Clifford: Headaches caused more by disorganization than lack of effort
Orlando Magic coach Steve Clifford cautioned those who look at his team and think there is a lack of effort, in particular after Friday’s crushing 90-80 road loss to the mediocre, at best, Chicago Bulls.
“Everybody likes to say when you lose, especially when you’re struggling to shoot the ball, it’s always people talking about effort,” Clifford said. “Half the time it’s organization, which makes you look like you’re not trying.
“If you don’t know what you’re doing and you can’t execute it in this league in 24 seconds, it’s going to look bad. You can’t be disorganized. You can’t have players out there making mistakes, and that’s what we had.”
It seemed the Magic could not find a way to stop Lauri Markkanen for one thing. He was lighting up the scoreboard, at one point hitting three quick 3-pointers in the second quarter, but the urgency to get him contained just didn’t seem to be there for the Magic defense.
Busted coverage in the pickand-roll game frequently freed up Markkanen, but it wasn’t the only problem. Dribble penetration also allowed Markkanen’s teammates to find him all alone on the perimeter at times, and the wideopen shots for a guy who was 12-of-20 from the floor were a bit baffling, especially in the second half.
About the only time Markkanen was slowed wasn’t even because of the Magic. He took a long breather in the third and fourth quarters, but the Bulls were already in charge. Orlando rallied back briefly in the fourth quarter, getting within five points with 1:37
left, but Orlando never scored again and Markkanen padded his totals with four of the Bulls’ final five points to notch a careerhigh 32 points for the game. He also set a career high for field goals made.
“Again, it gets back to one thing,” Clifford said. “If we do what we’re supposed to do on [Markkanen] … they got their cushion with Markkanen. It’s three. We get two misses, two mistakes on pick-and-rolls on easy coverages and suddenly it’s nine and we’re playing in a hole on the road the rest of the way.
“We gotta play with more discipline. We’re not gonna win games on a night like that.”
The Magic (14-17) are back in action Sunday night at Amway Center, where they have won just 8 of 17 games this season. They host the Miami Heat (14-16), who are a half-game ahead of the Magic in eighth place in the NBA’s Eastern Conference standings.
Magic center Nikola Vucevic, who was a bit sluggish in the first half against the Bulls Friday night after missing Wednesday’s game to be with his wife Nikolita and newborn baby boy Filip, did mange 19 points and 19 rebounds eventually. He said the Heat game could be critical.
“We didn’t play the right way on both ends of the floor to win the game,” Vucevic said of Friday’s loss. “We missed a lot of shots, blew some coverages, didn’t execute ... We just have to be better. Tonight was a tough loss but we have another one in two nights [vs. Miami] and we have to turn this around quick. We’re three games under .500, so we can’t afford any more losses.”
Blakeney trudging forward
When Antonio Blakeney came out of Oak Ridge High in 2015, he had grandiose plans for his future, and rightfully so. Everyone else thought highly of his game. He was the No. 4-rated point guard in the country and was headed to LSU, where he was hoping to make enough of an impact to get in a few years and then enter the NBA Draft.
He stayed on course with his plan, leading LSU in scoring his sophomore year and then entering the draft. There was one problem, however. Blakeney went undrafted.
It was certainly a huge blow to the ego but not the confidence of Blakeney, who kept working hard toward his dream of playing in the NBA.
Flash forward to 2018 and Blakeney is finally getting his NBA moment, although it hasn’t come without grinding to get there. The Bulls’ second-year guard has fought hard for all of the minutes he has earned, and he’s also been able to take advantage of a Bulls lineup that has been decimated by injuries.
So far this season he is averaging 16 minutes per game in 26 games played and also averaging nine points and two rebounds per game. He said that while he’s OK with how he’s done so far, he’s definitely no satisfied.
“It’s been good so far. Obviously, coming in the route I came, I didn’t get drafted and stuff, so I had to go through the G League and just earn everything I got today, so it means a lot,” Blakeney said after scoring one point on 0-for-4 shooting and grabbing three rebounds against the Magic on Friday night. “Definitely it’s good to get back out there. I’ve been in our rotation a little bit. I’m just trying to bring the energy off the bench and play defense, and it’s good we got a win.”
The best thing going for Blakeney has been his shooting. He’s hitting at a 42 percent clip and even better from 3-point range at 45 percent. Blakeney, however, said he’s not content.
“I feel good that I keep growing and I keep getting better,” he said.