Magic’s shooting woes pronounced in postseason vs. Cavs
Throughout his 50-plus career playoff games, forward Joe Ingles has seen a little bit of everything.
He’s been a part of teams that held homecourt advantage and those that didn’t. He’s helped lower seeds upset higher ones and vice versa. He’s seen firsthand just how much the game changes in the postseason.
It’s why he’s not concerned about the Magic‘s chances in their first-round series against the Cavaliers between the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds in the East when the sides play at Kia Center for Games 3 and 4.
“It’s why you try and get homecourt,” Ingles said after Orlando dropped Game 2 in Cleveland on Monday night. “They did what they’re supposed to do.
“But now it’s on us to go home and do what we’re supposed to do.”
While there are a number issues for the Magic to address ahead of the third meeting with the Cavs — including lack of rebounding (Cleveland grabbed 15 offensive boards in Game 2) and failing to take care of the ball (29 turnovers in two games) — perhaps the most glaring is their inability to score.
Scoring generally cools off in the playoffs compared to the regular season, but the Magic have performed the worst on offense compared to the other 15 postseason teams.
Orlando’s 88.5 offensive rating is last among playoff squads and it’s the only one with a sub-90 rating. The Magic averaged 84.5 points in their first two games, which also is far and away the lowest.
It’s worth mentioning that Orlando’s problems on offense aren’t anything new. In the regular season, the team was 24th out of 30 in scoring (110.5 points) and 22nd in offensive rating (112.9).
But with scoring a premium in the playoffs, the Magic’s inability to score enough points to win games becomes magnified in a best-of-7 series against the same opponent who can game plan specifically for Orlando — and only Orlando.
What’s kept the Magic within striking distance in both contests against the Cavs has been their defense. Neither team has cracked 100 points, but Orlando has yet to even hold a lead in a game.
“The difference was shots,” said forward Jonathan Isaac, who went 1 of 7 for 3 points in Game 2. “We didn’t make shots. I didn’t make shots. To hold them under 100 again — we just couldn’t find the points.”
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Despite the Magic shooting less than 40% from the field twice, they like their shot selection.
“The shots we take — especially the 3s — we’re getting good looks,” Ingles said. “I’m sure there’s couple that were forced or whatever but majority of the shots are pretty good.
“It’ll be nice to go home and hopefully the homecourt advantage does us some favors and we can knock some down.”
And Ingles has a point. As most teams tend to do, the Magic shot better at home during the regular season.
Orlando’s effective field-goal percentage — a formula that adjusts for 3-pointers being worth more than made 2-pointers — was slightly higher at home than on the road (55.3% home vs. 52.9% away).
Although that’s a small difference in percentages, so is the difference between wins and losses in the playoffs.
And the Magic need to find a way to win in Game 3 if they want to extend their first-round series vs. Cleveland. In 151 tries, no team has ever come back from a 0-3 deficit.
“We’re due for some makes,” Isaac said.
Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com
If you go …
Cavaliers at Magic, Game 3
When: Thursday, 7
TV: Bally Sports Florida/NBA TV
