On Friday night, the Orlando Magic came out of the gate clicking on all cylinders. A fired-up Nikola Vucevic came out with immense energy. But the “magic” stopped there, as Orlando’s energy no longer showed. The short-handed Orlando team was without Terrence Ross, Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier, James Ennis, and Cole Anthony. These injuries showed when the Magic scored a season-low 10 points in the second quarter, which in simple terms, was the “beginning of the end” on Friday night.
Turnovers Kill
Missing their primary playmakers on Friday night, the Magic as a team, recorded 18 turnovers. Head Coach Steve Clifford had this to say: “The play calling with the groups that we had out there, just didn’t fit the vision that I had in mind for us coming into San Antonio.” Clifford took on most of the blame for Friday’s blowout loss, also stating “ We just flat out struggled to play offense, going on the road with a team like San Antonio, you’ve got to have multiple ways to score the ball, we just didn’t have that tonight.”
Going Forward
The second half of the NBA season has started very slow for the Orlando Magic. This team might want to be sellers instead of buyers coming up at the trade deadline. Being able to acquire some future assets would greatly benefit this young team. The front office has some thinking to do, as something in Orlando isn’t working as of right now.
The Magic will try to avoid their 8th straight loss on Sunday night, where they’ll face the scorching hot Miami Heat, who have won nine of their last ten games.