If the Orlando Magic hope to win Game 3 against Philadelphia tonight, they're going to have to really ramp up the intensity on both ends of the floor.
| Team | Pace | Efficiency | eFG% | FT Rate | OReb% | TO Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magic | 45 | 108.8 | 50.0% | 48.5 | 11.8 | 17.8 |
| 76ers | 133.3 | 60.0% | 30.0 | 21.4 | 13.3 |
About the only thing they're doing well is consistently attacking the basket. Orlando has played horrid defensively save for one possession at the start of the second quarter, when it forced Andre Miller into a contested jumper with the shot-clock winding down. Philly is scoring in transition, but more impressively, finding ways to score in the half-court, which has been one of its bigger weaknesses this season. Miller and Andre Iguodala are breaking the Magic down off the dribble, combining for 31 points on 12-of-20 shooting. They're not the only ones getting it done for the Sixers, though. Lightly regarded Willie Green has made all 3 of his shots for 6 points in 9 minutes; and Donyell Marshall has come off the bench to drill a three-pointer (expected) and to throw-down an alley-oop (most unexpected). Every Sixer to play has scored. Additionally, Thaddeus Young (1-of-5) and Royal Ivey (0-of-1) are the only Sixers not shooting at least 50% from the field. It's easy to understand why everyone else is sizzling from the field, as the Sixers made their last 4 shot-attempts--all layups--to end the half.
The Magic have their work cut out for them. Their offense hasn't been much better than their defense, although they did a much better job moving the ball and creating open looks near the end of the first half. That said, Dwight Howard is the only Magic player to really assert himself on that end, with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting. The conventional wisdom was that Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu would finally get back on track and have a big game. It hasn't happened, with the pair combining for 14 points on 3-of-11 shooting to go with 4 turnovers (all Turkoglu's). The three-pointer has been kind to the Magic, in terms of percentage (42.9), but Orlando has only been able to uncork 7 treys against a solid Philly defense.
In short, not much of anything is going right for the Magic, and it's going to be incredibly tough for them to come back and win this one, as resilient as they've been on the road during Stan Van Gundy's tenure. The D has to improve. The O has to improve. The effort--check out the offensive rebounding in the chart above--has to improve.