Magic for real? We’ll find out
Matchup with Raptors could indicate whether they’ve turned a corner
The Orlando Magic have been on a roll lately, but the legitimacy of how well they are playing will be put to a test Tuesday night when the Eastern Conferenceleading Toronto Raptors invade Amway Center.
The Raptors, who were swept in the conference semifinals last season by the Cleveland Cavaliers, entered this year with a chip on their shoulders and many experts picked them to win the East after the offseason acquisition of Kawhi Leonard.
So far, they’ve been showing they are the crème of the Eastern crop, but the Magic have been impressive in their own performances lately and have shown the ability to step up to challenges.
Orlando has won three consecutive games over the 76ers, Lakers and Knicks. The run easily could have been five straight had they not faltered in the second half at Washington last week. After starting the season at 2-6, the Magic have turned the corner and posted a 7-3 mark during the past 10 games.
Coach Steve Clifford and his players realize things are going well, but they are also quick to keep everything in perspective.
They’re pleased with the wins, but they want to build on the success and pick apart little lapses that need to be resolved.
Jonathan Isaac has been a big part of the Magic’s current win streak, returning to the lineup on Wednesday against Philly after missing six games due to an ankle sprain. His defense has been impressive and his offense comes in the flow of the game.
“You never want to get too ahead of yourself, but I can’t watch us or I can’t play on this
team and not feel that we’re becoming closer as a team and we’re finding a way to play that’s a winning way to play,” Isaac said. “So I would say we’re definitely moving in the right direction.”
Clifford agrees, but he’s also careful in his assessment. The veteran coach, who is in his first season with the Magic, has made sure all along to keep his squad focused and avoid getting too full of itself. After a fun, energetic, comefrom-behind win over the Sixers on Wednesday, Clifford said the team had a decent practice Friday, but some lackadaisical play during a practice-ending scrimmage set him off a bit.
The coach let the players know that they had yet to accomplish anything and he wasn’t going to take less than a serious approach in practice, regardless of the drill. The team listened and dispatched the Lakers and Knicks on back-to-back nights.
What’s been most impressive about the Magic lately has been their offense and ability to shoot the basketball. During the first six games, the Magic found the going rough, clanging balls off the rim at a clip that had them at the bottom or near the bottom of the NBA in shooting percentage. During the past three games in particular, Orlando has shot better than 50 percent from the field and hit a season-high 57 percent (48 of 84) from the field Sunday night against the Knicks.
Since starting the season near the bottom of the NBA in shooting, Orlando is now 12th in the league at 45.6 percent and its accuracy during the past three games has been 53.7 percent.
Clifford said before Sunday’s game he wouldn’t expect his team to keep up the shooting pace, but given the ball movement the team has been enjoying lately, the open shots are coming more frequently and the coach is pleased that the offense is coming from both the passing game and in defensive transition.
Orlando has scored 261 points during the past two games, not exactly what the coach expected, but he has also said his team has this kind of potential if it pays attention to the details.
“I hope that’s who we can become. … We’re making a bunch of shots and [Nikola Vucevic] is just inside, outside, passing. … He’s just playing at an incredible level,” Clifford said. “A lot [of the shooting] was inside-outside, too. We had 60 points in the paint.”
Clifford has also been impressed with the overall floor game of Aaron Gordon, who led the Magic with 31 points Sunday. Against the Knicks, he was the shooter. But against Philly last week, he was an overall floor general, dishing six assists, grabbing six rebounds, blocking two shots, snagging one steal and scoring 17 points.
“I feel like we’re gonna get better and continue to get better as the year goes on,” Gordon said.
He had 20 points in the first quarter against the Knicks and he was later told the Magic record for points in a quarter was 25, set by Tracy McGrady.
“Oh man, I didn’t even know that,” Gordon laughed. “I’m not worried about the records. I’ll leave it at that. It really doesn’t matter.”
Gordon, the rest of the team, the staff and the organization know what kind of perspective to put on the recent success.
“What have we done?” Gordon asked. “We’ve won some games, but we’ve got a lot longer to go and a lot more games to play. We’ve gotta continue to play the way that we know how to play and we’ll just not even worry about that.
“Now the ball is jumping around the court, everybody’s passing and making the right reads all over the floor,” Gordon said.
And then there’s Vucevic, who has been playing at a level that reminds some of his teammates of what he was doing in his earlier Magic days.
“He’s ballin’. So let’s just keep winning and he’ll get the recognition,” Gordon said. “He’ll get that pub that he definitely deserves.”
Vucevic’s good friend and teammate, Evan Fournier, agrees.
“I was thinking about it the other night. My first year here, he was dominating,” Fournier said of Vucevic, who fell one assist shy of a triple double Sunday. “It’s good to see him play like that. … I feel like he’s finding a lot of confidence … He’s the focus point of our offense. We run a lot of sets through him.
“He has the ball a lot, he makes good decisions and he’s making 3s right now also.”
And next are the Raptors.
“Now we gotta make sure we play just as good offensively against [good] defensive teams,” Fournier said. “So Toronto is going to be a good test. … As long as we keep laying the right way, then the results [are] going to take care of themselves.”