Magic at Sixers: What Didn't Work

Despite leaving the Wachovia Center with a victory Friday night, the Orlando Magic shouldn’t feel overconfident heading into Indiana to play the Pacers.

In fact they shouldn’t feel overconfident if they were headed to Indiana to play the University of Notre Dame. Orlando made a terrible offensive team look solid, and were extremely fortunate to escape with a victory.

1. Defense for the first 46:24 of the game- For much of the game, the Orlando defense was nearly nonexistent. They allowed countless layups and wide open shots all night long. They allowed a team that averages a little better than 93 points per game to shoot 50% from the field (42/84), and put up 106 points. There were no innocent parties, everyone who played for Orlando had numerous defensive lapses.

2. Point guards getting dominated again- Andre Miller and Louis Williams did what pretty much every point guard combo does to the Magic, score at will and make it look easy. Miller and Williams tallied 53 points, on 18/30 shooting (60%), and dished out 15 assists and grabbed 5 rebounds. The Orlando point guard combo of Arroyo, Nelson, and we’ll even throw in Dooling scored just 28 points, dished out 8 assists, and grabbed two lowly rebounds.

3. Turnover bug was biting again- The Magic committed 14 turnovers, which is right on their season average, but Philadelphia scored 24 points off those 14 turnovers. Orlando forced just 8 Philly miscues, in which they scored just 7 points off. More evidence that the point guard position must be upgraded.

4. All-around soft play- Orlando continued to add fuel to the fire of their soft reputation, as the defense in the paint was nearly invisible for much of the game, and 76ers backup forward Reggie Evans, who incidentally is most famous for his genital grabbing (just ask Chris Kaman), seemed to bully the visitors from Central Florida all night long. If the Magic complained any more to the officials, they would’ve began to pass out tissues to the entire team.