Orlando Magic fans must feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day at this point. A 109-92 loss to the Boston Celtics after holding an early lead has left many fans asking legitimate questions that seem to have no answer. Games like this serve as a reminder that Orlando is still a very young team finding its identity. Like a child learning to walk, it will trip over its own feet countless times until it is able to run with the big kids in the neighborhood. Despite what Twitter timelines or the final score may tell you, there were bright spots.

Nik Vucevic was dominant offensively early on, scoring the first six points for the Magic and nearly had a double-double after 12 minutes. He finished with 18 and 13. This should not have been unexpected. He was simply too large and strong to let Boston’s Tyler Zeller or Kelly Olynyk defend him in the post one on one. When the Celtics tried to adjust and throw a more stout body like Jared Sullinger at him, he simply showed off his jump shot and finesse moves. His mere presence down low was enough to bend the defense, leading to open driving lanes for our guards. Evidence of this is shown below, where Sullinger sticks to Vuc rather than protecting the rim, leaving Rondo and Olynyk in a tough situation and a step behind in their new rotations.

Tobias Harris has become one of the Magic’s highest IQ players this season. Along with his improved jump shot and ball handling, his cuts and screen setting ability are gaining attention from the national media and fans alike. Harris used Brad Steven’s aggressive pick and roll defensive scheme against them at times in plays like the one shown below.

Here, Harris has slipped the screen for Oladipo without ever really setting it. The ball handler only has deal with a double team for a moment before the screener finds himself wide open at the elbow for an easy jumper due to good floor spacing. Credit to Oladipo for not panicking in the double as he often did last season, but this was a savvy move by a player on the rise in Tobias. Pay the man.

Of course, this was not a good loss by any means. Boston is simply a bad team, even in the East. Notice how both of the pictures of “bright spots” came from the first half? I’m not sure I could have found two equally good plays in the entirety of the third and fourth quarters.

Vaughn was slow to adjust to some cross matches with starters in. Only after halftime did he finally switch Channing Frye’s slender frame off of the anthropomorphized wrecking ball known as Jared Sullinger on defense. Stevens established Sully early and often; forcing Orlando to respect both his post game and newly found jump shot. Ideally, putting Vucevic or subbing in OQuinn early to put on him right away would have at least taken one of these options away.

Matchups aside, the defense was abysmal. Boston scored 54 in the paint and shot 55% from the field. Those are not numbers any team can allow and still expect to win, especially an offensively challenged group like the Magic.

Kelly Olynyk (!!!) gutted the Magic for a hyper-efficient 15 points with just 8 FGA. He was a big part of the 26 point edge the Celtics had in bench points. It’s not a secret that he’s a solid shooter, yet Orlando allowed these two plays to happen.

In the top play, Vuc follows Jeff Green for far too long after an off ball screen is set, letting Olynyk leak out for a wide open three. This is great play design, but also a play where Vuc needs to know his matchup better.

The bottom play shows a textbook example of how not to play transition defense, IE: Kyle OQuinn pointing at the ball handler without actually defending anyone at all, especially not Olynyk wide open on the wing. In a 2 on 5 situation, the Magic gave up a bucket. NBA teams cannot let this happen. These made three pointers forced defenders to honor the big man’s shot; they were caught biting on many pump fakes without any rim protection to corral the subsequent drive.

The Elfrid Payton – Rajon Rondo matchup showed Magic fans a glimpse into the future, but it is clearly evident there is much development yet to be done for the rookie from LA Lafayette. The day he can take and make a jump shot consistently- as Rondo has been able to do the past few seasons- will be the day he enters the upper echelon of NBA point guards. For now, we have this:

Phil Pressey shows no respect for Elfrid’s jump shot, for good reason: he feels like he can’t make it, so he won’t take it. Giving any NBA player that much cushion off the three point line is normally something that will get you benched, but here it allows Pressey to read Payton’s drive or intercept his pass to Vuc in the post, as he did here. Payton is well worth playing this year because he does so many things well, but get used to seeing this sort of cushion until his jumper gets revamped. Rondo dealt with it and has been very successful, which should be a great sign for the Magic faithful.

The team looked demoralized down the stretch of this game and isn’t hard to understand why. A promising 10 point lead for Orlando turned into a blowout loss to a lottery team quickly. There is a lot for this group to be frustrated about as they make their way back to the comfortable confines of the Amway Center to start a four game home stand Friday against the equally young Jazz.

This does not mean the season is lost, nor does it mean the Magic are incapable of closing out games. You don’t gain experience without being put into tough situations, and this squad has been through its fair share of close games in hostile environments. The killer instinct will develop. One day soon that 10 point second quarter lead will grow into a 30 point fourth quarter shellacking. They are young and they will learn. Fans will learn to be patient along with them.

By Jacob Borton

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