For the first several weeks of the season, the Orlando Magic defied expectations, shot superbly from long range and posted an 8-4 record.
Those days now seem like a long, long time ago.
The Magic are ensnared in a shooting slump, and those struggles intensified Wednesday night in a 116-98 loss to the Houston Rockets at Amway Center.
“We got the looks that we wanted to get, but they didn’t fall,” Aaron Gordon said. “It happens.”
Well, it’s happening too often to the Magic right now.
The Magic made only 38.5 percent of their shots from the field, including just six of their 31 attempts from 3-point range.
“Honestly, I thought throughout the game we tried to make the extra pass,” coach Frank Vogel said. “And throughout the game, we didn’t get the payoff. We didn’t shoot the ball well. When you’re not making shots, everything in the game gets harder. You press a little bit more. Your focus on the defensive end slips a little bit. We’ve got to overcome that.”
In their eight games since Dec. 20, the Magic have made only 57 of their 208 attempts from 3-point range, a success rate of 27.4 percent.
In today’s NBA, that just isn’t good enough. Not even close.
The Magic have lost 23 of their last 27 games.
Injuries — including current injuries to Nikola Vucevic, Terrence Ross and Jonathan Isaac — have been a primary reason for the decline. Evan Fournier, who missed eight straight games last month because of a sprained ankle, went just 2 of 11 from the field Wednesday, and Vogel said afterward that Fournier is still trying to regain the conditioning he lost when he was unable to run.
The team’s injury problem worsened Wednesday.
Jonathon Simmons, one of the Magic’s starting wings, suffered from back spasms and didn’t play in the second half. Simmons walked gingerly after the game and said his back started to bother him after a midday nap.
Orlando (12-27) has struggled all season against teams that switch often on the defensive end of the floor, and those problems occasionally resurfaced against Houston (27-9).
“You’ve got to keep moving,” Vogel said. “Switches have got to speed you up. You’ve got to get more action to the basket: inside cuts. Every pick-and-roll switch has got to be a hard roll to the rim, and you’ve got to drive to pass.”
On Wednesday, however, Vogel said the Magic attacked perimeter mismatches, drove and passed to teammates well.
“We had a lot of good looks,” Simmons said. “We just missed them. We just couldn’t make shots tonight.”
Indeed, Orlando’s offense was painful to watch.
In the first quarter, the Magic went 5 minutes, 12 seconds between baskets, and their 12 first-quarter points were their lowest point total in any quarter this season.
No one struggled worse than Gordon, who went 1 of 10 from the field during the first half and finished the game with 16 points on 7-of-23 shooting.
Mario Hezonja breathed some life into the Magic during the second quarter, making four consecutive Magic baskets — a driving layup, a 3-pointer, an 18-foot jumper and a 21-foot jumper — to cut the deficit from 32-15 to 33-24.
But after that, the Magic never cut their deficit below nine points.
Gerald Green, one of the Rockets’ reserves, outshot the Magic single-handedly. He went 7 of 10 from beyond the arc and finished with a game-high 27 points.
“His spirit is just contagious,” Rockets point guard Chris Paul said.
The Magic never seriously threatened the Rockets even though the Rockets were missing the NBA’s leading scorer and one of the league’s top MVP candidates, James Harden.
“It’s a make-or-miss league, and we didn’t make enough shots tonight,” Vogel said.
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