The Defense is here

[drsd]

The Magic have prevented their opponent from scoring 100 points or more in five of the team’s seven games. Prior to Saturday’s slate of games on the NBA schedule, the Magic ranked No. 2 in the league in opponent field goal percentage and No. 3 in opponent 3-point percentage. It’s becoming more and more of a reality that this team has a defensive identity and nobody should expect that to change any time soon.

NBA.com LINK


How much do you love the defensive improvement?

[zelenooq]

Hezonja on preseason and hezonja now
Two different worlds

[ivDT]

the defensive rebounding percentage needs to improve, but other than that i'm loving what skiles has done with our defense.

[MagicStarwipe]

For the record, I voted Yeh !!!!

[drsd]

the defensive rebounding percentage needs to improve, but other than that i'm loving what skiles has done with our defense.

Given that "Gimme More" is currently winning this poll, there is clear fan interest on Orlando further improving their defense.

[Optimus_Steel]

Skiles is legit. There is a reason Stan was happy for Skiles but concerned in terms of more competition in the east because Skiles is legit.

[NBAchamps2017]

IF only they can replicate the Heart & Hustle team. Imagine!

[MagicManDC]

I love it but rebounding is a apart of defense. They need to focus on that. 76ers missed a ton of open 3s.

[NEM]

It's night and day from the previous regime. I would love to see the defensive rebounding improve however. I don't know if that has to do with player positioning on defense or them just not being ready, but it gets frustrating when we should be up a lot more than we are but due to the defensive rebounding, our opponent is able to hang around like OKC and TOR were able to do. You could argue that we should be 6-1 or even 7-0 had it not been for giving up offensive rebounds, but whatever, I'm just happy to see an effort on defense and that we are finally winning GO MAGIC!

[tooler]

76ers missed a ton of open 3s.

Just gotta hope that was from playing the 4th game in 5 nights. I'm more concerned about the fouling and rebounding.

[Nemesis21]

Option C

[yeti_]

I'm most impressed by the blocks per game. Currently tied for 3rd best.

[OrlandoDream]

Its a completely different team out there on the defensive floor. Kinda surprised that we are #3 on the 3Pt line. Feels to me that is the one area that we needed to improve most. Just feels like almost every game you have someone sinking threes on us. Cannaan last night made me smh. I know he is a sniper but 6 threes? Good defensive effort overall.

[jezzer45]

It clear they are on the right track but the guards need to live up to the hype and start shutting down some people.

[Skin]

The cool thing is that I think we can get so much better.

[Optimus_Steel]

Its a completely different team out there on the defensive floor. Kinda surprised that we are #3 on the 3Pt line. Feels to me that is the one area that we needed to improve most. Just feels like almost every game you have someone sinking threes on us. Cannaan last night made me smh. I know he is a sniper but 6 threes? Good defensive effort overall.

That is because teams are taking many more 3s than they used to. Philly attempted like 33 3s last night. They shot 33% from 3. When you are taking that many 3's and they make some it makes it feel like they are making more than they really are. Also, when teams take that many 3s it leads to more of those long rebounds that end up offensive rebounds.

[RickB-Orlando]

The best thing about this is the alignment between the strategy that Hennigan has used for building the roster with many defensive-minded players, and Skiles defense-first approach to game planning.

[rcklsscognition]

Develop proper habits, install a system, assign roles, and maintain consistency through minor improvements over the course of a season. That's the plan. Look at Mario. Little changes each game. Coaches and the media saying he's listening to everything, accepting coaching, and making the improvements. We need everyone to do that. We need a buy in. So far so good.

[OrlandoDream]

Its a completely different team out there on the defensive floor. Kinda surprised that we are #3 on the 3Pt line. Feels to me that is the one area that we needed to improve most. Just feels like almost every game you have someone sinking threes on us. Cannaan last night made me smh. I know he is a sniper but 6 threes? Good defensive effort overall.

That is because teams are taking many more 3s than they used to. Philly attempted like 33 3s last night. They shot 33% from 3. When you are taking that many 3's and they make some it makes it feel like they are making more than they really are. Also, when teams take that many 3s it leads to more of those long rebounds that end up offensive rebounds.

Good observation. Thats true. At one point yesterday Philly I think took like 6-7 threes in a row. Just chucking it up. It showed they have no offensive scheme aside from going to Okafor. Eventually, they are going to stop falling.

[seeingstars]

Its a completely different team out there on the defensive floor. Kinda surprised that we are #3 on the 3Pt line. Feels to me that is the one area that we needed to improve most. Just feels like almost every game you have someone sinking threes on us. Cannaan last night made me smh. I know he is a sniper but 6 threes? Good defensive effort overall.

That is because teams are taking many more 3s than they used to. Philly attempted like 33 3s last night. They shot 33% from 3. When you are taking that many 3's and they make some it makes it feel like they are making more than they really are. Also, when teams take that many 3s it leads to more of those long rebounds that end up offensive rebounds.

Good observation. Thats true. At one point yesterday Philly I think took like 6-7 threes in a row. Just chucking it up. It showed they have no offensive scheme aside from going to Okafor. Eventually, they are going to stop falling.

This was blatantly clear. Poor Philly