After the Orlando Magic had finished the regular season in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, they had to admit defeat in round one of the playoffs against the highly favored Milwaukee Bucks. As the players head off on vacation, the Orlando front office faces some landmark decisions.
Although the Nets traveled extremely decimated into the bubble in Disney World, Orlando failed to take seventh place in the Eastern Conference. They finished the Seeding Games with a score of 3-5 – despite the feasible schedule.
So it came in the playoffs to a duel with the top-placed Bucks, which even started with a big surprise in game one. Thanks to an outstanding Nikola Vucevic and 16 sunk three-pointers (actually by no means a strength of Magic) Orlando took the victory. The disillusionment followed in the form of four bankruptcies in a row – each with a deficit of at least 14 points!
Orlando Magic: That’s how the 19/20 season went
It was a disappointing end to an overall disappointing season. The Magic ended the regular season with 33 wins and were on their way to ending the season with fewer successes than last. Rather, the renewed playoff participation must be attributed to the weak competition in the east as a brilliant achievement in its own right. After winning the opening game against the Cavs, the Magic had a positive record for the first and last time.
“We played a large part of the season without Jonathan and Al. I could imagine that we would have had a top 5 defense with them,” said Magic coach Steve Clifford in the injuries of Isaac and Aminu as one of the reasons for the record . The plan with the top 5 did not work due to the adverse circumstances, but a defensive rating of 109.5 was enough for a passable tenth place. The problems were clearly at the other end of the court.
The sobering numbers: offensive rating 108.5 (23rd place), points per game 107.3 (24th place), pace 98.6 (25th place). Both the rate from the field (44.4 percent, 27th place) and from the distance (34.3 percent, 25th place) were only enough for placements in the table cellar.
The low pace led to few points in transition, in the half-field offense it was evident that the Magic lacks a go-to-guy who can take over and be searched for as a scoring option. 3.3 possessions with isolation per game are by far the lowest figure in the association (Houston: 22.6!).
Orlando Magic: The Offseason Questions
Nikola Vucevic: Building Block of the Future or Trade Chip?
Before the season, the Montenegrin, who has been running for Orlando since 2012, signed a four-year contract worth 100 million dollars and thus rose to become one of the top earners among the centers. Quite a few had little understanding for this contract, but Vuc was there in the playoffs.
First he confirmed the strong previous season in the regular season with 19.6 points and 10.9 rebounds and was clearly the best man of his team in the series against the Bucks. When he won Game 1, he added 35 points and hit 5 threes. He achieved a double-double three times, never breaking the 20 point mark.
Doubts about his (improved) defense are still justified, although he is at least competent as a team defender. It feels like he’s been there forever, but will only be 30 years old in October. But can Vucevic as number 1 really achieve great playoff successes?
Probably not. After all, the all-star has adapted his game to today’s NBA and this season with 4.7 three-pointers per game, by far the most in his career so far – with a reasonable rate of 33.9 percent. His future in Orlando, however, is linked to another open question …
