Shot Selection Helps Magic Overcome Stagnant Start
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March 28, 2009
ORLANDO -- Everything about the Magic’s start against the Bucks on Friday night felt a little flat.
Orlando’s energy on the court was below average. The officials didn’t seem as aware – they actually called a technical foul on Bucks Head Coach Scott Skiles and then nearly allowed Milwaukee to shoot the free throw. And even the crowd’s intensity was subpar at the beginning of the contest as very few chants circulated through Amway Arena.
Everyone appeared to be suffering a hangover from Wednesday’s thrilling triumph over the Celtics.
But instead of succumbing to the natural inclination of playing close enough with Milwaukee just to get by, the Magic eventually turned on the burners and blew past the Bucks for a 110-94 victory.
“I didn’t think that we brought a very good energy or focus to the game in the first half and even in the first four or five minutes of the second half,” Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy said following the game. “Then I thought we played a little bit better and then I thought our bench guys did a great job opening up the game, giving us great energy going down late in the third quarter and fourth quarter.”
The key for the Magic was that it never resorted to selfish, isolation basketball.
Instead of attempting to fight through double-teams, Magic All-Star center Dwight Howard operated through Orlando’s inside-out game and consistently distributed the ball to the perimeter, helping his teammates find the open shots.
“That’s what we have to do as a team,” Howard said his squad’s ball movement. “We have to be able to distribute the ball and play the game. We have to move the ball and get open shots instead of trying to shoot contested shots.”
The bench players followed suit and helped trigger a solid fourth-quarter run that put Orlando’s lead out of reach.
After starting small forward Hedo Turkoglu tipped off the final frame with a driving layup, reserve big man Marcin Gortat erupted for six straight of the Magic’s points off feeds from his counterparts on the pine.
J.J. Redick found him on the first connection, with an alley-oop setup that the Polish Hammer smashed down to electrify the home crowd.
“I’m surprised he jumped,” Redick said of Gortat following the contest. “He’s been known to jump as high as a phone book on dunk attempts. He got up a little bit; it was a nice catch on his part.”
Mickael Pietrus found him for the next two buckets, before going on a four-point run of his own.
“We played together as a team,” said All-Star forward Rashard Lewis, who finished with a game-high 19 points. “A lot of players scored for us tonight. J.J. played well off the bench, M.P. as well as Marcin. It was a total team effort and we moved the ball around real well.”
Although no Orlando player eclipsed the 20-point plateau, thanks to solid ball movement, six members, including all five starters, scored in double figures.
That combined surprisingly low turnover numbers, considering how much they were moving the ball, helped the Magic overcome a stagnant start.
“In an 82 game season sometimes your energy is going to be low but you have to withstand that and get W’s,” backup point guard Anthony Johnson explained. “It wasn’t where it needed to be tonight, but we got it going in the second half and pulled away for a big win.”
His head coach could not agree more.
Van Gundy has pointed out a number of times that the regular season tests how many nights in a row can a team bring a consistent effort. And when he looks over Orlando’s body of work during its 2008-09 campaign, he’s more than pleased.
“We’re about as consistent in terms of bringing a pretty good effort and focus as anybody in the league,” Van Gundy said of his team’s intensity throughout this season. “There are going to be nights where you’re better than others but this is one of our nights that was not great and it’s still a pretty darn good night. If you’re a fan of this team, you need to appreciate that about our guys and that’s why we have the record that we have right now.”
With the Magic (54-18) on pace for a 60-plus win season, Van Gundy’s evaluation looks spot on.
