During Sunday’s game against the Toronto Raptors, the Orlando Magic seemed to break through and resolve many of their concentration and intensity issues in the second half. The ball moved seamlessly to open shooters (even though those shots didn’t fall) and the defense dominated throughout the game.
Orlando knows he still has problems to solvebut everything seems to be working well and the team seems to be finding its rhythm in this very important eight-game homestand that began Sunday night.
The team knows it can still improve. And Cole Anthony highlighted one area:
When players are open, they must shoot, even while fighting the urge to pass again and being selfless. Passing is one of the team’s biggest problems at times and one of the main reasons why turnovers have remained a persistent problem for the team.
Anthony remembers the ball thrown to Carter in Sunday’s game and his hesitation to shoot, resulting in a pass and then a cut leading to a turnover. These are the kinds of mistakes the team knows they need to eliminate.
If the Magic want to solve their turnover problems, it starts with confidence and aggression. And this desire to shoot.
And turnovers are at least one lingering problem for the team as it prepares for the playoffs.
“Sometimes as a team we can all be happy with the pass, which I don’t think is particularly bad,” Anthony said after Tuesday’s penalty shootout. “At some point you have to say I’m going to spin this joint. Everybody takes off. We all want to see the person next to us succeed. Sometimes that can bring a certain altruism. We’ll be fine.”
Turnovers aren’t a persistent problem, but they are one that plagues this young team. And as the playoffs approach, their ability to protect possessions in any way and reduce turnovers could determine their postseason success.
Orlando is a great defensive team in the half court – the team is fourth overall in defense. Many teams can try to beat the Magic by trying to beat them in transition before this defense is ready.
The Magic rank 26th in the league in turnover rate at 15.2 percent. This is the worst mark among all teams in the playoffs. This is one of the main reasons the Magic’s offense is struggling (also the worst among postseason teams).
Orlando’s defense covers a lot of that. Teams only score 16.4 points off turnovers per game. The Magic’s defense is recovering and remains difficult to break down. But it’s one of the few defensive areas the team struggles with.
Even in Tuesday’s game against the Charlotte Hornets, the Orlando Magic recorded 17 turnovers leading to 20 points for the Hornets. The Magic had a turnover rate of 19.1 percent – it was even 20.0 percent at halftime when they took a 41-point lead.
As the playoffs approach, Orlando must look to reduce turnovers and value their possessions much more. Especially considering how the team has been cutting down on possessions lately.
“There are a few reasons why,” coach Jamahl Mosley said after Tuesday’s penalty shootout. “Some things are spaced out sometimes. Part of it is trying to make the right play, not at the right time. A lot of those things, we just have to keep cleaning them up with lines of communication, understanding where we want to be in our offense , then intentional in their decision-making.
Despite the team’s 11-3 record since the All-Star Break, turnovers have become a bigger problem. The team has a turnover rate of 16.8 percent – second worst in the league – since the All-Star Break. There’s a lot to review and the team is still trying to figure out a lot of things with their turnovers and those kinds of mistakes.
Opponents are still only scoring 16.4 turnover points per game since the All-Star Break. The multiplication of these errors therefore did not harm the team on the statistics sheet.
But everyone knows it will come back in the Playoffs. This is an area that the team needs to improve.
Even in games where the Magic feel like they’re doing well with turnovers, their rate has been pretty high: they had a turnover rate of 15.3% and 15.5% in the two games against Toronto (ironically , the lowest rate occurred in a match where they gave up). 34 fast break points in Toronto).
This may be an area where pace-neutral stats don’t paint an accurate picture. Orlando had 15 turnovers in each game against Toronto. Most Magic games seem to be around 15-18 turnovers. And they only had 13 turnovers against the Indiana Pacersa fairly significant defeat against another team that likes to pick up the pace.
Turnovers may not be a big problem as long as they don’t directly lead to points against them. There can be a lot of turnovers on dead balls that allow the defense to set up – the Magic are allowing just 8.1 steals per game, the seventh fewest in the league.
Orlando’s turnovers aren’t hurting the team. Instead, it appears the Magic are using their turnovers as an opportunity to learn how to be better.
“What we’ll do a lot of times in film sessions is when a turnover happens in a game, we’ll watch it again and get their thoughts on what they saw in that moment,” Mosley said afterward. Tuesday’s shooting. “A lot of times guys see something differently that maybe the defense didn’t present, they didn’t see or they thought something differently. I think it’s good to have their point of view on what’s going on and to clean it up. To hear what they see on the ground, that’s very important.”
Orlando wants an aggressive mindset that looks to move the ball. The team likes to see that players are unselfish and looking to move the ball. They want to make sure everything is timed correctly.
The Magic always strive to play their best basketball this time of year. They believe they are going in that direction.
Orlando gets by and gets away with high turnover games and high turnover rates that cost the team assets. In regular season — and against an easier schedule – maybe the Magic get away with it.
However, in the playoffs, every possession will count. Orlando’s struggles preventing its own turnovers could be something that undoes the team, even if it doesn’t lead to fast breaks and straight to points.
Following. Anthony Black Puzzle 03/19/24. Anthony Black has proven to be a key piece of the Magic’s puzzle. dark
This is a lost opportunity. And the Magic need to tighten up and improve to give themselves a chance to succeed.
