LOS ANGELES – Ideally, the Orlando Magic wouldn’t need a poor performance to bring out the best in them, but that’s been the case several times this season already.
Now, following a poor start to one of their most daunting road trips of the season, the Magic must prove once again their resiliency in the face of adversity. Making the degree of difficulty even greater is the fact that they will have to do so against four-time MVP LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday afternoon (3:30 p.m. ET) and the Golden State Warriors – champions of the past two seasons – on Monday (9:30 p.m. ET).
``Hopefully, this shocks us and wakes us up,’’ said forward Aaron Gordon in the Magic’s dejected locker room following Friday’s irksome 112-87 loss in Denver. ``We respond well after losses, so onto the next one.’’
Orlando (9-10) has been good this season about moving past bad losses and focusing in on the next game. When the Magic lost in lopsided fashion early in the season to Charlotte, they pushed the 76ers to the brink a night later in Philadelphia and then defeated the Celtics in Boston. When Orlando suffered a humbling home defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers to drop their record to 2-6 on Nov. 2, it responded with a victory in San Antonio and seven wins over the next nine games.
Now, after opening their five-game, nine-night road trip with a bad loss to the Nuggets, the Magic are in a position where they must show more fight against James and the Lakers (11-7). Difficult games against Golden State (Monday), Portland (Wednesday) and Phoenix (Friday) loom as challenges and should only heighten the Magic’s sense of urgency.
``Losing by one or losing by 25 doesn’t make a difference, but the disappointing this is the way that we played,’’ said Magic coach Steve Clifford, whose team struggled with its ball movement, rebounding and resolve in Denver. ``We’ve got to be committed enough to know what we have to do so that we play well. We have to have everybody understand that. When we do, like the last three weeks, we’ll make strides again.’’
James might also be looking to respond after the way the Magic throttled his Lakers 130-117 last week at the Amway Center. In that game, L.A. cut a 25-point third-quarter deficit to 10 in the fourth, but head coach Luke Walton never went back to James, who had already untied his shoes along the L.A. bench with some 10 minutes remaining in the one-sided game.
James took out whatever frustration he had the next night on Miami, scoring 51 points in beating the Heat. He also captured a victory back in Cleveland on Wednesday and totaled 22 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in Friday’s home defeat of Utah. Next in James’ crosshairs could be a Magic franchise that has beaten his Cavs and Lakers teams three times in the last 1½ seasons.
``We’ve got (the Lakers) on the road this time, so we’ve got to come with it,’’ said Magic guard Terrence Ross, who was one of the few bright spots from Friday when he made his first shot shots and finished with 18 points in 22 minutes.
Despite knowing that they were facing one of their toughest trips of the season, the Magic didn’t have much energy early in Friday’s game in Denver and wilted when the Nuggets made runs at them. Offensively, the ball stuck far too often, resulting in 40.5 percent shooting and eight-of-32 accuracy from 3-point range. Also, the Magic were badly whipped on the glass again. In their last two losses to Toronto and Denver – likely playoff squads – the Magic have surrendered 17 and 23 second-chance points after being unable to keep foes off the glass.
``We just didn’t have the energy needed,’’ Magic center Nikola Vucevic said. ``It was just not enough of energy to win a game on the road and not enough focus. Not a good game by us. We’ve just got to look at what we did wrong and get ready for Sunday.’’
On Sunday, Orlando could use a performance similar to the one that Vucevic hung on the Lakers last week in Orlando. Early in the night, he used his mobility in pick-and-roll plays and his 3-point shooting to dominate veterans JaVale McGee and Tyson Chandler. And when the Lakers tried downsizing with 6-foot-8 forward Kyle Kouzma at center, Vucevic buried him under the rim with strong post-up moves. He finished with 36 points by making 15 of 23 shots. Vucevic scored 24 of his points in the second half by making 10 of 14 shots.
James, meanwhile, made just eight of 19 points against the Magic last week in Orlando. Some of that could have been because of the stellar defense of Gordon and second-year forward Jonathan Isaac. Gordon has defended superstars James and Kawhi Leonard quite well of late, while the long-armed Isaac twice swatted James’ shots.
In recent years, the Magic-Lakers series has followed a predictable pattern. The Magic have won the last five meetings in Orlando – with four of those games coming early in the season and usually by big margins. Meanwhile, the Lakers have won the last five in L.A. by responding to what Orlando did to them early in the season.
Clifford said on Saturday following the Magic’s practice at USC in Los Angeles that bouncing back from games – either good games or bad games – often determines what kind of season a team can have.
``We’ve been good with (bouncing back) and it’s critical in this league,’’ Clifford said. ``You have to be able to play the game and win or lose, watch the film and then handle adversity or success or whatever it is and move on. Our guys have been good with that so far.’’
Now, both teams will be looking to respond on Sunday afternoon – the Magic from Friday’s loss in Denver and the Lakers from their humbling defeat in Orlando a week ago.
A year ago, the Magic won the first game of their West Coast swing in Phoenix before losing in lopsided fashion in Denver. That defeat was the first of nine in a row that ultimately soured the season for Orlando. They are determined to not let that happen again and want to prove that they are a resilient team when responding to adversity.
``You’ve always got to progress and move forward regardless of what’s happened,’’ said Ross, one of Orlando’s most vocal leaders all season. ``Win or lose, we’ve got to get ready for the next game. We’ve got to approach it professionally and be ready.’’
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