Here are some quick numbers to examine Magic’s defense in the first five games :

They top the league along Miami for allowing the less field goals made by an opponent and are just behind the Heat in the opponent’s effective FG %, while being in the 9th position on FG attempted by opponent per game. They do top the league in opponent shooting %.

(It’s funny to notice how much Orlando’s and Miami’s numbers are close in the defensive side.)

Magic let their opposition shoot 17.8 three pointers per game (15th in the league) and got scored on 7 of them (20th).

Magic top the league when it comes to not sending opponents to the free throw line which is quite an accomplishment IMO and are third in the league in less FTs made by the other team.

Magic are n° 5 in blocks and 27 in steals (as usual). Orlando doesn’t create much TOs either but it’s no surprise.

Note that so far the line-ups that played the most minutes are:

Nelson-VC-Q-Lewis-Dwight with 24.97 minutes DefRtg 104.26

Nelson-VC-Ryan-Lewis-Dwight with 13.27 minutes DefRtg 100.00

Nelson-JJ-Q-Bass-Dwight with 9.70 minutes DefRtg 73.68

Combining this numbers with the great work on the boards, it is safe to say that, as expected, Magic are doing a pretty decent effort on the defensive side of the court. Not that Stan would allow it to be any other way.

(numbers from teamrankings.com)