The Orlando Magic are greater than conscious of their struggles with the second night time of back-to-backs.
Saturday’s 128-109 dwelling loss to the Chicago Bulls was simply one other reminder of the issues they face when enjoying video games on consecutive days.
Through the opening 2½ quarters, the Magic lacked the defensive depth that’s anticipated from them on a game-to-game foundation. They turned it up late behind the hassle of their second unit as a part of their comeback try, however the harm already was completed.
Offense got here simple for the Bulls, with their high gamers of Zach LaVine (32 factors), DeMar DeRozan (32 factors, 8 assists) and Nikola Vučević (26 factors, 13 rebounds and 6 assists) combining for 90 factors.
Scoring didn’t come simple for the Magic, at the least not early, which affected their defensive focus.
“Sometimes it falls down to taking the easy route in some ways,” coach Jamahl Mosley mentioned. “When it’s onerous, you need to form of simply catch and shoot, not share the basketball. The guys had been attempting. They had been transferring the ball early on; we simply weren’t making pictures.
“Sometimes when the shots don’t fall, it takes its toll on the defensive [end] but we have to be a defensive team first. No matter if shots are falling or not, we have to be able to defend at a high clip no matter what.”
Saturday wasn’t an aberration.
The Magic are a league-worst 1-9 on the second night time of back-to-backs, in keeping with StatMuse, a sports activities statistics database.
Defensive points have been the widespread denominator in these video games.
They’re permitting 121.2 factors per sport on the second night time of back-to-backs. The Magic had a defensive score — factors allowed per 100 possessions — of 121 or worse in seven of these 10 video games.
The San Antonio Spurs have the league’s worst season-long defensive score at 120.1.
“We also know that we’re going to be tired on a back-to-back,” large man Moe Wagner mentioned. “For a young group, it’s part of knowing that and understanding that you can’t put your head down if you miss a couple [of] shots or the other team has more energy. You’ve got to find ways to counter that. That’s something we’ve got to grow in, especially if we want to go somewhere.”
Luckily for the Magic (19-31), they’ve simply three extra back-to-backs of their ultimate 32 regular-season video games.
The three video games they’ll play on the second night time of a back-to-back: on the Raptors (Feb. 14); on the Lakers (March 19); on the Nets (April 7).
So they’ve time, and some extra alternatives, to determine options.
“The consistent thing is the lack of energy,” guard Cole Anthony mentioned. “I don’t know what it is. We’re just gonna have to find some energy because the back-to-backs aren’t going anywhere. Whatever it is we’ve got to do — changing up our daily routine the day of the game on the second night of a back-to-back — we’ve just got to find some energy. We’ve got to be able to do that for four quarters.”
The Magic begin a four-game journey with matchups on the 76ers Monday and Wednesday.
Chuma Okeke (December left knee surgical procedure) was the lone Magic participant on the Sunday harm report. Sixers large man Joel Embiid was listed as questionable with left foot soreness.
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Khobi Price at [email protected] or comply with him on Twitter at @khobi_price.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com