The Orlando Magic’s morale is down as they’re mired in an eight-game losing streak, a skid they can end tonight when they face the Pacers.
PHILADELPHIA — The Orlando Magic began Nov. 11 with an 8-4 record and abundant optimism. They had started the season well — well enough to regard themselves as legitimate contenders for the Eastern Conference’s seventh or eighth playoff spot.
The positive vibes have completely evaporated since then.
The morale within the team has deteriorated enough that a film session and walkthrough at the team hotel in Philadelphia on Saturday morphed into a one-hour, 15-minute team meeting that involved players and coaches. The Magic were facing a seven-game game losing streak at the time, and too many of those losses had devolved into blowouts.
Then, on Saturday night, just a few hours later, the Magic gave up a seasonhigh point total in a 130-111 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, extending the losing streak to eight games.
“We can do all the talking you want,” center Nikola Vucevic said afterward. “If it doesn’t transfer on the court, it doesn’t matter. I think the talking is past due. It expired. It’s time for actions.” The next step is unclear. Frank Vogel has varied his approach recently. He remained patient — perhaps too patient — early in the losing streak, preferring a teach-and-correct method heavily reliant on film-review sessions to point out deficiencies. But during a lopsided loss Friday in Boston and again on Saturday in Philadelphia, he subbed out players for breakdowns on defense or for taking ill-advised shots on offense.
So far, Vogel has been reluctant to make significant changes to the playing rotation, reasoning that his top two point guards, Elfrid Payton and D.J. Augustin, were still knocking off rust from prolonged absences due to injuries. But now, with a road game looming tonight against the Indiana Pacers, the coach might have to make at least one lineup change, because the team needs a jolt to snap out of its funk.
A porous defense has emerged as the major deficiency. Poor perimeter containment, problems navigating screens, slow weak-side support and stretches of ineffective rebounding have plagued the team throughout the losing streak. On Friday in Boston, the Magic allowed 73 points during the first half. On Saturday in Philadelphia, the Magic gave up 70 points during the first half.
“We’ve just got to be tougher as a unit and we’ve got to be a lot tougher,” swingman Terrence Ross said. “This is a league for grown men. We’ve got to show up every night.”
The question new President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman and new GM John Hammond must figure out — the question hanging over the franchise since they were hired in May — is whether the current nucleus of players is talented enough and tough enough to succeed.
The team’s 8-4 start offered hope.
But the eight-game losing streak paints a damning picture. It resembles the team’s memorable collapses in January 2016 under coach Scott Skiles and this past January under Vogel.
“As a team, we’ve just got to continue to communicate,” forward Aaron Gordon said after the loss to the Sixers. “We’ll break out of this. We can’t panic. We’ve got to stay composed but at the same time play with an urgency. So it’s that balance of not panicking but at the same time playing very urgent.
“I definitely expected us to continue winning [after the 8-4 start],” Gordon added. “But like I said, we’ve got to stay composed and we need to play hard. We’ll break out of this slump and we’ll hit our stride. It’s still early in the season, but we can’t let it get too far away.”
Vogel is a natural optimist, but the losing streak appears to have taken a toll on him, too.
His answers during his postgame press conference in Philadelphia were more muted than they usually are.
“We gave up 130 points,” he said when he was asked about his team’s defense. “That speaks for itself.”
Talking has not gotten the Magic anywhere.
Tangible improvement is long overdue.
“The great thing about the league is you’ve got another [game] in a couple of days,” Ross said. “We’ve got another opportunity to go out there and kind of chip away at that terrible reputation we’re starting to get. It all starts with the next game.” jrobbins@ orlandosentinel.com