starter, and the team missed him and his shooting Friday.
Orlando sank only 10 of its 35 attempts from 3-point range. Magic players didn’t attack the basket well enough, either.
They went 3 of 5 from the free-throw line, tying all-time franchise singlegame lows for foul shots made and foul shots attempted.
“I think we just didn’t feel it: our normal energy, our normal ball movement that we usually have,” rookie forward Jonathan Isaac said. “Tonight, it seemed like we were a little tired, and we can’t afford to be.”
The Bulls (2-5) played their most complete game of the season.
“I thought that everybody that stepped on the floor made a positive contribution tonight,” Chicago coach Fred Hoiberg said.
The Bulls began the day shooting just 31.1 percent from 3-point range.
But on Friday, they made 14 of their 29 longrange attempts, a success rate of 48.3 percent.
To the Magic, the loss must’ve felt like a lost opportunity. They must win at home against rebuilding teams to contend for a playoff berth.
Trailing 80-62 with 9:20 remaining in the fourth quarter, Vogel subbed in Fournier, Gordon, Vucevic and Jonathon Simmons to join Ross for a last-ditch attempt at a comeback.
The Magic still faced an 18-point deficit a short while later when Gordon stole the ball from rookie Lauri Markkanen and sped forward in transition with teammates in tow.
Instead of going for a layup or passing the ball, Gordon pulled up for a 3-pointer from the left wing. The ball bounced off the rim.
“I think we kind of forced it a little bit,” Vucevic said.
“Guys were trying to do things on their own to kind of lead the team, carry the team by making a big one-on-one play or something. I don’t think it came from being selfish. Just because we didn’t get anything going, we kind of went away from what works for us.” It was that kind of night. It was the night the Magic offense fell back to earth.