Vogel: Be hawkish on offense
On Feb. 4, the last time the Orlando Magic played the Atlanta Hawks, the Magic played a dreadful defensive game.
The Hawks scored 65 first-half points.
Small wonder, then, why the Magic lost to the Hawks 113-86. But when coach
thinks about that loss, he doesn’t just focus on the defense.
The Magic’s offense made only 31.7 percent of its first-half shots, which created problems for their defense. And Vogel hopes his team remembers those woes when they host the Hawks tonight at Amway Center.
“We better play with offensive effort tomorrow night judging from how much they came out and pressured us last game,” Vogel said. “We’ve got to play a tougher-minded offensive game if we’re going to be in the game with these guys.” well enough.
“We’ve had a problem containing the basketball all year,” Vogel said. “And, in particular, when you have 3-point threats and they can drive, like
and those guys were able to get in the lane on us. And we did a poor job helping and we did a poor job helping the helper. A lot of it was transition sparked by either turnovers or bad shots.”
The Magic also didn’t do a good job helping in the post when center
got the ball or the Blazers’ power forwards had mismatches against smaller defenders. Swingman
impressed with his passing against the Trail Blazers.
Although Ross finished with just one assist, his ability to drive and dish led to teammates generating free-throw opportunities.
“I wanted him to just go out and play confident and aggressive,” Vogel said.
“Like I talked about prior to the game, he really has the ability to attack close-outs, because if you don’t get to him, he’s bombing a 3.
“And if you do get to him, he’s very electric off the bounce and makes good decisions in the paint. He had several good dump-off passes. That’s what makes him a very, very difficult guy to guard.”
The March 3 MagicMiami Heat game, which was supposed to be televised nationally on ESPN as well as locally on Fox Sports Florida, has been replaced by ESPN, which will broadcast a game between Cleveland and the Hawks.