Magic improve despite loss

You could see signs of progress for the Orlando Magic on Monday night, even though they lost to the Charlotte Hornets 104-94.

On an evening they faced a significant freethrow discrepancy, turned the ball over 20 times and shot poorly from long range, they still matched the Hornets basket-for-basket until a critical sequence early in the fourth quarter.

No one in the Magic’s postgame locker room claimed a moral victory, and neither did coach

But even though they were playing on the second night of a back-toback against a much better-rested opponent, the Magic held the Hornets to 40.5 percent shooting.

The game turned in the Hornets’ favor with the Magic trailing 79-76.

Charlotte’s

the

ball

from stole Orlando’s

and the Magic were incensed that Carter-Williams wasn’t called for a foul. Seconds later, scored dunk.

“That was definitely the turning point,” Vogel said. “But if we don’t turn the ball over as much as we did, then we don’t have to worry about that.”

Following the dunk, the Magic’s on a fast-break

shoved — in response to contact initiated by Zeller 16 seconds earlier — and Zeller fell to the court on his backside. Speights was whistled for a Flagrant-1 foul, and Zeller made both ensuing free throws.

On the ensuing possession, the Magic committed yet another foul, and that infraction resulted in two made free throws.

The Hornets went 33 of 40 from the free-throw line. The Magic went 12 of

vertically. So the overall trend of opponents harnessing the drive-andkick game, combined with the Magic’s length disadvantage, have prompted Vogel and his assistant coaches to emphasize taking charges more often this season.

Those numbers have improved recently.

On Sunday, during a narrow victory over the New York Knicks, big man Marreese Speights took two charges, including a momentum-shifting foul on the Knicks’ Lance Thomas as the Magic clung to an 82-81 lead with 7:52 remaining in the fourth quarter.

“That’s what I’m really known for,” Speights said. “I take charges.”

Speights has taken three charges this season, the highest total on the team. Aaron Gordon, Jonathan Isaac, Shelvin Mack and Jonathon Simmons have taken two charges apiece. Evan Fournier and Augustin have taken one each. No one else on the roster has taken a charge.

Trying to take a charge brings risk. Not only does a player risk committing a blocking foul, but he risks an injury on the collision or when he hits the floor.

But the reward often is worth the risk.

“We don’t have a lot of natural charge-takers,” Vogel said when asked about the Magic’s shortage of charges taken. “Charge-taking is something [where] you either have it or you don’t. I coached Troy Murphy for five years, and he tried his darnedest to take a 14 from the line.

“I think we kind of got jump-shot happy for awhile,” Magic center

said. “We didn’t attack the rim enough, and if we did, we kind of forced it. We didn’t play the way that we have to. They’re a big, paint-swarm team. But if you make them work, you can get stuff. I think at times we didn’t do that.

“But the defense, I thought, was pretty good. We were able to get a lot of stops. Obviously, 40 free throws is a lot. It’s hard to beat a team when they take that many free throws. I thought we did a lot of good things out there.”

The Magic have lost nine consecutive games to the Hornets, and many of the preceding defeats were less competitive than this one. On Oct. 29, for instance, the Hornets made 54.6 percent of their shots and beat the Magic 120-113. charge, and he was just an awkward faller.

“Some guys are like that. Some guys like Mo Speights — big, strong guys — can go down and get the whistle every time. Most of our guys are not natural charge-takers.

The loss to the Hornets on Monday completed the toughest stretch of the Magic’s schedule this season — a section in which the Magic played 10 of 14 games on the road.

That stretch took a toll, dropping the Magic’s record from 7-4 at the outset to 10-15.

But the Magic will play seven of their next 12 games at Amway Center.

The kinder, gentler 12-game stretch will begin with a game tonight against the struggling Atlanta Hawks.

At 5-18, the Hawks have the league’s second-worst record.

Still, the Magic would make a mistake if they take the Hawks lightly.

The Chicago Bulls have the league’s worst record, 3-19. But on Nov. 3, the Bulls routed the Magic at Amway Center 105-83. So they’re trying to do it, but it’s not natural.”