Although the Orlando Magic shot poorly early in the game, they were able to overcome that to defeat the Charlotte Bobcats 97-91 and advance to 8-3. One of the slow starters was Rashard Lewis who missed the first Magic jump shot after returning from a ten game suspension. Also returning for the Magic were Brandon Bass and Ryan Anderson who had both been receiving heavy minutes in a depleted Orlando lineup.
Monday evening came and went without a standout performance by any of the Magic starting five, although the team finished with seven players in double digits. This is a good thing, and a scary thing. It is unbelievable how deep the team’s bench is. By all accounts, Orlando is the deepest team in the league going a legitimate eight deep, and an arguably ten deep. This season nine different players have started for the Magic, and none of them looked out of place. The tenth player is Jason Williams who has experienced a resurgence in his career after being out of the league last year. Williams is already averaging four assists and 18 minutes per game. The most important part is that when he is on the floor, the Magic offense doesn’t lose a beat.
One of the problems such a deep team creates is the lineup. The flow of substitutions and lineup changes during the game is one of the most important jobs a coach has. Great coaches get into a steady pattern of substitutions and a series of set lineups. The substitution pattern is designed to maximize productivity while providing ample rest to the starters. The set lineups are designed to place groups of guys on the court that can be at their most effective.
As the season progresses, a coach will learn what players naturally gel together, what players are best when the team needs jump shooting, when a team needs to go big or go small, and when a team needs to lock down on defense. Understanding exactly what personnel sets work best in each of these scenarios is crucial to winning close games and playoff games.
Thus far in Stan Van Gundy’s coaching career, he has shown that he has no clue how to do these things. Van Gundy continually fails to steady his substitutions and his set lineups. In defense of Van Gundy, he had to make major mid-season adjustments last year with Jameer Nelson’s injury and this year his life has been just as difficult with five players already missing games. What is troubling is that Van Gundy’s ineptitude almost cost Orlando the series against Boston last year, and he is showing the same signs of confusion early this season.
Against Charlotte, Van Gundy did not seem to have much of a plan. If he did have a plan for his personnel, it wasn’t a good one. It seemed as though there was always a different set of guys on the floor.
Throughout the first three quarters, Charlotte was able to keep the score close and the outcome always seemed in doubt. Boris Diaw had a great game for the Bobcats against a host of Orlando defenders scoring 21 points, but it was Ronald Murray who led the team in scoring with 31 off the bench, 11 coming in the fourth quarter.
Although the Magic were out shot from the field, 50% to 43%, they were able to sink 11 threes to make up the difference. Vince Carter and Mickael Pietrus led the team in threes with three each. Howard led the Magic in rebounds with 11, Nelson led the team in assists with five and steals with three.
With about three minutes to go in the third quarter, the Magic settled into a rhythm of sorts taking control of the game for good. Lewis began to get back into the game scoring six of his ten points from that moment on and the Magic as a team began to get stops defensively.
On Wednesday night Orlando has a chance for revenge against a Thunder team that bludgeoned them by 28 points last week in Oklahoma City. With all of his players healthy, it is time for Van Gundy to settle in and make some concrete decisions in the lineup. If he fails to do so, Orlando may be in danger of losing more games against sub-par teams like Charlotte and Oklahoma City.
By: Jon Foley, Reporting for West Orlando News
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