Huge task for Magic
After loss to the Bulls, Orlando turns focus to streaking Toronto
The momentum the Orlando Magic built in the run-up to the All-Star break may have been slowed by Friday’s loss to the Chicago Bulls, but they won’t dwell on the disappointment long.
With just 22 regular-season games remaining, they can’t afford to.
The Magic — whether they win or lose — will need to maintain a short memory going forward. While their five-game win streak made Friday’s 110-109 loss to the Bulls perhaps unexpected, the Magic can do nothing to change the outcome.
“I think the guys will tell you, that’s the approach I try to have every game,” Magic coach Steve Clifford said. “When you play 82 games, you have to be able to win and move on quickly or lose and move on quickly, no matter what. And that’s what we always talk about. You’ve got to learn from the game, what was good, (and)
what was bad and then quickly move on to the next game. I’d like to think that’s our approach all the time.”
The Magic positioned themselves in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff chase by winning seven of eight games — including five straight — heading into the All-Star break.
The surge moved them within three games of the sixth-place Brooklyn Nets, within one game of the seventhplace Charlotte Hornets and within a half-game of the eighth-place Detroit Pistons.
The Magic (27-33) lost some ground Friday as the Hornets and Pistons won. The loss also dropped the Magic from ninth to 10th, just percentage points behind the Miami Heat.
The Heat’s loss on Thursday had pushed the Magic into ninth.
Still, Magic center Nikola Vucevic said Orlando is a “great example” of how quickly things can change in the NBA.
“We were 12 games under .500, everybody thought we were out and then we go on a great run and start playing some of the best ball in the league,” he said. “Last night (Friday) we slipped, so maybe tomorrow we’ll go and play a great game. It’s just the way it is in the NBA. You have to have a short memory.”
Winning the bounceback game Sunday in Toronto against the Raptors will be a tall order.
The game tips off at 3:30 p.m. and can be seen on Fox Sports Florida.
The Raptors (44-16) are riding a seven-game win streak and have been on an upward trajectory since winning Jan. 5 in Milwaukee. The Raptors are 8-2 over their past 10 games and 16-4 over their past 20 games.
Only the Warriors and Bucks with 17-3 marks have been better over that 20-game stretch.
The Magic can lean on their previous meetings with the Raptors: a 93-91 loss in late November and a 116-87 victory in late December. Both games were at Amway.
Magic swingman Terrence Ross, who was traded to Orlando from Toronto during the 2016-17 season, said the team certainly can draw some confidence from those efforts, but offered a caveat.
“Yeah, but we also know that it’s going to be a different team because it’s getting toward that playoff time,” Ross said. “This is where everybody starts trying to fine-tune their team to prepare for the next 24 games after the season.”
In particular, the Magic have been able to largely contain Raptors All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard by assigning power forward Aaron Gordon to guard him. In the two games against the Magic this season, Leonard is averaging 19.5 points and shooting 42.9 percent from the field — both below his season averages for scoring (26.9 ppg) and shooting (48.8 percent).
Leonard had 18 points in the first meeting and 21 in the second but was just 7-of-19 from the field in that game.
Clifford lauded Gordon’s defensive efforts this season against Leonard. “He understands the guy’s going to make tough shots and you can’t change the way you guard him. And that as much as anything is what he’s done,” Clifford said.
For his part, Gordon said some of his success against Leonard comes from simply making “it tough on him.”
Drawing the defensive assignment for Leonard is a challenge Gordon gladly accepts.
“He’s a tremendous player, (and) I’m real technical on defense when it comes to playing defense on Kawhi,” Gordon said. “The way he operates out there, he’s like a surgeon.”
The Magic also will see a Raptors team with center Marc Gasol for the first time. The veteran center joined the Raptors after a Feb. 7 trade from the Memphis Grizzlies.
First-year coach Nick Nurse has been using Gasol off the bench as he gets acclimated with his new team. In his four games with Toronto, Gasol is averaging 8.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in nearly 20 minutes per game. But he gives the Raptors the possibility to go bigger when he’s on the floor alongside starting center Serge Ibaka, whom the Magic sent to Toronto in the Ross trade.
“That’s a pretty good combination at one position, right?” Clifford said.
Being a part of three playoff teams in Toronto, Ross understands what lies ahead for the Magic. So as they look to start a new winning streak Sunday, Ross said the Magic need to be prepared for rigors that remain.
“This is that time of year where everything is going to be a battle to the end,” he said. “There aren’t too many games left, so all these games count for everybody. You’re going to run into teams who aren’t playing for anything, who are playing care-free, (or) play against teams who are playing for something and they’re trying to win. So every game is going to be a tough one. There’s no easy schedule for anybody, really.
“This is kind of like the storm before the playoffs.”