Trailing the Sixers by 7 points with 7 minutes left in Monday’s game at Xfinity Mobile Arena, Magic forward Paolo Banchero stepped up to the free-throw line.
The Orlando star, who ended 11-for-11 at the charity stripe, was able to bring his team within 5 points of Philadelphia.
After the Sixers responded on the other end, Orlando cut its deficit to just 2 following a 3-pointer from Wendell Carter Jr. and a driving layup by Anthony Black.
That was, however, as close as the Magic got during a 12-point road loss, 136-124, against the Sixers, who outscored them 21-11 in the final five minutes of Orlando’s third consecutive loss.
In that final stretch, Philadelphia shot 10-for-12 at the free-throw line, 5-for-6 from the field and saw Tyrese Maxey score 10 of his game-high 43 points.
“In those moments is where we’ve got to make sure we stay disciplined, that we lock into the gameplan and understand exactly what we need to do in those moments,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said after the loss. “We chipped away by being solid, getting stops to be able to get out and run and converting on the other end. And that’s what we have to do to sustain that effort.”
The Magic (1-3) had no choice but to chip away at Philadelphia’s lead, which grew as much as 15 points and remained between 5-10 points most of the night.
Orlando, which has implemented an up-tempo offense after playing at one of the slowest paces in the league the past two seasons, was unable to get set on defense at times, which allowed the Sixers (3-0) to shoot 14-for-33 (42.4%) from beyond the arc and score 20 points off 13 Magic turnovers.
It didn’t help Orlando that it missed 12 free throws (26-for-38) and shot 32% (8-for-25) from 3-point range. Those misses, combined with the turnovers, allowed the Sixers to grab rebounds and run the other direction for easy points in transition (19 fastbreak points).
Mosley doesn’t believe the Magic need to sacrifice their defensive identity in order to pick up the pace on offense.
Through four games, however, Orlando has allowed 110-plus points in each contest. They allowed more than 120 twice and more than 130 once (Monday at Philadelphia). For comparison, the Magic gave up 120-plus points just nine times all of last season and never surrendered more than 125.
After ending last season with the league’s second-best defensive rating (109.1, behind only the defending champion Thunder), the Magic sat 15th in the NBA (114.1) entering Tuesday’s contests. Meanwhile, their offensive rating was still 25th (108.1), up only two spots from where their offensive ended last season (27th; 108.9), according to NBA.com.
“You’ve got to be able to do both,” Mosley said about defending and playing with pace. “We can say the defensive effort was part of it, but also 14 turnovers for 20 points. You’re not giving yourself a chance on the defensive end of the floor. You missed 12 free throws, you’re not giving yourself a chance with those possessions. So defensively, if you don’t turn it over 14 for 20, you’re now allowing teams to play in the halfcourt and that’s a big portion of it.
“So, we’ve got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball and then we’ve got to knock down our free throws when we do get to that line,” he added.
Orlando’s pace (the number of possessions per 48 minutes for a team) was eighth fastest entering Tuesday night (104.88). That’s up from last in the league a season ago (96.51).
In the eyes of Banchero, the lack of defensive intensity is a symptom of playing faster on offense.
“Definitely not what we’re used to,” Banchero said when asked to assess Orlando’s defense. “Hasn’t been very good, giving up a lot of points. But that’s kind of what you give up when you speed the pace up. Teams are able to get out and run, and [it] causes crossmatches and miscommunications and stuff like that.
“So, we’ve just got to figure it out,” he added.
Orlando travels to Detroit (2-2) on Wednesday for the first game of a back-to-back. The team plays at Charlotte the next night before two more games at Washington and at Atlanta to end a five-game trip that’ll last nine days total.
“Everything gets better with time, but at the same time, you can’t just sit around and wait for it to happen,” Banchero said. “This is a tough league. There are a lot of good teams in this league. You can’t just drop games and say that it’s going to get better with time. You have to act now and you’ve got to be better.
“I wouldn’t say that we’re being complacent,” he added. “I think stuff needs to change and we’ve got to be better.”
Something that can also change beyond playing faster from last season is Orlando’s 3-point shooting. The Magic are still at the bottom of the league in 3-point attempts per night (27.5) and long-range makes (8). They’re one of two teams shooting sub-30% from distance (29.1%) through four games.
The other are the 4-0 Thunder, whose defensive rating leads the league (104.4) and plus-9.2 net rating is fourth-best.
“We need to be smarter about how fast we’re playing,” Banchero said. “If you’re just going fast without any direction, it’s not the best. Direction is more important than speed. So, we can play fast, but if there’s no direction, then it’s going to be tough.”
Newcomer Desmond Bane doesn’t believe playing at a faster pace should make it more difficult to defend.
“I wouldn’t say so,” he said. “It’s hard to win in this league. It’s hard to do anything in this league, but there is a way to do both. And we have to in order to win.”
No matter how they do it, the Magic know they need a win in the worst way possible. But their confidence hasn’t dipped.
“I do feel like we have a really close-knit team, and we’re trending into the right direction,” Bane said.
Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com
Up next …
Magic at Pistons
When: 7, Wednesday, Little Caesars Arena
TV: FanDuel Sports Network Florida