Magic looking to beat the odds
It’s win or go home in Game 5 today against top-seeded Bucks.
With playoff elimination looming, the Orlando Magic hope that looking backward will help them move forward.
The Magic face a 3-1 deficit as they head into Wednesday’s Game 5 of their best-of-seven playoff series against the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks.
The Magic know beating the Bucks once — let alone three straight times — is a daunting task, but the Magic have shown their resiliency before and they’re ready to do it again.
“The mindset is just to come in
here and fight and win tomorrow and extend the series,” Magic center Nikola Vucevic said.
That starts by looking back at a missed opportunity in Game 4.
Aside from a four-minute stretch early in the fourth quarter, when Milwaukee went on an 18-2 run, the Magic kept the game close.
Clifford had high praise for the way his team competed, calling the effort “phenomenal.” And after watching the film, Clifford came away with a better sense of what his team accomplished and what areas it will need to improve for Game 5.
“There were a lot more positives than negatives,” he said. “It’s going to be the same thing. The rebounding game and the turnover game have to change.
“What we have to concentrate on is what we tried to do today: Clarify what last night [Game 4] was all about. What was good, what was bad. We made a couple of adjustments, one in our pickand-roll coverages, that hopefully will help us tomorrow and then we went through two or three things offensively that we think can help also.”
Getting off to a good start also will be a key.
Of the 16 quarters played in the series, the Bucks have won eight and the Magic seven. But it’s been how Milwaukee has won some quarters that has hurt Orlando the most.
Like the first quarter of Game 2, when Milwaukee outscored Orlando 25-13.
Or the second quarter of Game 3, when Milwaukee outscored Orlando 39-20.
In contrast, the Magic outscored the Bucks 29-19 in the first quarter of Game 1 and went on to win 122-110.
In Game 4, the Bucks won the first quarter by just four points (22-18) and never led by more than nine until the fourth quarter.
Vucevic, who’s averaging 29.5 points a game, said starting strong in Game 5 will be crucial.
“Against a team like the Bucks, who are a great team, if you give them a double-digit lead like we did in Game 2 and 3, it’s very hard to play,” Vucevic said. “You have to waste so much energy to get back into it and then your margin for error after that is like almost zero, so it’s much easier for us to play from ahead and it also puts a little more pressure on them as well. We just have to start well. They’re obviously going to come out ready.”
A breakout game from shooting guard Evan Fournier would go a long way toward that goal. Fournier is averaging 11.5 points and shooting 33.3% — both well below his season averages. He posted a team-best 20 points a game, while shooting 50.0% from the 3-point line, during the regular season against Milwaukee.
Fournier scored 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting in Game 4. Fournier, who missed the final three seeding games because of an illness, said his play has been far from his best. He attributed his struggles to the Bucks’ defense and his lack of rhythm.
“I think there’s multiple reasons,” Fournier said. “You’ve got to give credit to the Bucks. (Wesley) Matthews is doing a really good job. They have a really good defense. They know everything about us. And also, it’s me being a little bit — not a little bit — really out of rhythm. So it’s a mix of everything.
Tonight was probably the first time since the playoffs started that I felt like I had good looks, and I just couldn’t make them. So it’s a mix of everything, but it is frustrating, for sure. It’s upsetting and it’s disappointing.”
During the regular season, the Magic posted an offensive rating of 108.5 (points per 100 possessions). That number is at 102.9 for the playoffs. Only the Nets and Trail Blazers have a lower offensive rating.
Of course, the Bucks, whose regular-season defensive rating was 102.9, have a lot do with it. Milwaukee’s spirited effort is led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year Tuesday.
“Look, their ball pressure, their passing-lane pressure and their physicality off the ball, it’s a challenge for the whole game,” Clifford said. “They’re super-hard to play against.”
The Magic likely will again be dealing with that defensive pressure without forward Aaron Gordon, who has yet to play in the series because of a strained left hamstring. Clifford said that while the injury has improved, Gordon still cannot run at full speed.
In addition, the Magic don’t want to risk any further injury.
“He just can’t run — sprint — up and down the court,” Clifford said. “And then the other concern is because of the nature of the injury the one thing we’re being very careful with is we don’t want something to happen where he compensates and injures something else or ends up with a significant injury.”