When Orlando Owns The Paint, It Can Beat Playoff Teams, Even Detroit

The Magic return to their identity – forcing stops & attacking the rack

My mindset — A do or die game, just doing whatever it takesFranz Wagner

Depending how you look at it, the Orlando Magic defense helped the Charlotte Hornets make NBA History!

Charlotte dropped a quadruple-thirty after becoming the first team to make fewer than 30 FGM, miss 30 or more 3PA, commit 30 or more fouls, and lose by 30 or more points all in the same game, including regular season, playoffs or play-in settings. (via Opta Stats)

The Magic's defense played at its best level all season; according to NBA Analyst Jackson Frank, the Magic's best defensive rating in a game this season was 90.7 D-RTG, while the Magic defensive rating in the first half against Charlotte was a whopping 70.6 D-RTG.

In the first half alone, Orlando's defense forced Charlotte into 3 shot clock violations and 11 turnovers, with 3 steals and 5 blocks. Later on in the second half, the Magic forced yet another shot clock violation, racked up another 3 steals, while Goga Bitadze put a lid on the rim, blocking 3 shots in the span of a minute.

Orlando's defenders were active, rotating with purpose, closing out hard, bringing active hands pressure on the ball without fouling, and deflecting every dribble and pass they could get a hand on.

That defense led to offense, even if it wasn't all technically on the fast break off live ball turnovers. Orlando's stops created momentum, and the Magic capitalized on that good energy with ball movement, paint touches, and team-first drive-and-kick play that generated shots at the rim and from deep all night, with as minimal midrange jump shots as possible, Orlando's ideal shot profile.

The Magic's determination to get feet in the paint was clear from the jump, between Banchero turning down jump shots to bulldoze the forest in front of him, Wagner executing pick-and-roll drives into floaters or alley oop lobs to baseline backdoor cutters, Bane attacking the gaps as he bends the defense while orchestrating the set, Suggs picking his spots and finding the open man, Wendell and Goga rolling hard and staying prepared for powerful putbacks and second chance opportunities.

Orlando jumped out to a 22-4 Points in the Paint (PITP) lead after the first quarter, which quickly ballooned to 50-20 after three quarters, finishing with a jaw-dropping 64-28 margin on the night.

This result shows a mix of Orlando's rim deterrence, Charlotte's 3pt-heavy playstyle, and the Magic's gameplan to close out hard on those threes, leak out for easy points, and not only look to attack the rack even when the game slows down in the half court, but get to the rim and score, find the open man, and stay away from bad decisions like tough midrange jump shots.

Magic Coach and Star Players Break Down Their Strength

After the game, I asked Jamahl Mosley, Franz Wagner, and Paolo Banchero a similar question – what led to Orlando's focus and execution to dominate Points in the Paint in this NBA Play-In matchup against the Charlotte Hornets?

Stops, stops. We got stops, we were able to get out and run, get some early, easy baskets.

We talked about it before the game, what does that look like? Getting early seals on smaller guards; being able to sit down, guard, and get steals and turnovers.

The commitment. That is why I said the coaches did an unbelievable job of recognizing the gameplan for how they were playing us, we have seen it a couple of times – the angles of the screens, the details of that, how we can get over that to get downhill to attack the basket.

Our ability to share the basketball, 27 AST, us continuing to share, I think that is gonna be the big key coming off of it right away where the defense cannot load up.Jamahl Mosley

I think that is one of our strengths, when we are able to get into the paint and create from there.

I think we all know that, we have talked about that as a team.

I think we were just relentless with that tonight.

Myself, Franz, Wendell on the boards, Goga on the boards

It was just a complete effort from the whole team

When we are able to dominate the paint like that, we give ourselves a real good chance to win, and it is going to have to continue.Paolo Banchero

I actually think our mindset was to take away their catch-and-shoot threes. I think that is how they beat a lot of teams.

We were really physical on their perimeter guys, got to shooters out really quickly, had a lot of really good possessions defensively where we closed out on shooters, and they did not really have a lot of ways to go, so.

And I think on the other end, we obviously fed off our defense, got a lot of easy ones, and I think that is why you have that disparity in the paint.

Also rebounding I think was a big key to the game.

As for my mindset – it is a do or die game, so just doing whatever it takes.

Coming into the game, we knew pretty much what they were going to do, so being ready for the paint to be really clogged up and just making plays from there.Franz Wagner

Orlando's best offense is an active defense, a tale as old as time.

One look closer though shows its not just the literal bonus of forcing live ball turnovers for quick points off turnovers, but it's also the combination of getting stops, making deflections, wreaking havoc, leaking out on shot contests, playing with pace in leverageable moments, and feeding off that contagious team-first energy by moving as a unit, moving with purpose, and moving the ball.

Orlando's defense didn't just get lucky Charlotte missed jump shots; they contested every shot Charlotte tried to shoot with pestering all-out defense.

Suggs fouled out a minute into the fourth quarter, but that's the kind of defensive energy you need on a star like LaMelo Ball to slow him down, who scored just 3 PTS on 1/3 FG in the matchup against Suggs, defending him 40% of the time. When Black subbed in, he held Ball to 0 PTS, guarding him 14% of the time.

The Magic's full strength defense featuring Suggs and Black navigating screens at point of attack with Wagner's anticipatory active hands ready to pounce for steals and versatile shot-blockers flanking them from behind can be a force to be reckoned with at full go. When they turn that defense into offense and remember to attack the rack or look for an open teammate without settling for jumpers, they remember they are stronger as a pass-happy drive-and-kick team than a my-turn your-turn group of tough shotmaking strangers.

When Orlando remembers to lean into its elite strengths – defending hard as a unit, pushing the pace off that defensive energy, penetrating the paint by attacking the gaps, hunting contact and looking to score at the rim, moving the ball with a team-first find-the-open-man mindset, and resist settling for jump shots while valuing open threes for their best shooters, this team finds two-way balance that gives them a shot to win a game against any team in the NBA, even a playoff team.

Can Orlando channel this focus not just once, but four times to win a playoff series? With Game 1 just 48 hours later in Detroit, there's little time to adjust. For Orlando to give themselves a chance, they just have to show up and show out doing what they do best – match the Pistons' physicality, play two-way team-first basketball, and when in doubt, just Van Gogh hard in the paint.