The Magic's overall record so far this season has not been ideal, of course, this is not unexpected for the Magic in the reconstruction stage. After sending off most of the core players in the squad (Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier) before last season's trade deadline, the Magic are considered to be a team that has fully entered the reconstruction phase.
Compared to the days when players such as Nicolas Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier were on the table, and when these players had a greater chance of winning, the Magic now rely more on sharing and transferring the ball to play a solid offensive performance.
The difference with the magic right now is that after these players leave the team, they are no longer the playoff competitive teams in the Eastern Conference. In terms of record, the Magic have only a 12-41 record so far this season, and they can only rank at the bottom of the East, which is also the worst record performance in the league.
The good news is that while the Magic are certainly less than ideal in terms of performance, they seem to be able to find a way to use teamwork on the offensive end to perform well enough.
Magic finds the right way to play
The Magic's ability to have at least five players in their last six wins in double figures is undoubtedly the secret to magic winning in the game, even if they are only a team that is about to enter a losing season.
Magic can share the ball to win the team, and this tactical system ensures that almost every player can play a better overall performance in the game. After all, a team can have at least 5 players in a game score in double figures, which is definitely a very good situation on the offensive end of the team.
As Magic coach Jamal Mosley said before the game, the core tactical system of the team on the field is to do a good job of sharing the ball.
In terms of statistics, the Magic can average 23 assists per game so far this season, which is indeed only the data performance that can rank 23rd in the league, but the Magic can have a 60.8% assist rate, which is the performance that can rank 11th in the league. That said, so far this season, the Magic have had more points and shooting points from the results of sharing the ball.
In addition, the Magic ranked 14th in the league with an average of 282.6 passes per game, and averaged 45.8 potential assists per game to rank 16th in the league, both of which are more significantly higher than the average of 269.5 passes and 43.7 potential assists per game last season.
In fact, most of the Magic's problems on the offensive end so far this season have come down to a lack of shooting ability, and sharing the ball and keeping running positions are still very important components of the Magic's offensive end.
In the last six games and the team has a record of 4 wins and 2 losses, they have averaged 29.3 assists per game (2nd in the league), in addition to a 69.8% assist rate (leading the league). To put it simply, the Magic can also have a more obvious impact on the team's record when it can share the ball well in recent times, and for the team that has been in the reconstruction stage and only has a bottom record in the league, the 4-2 record in the past 6 games is indeed a surprising performance.
Not only that, but the Magic can also play an offensive efficiency of 112.2 during this time, and to be honest, it is difficult to imagine that such offensive efficiency is the performance of a team with only the bottom record in the league. For comparison, the Grizzlies and Nets have been able to play 112.7 and 112.1 offensive efficiencies in the last six games, respectively, and these two teams can be said to have better competitive teams so far this season.
More sharing the ball often means more empty space for players on the court, with the Magic averaging 38.5 shots per game in the last six games when they're 2-4 feet away from their nearest defender and 40.6 shots per game when they're at least 4 feet away. Averaging 15.3 three-point shots and 37 percent three-point shooting per game when at least 6 feet away from the nearest defender is undoubtedly the result of more empty opportunities after moving the ball.
For any team, getting more opportunities on the outside or near the basket means the team's success in the offensive system arrangement, which is also an important prerequisite for any team to play efficiently on the offensive end.
Core lineup
Sharing the ball and getting players to get empty shots is almost certainly an important reason for magic's success in recent times, and to be honest, it's also an essential part of Magic's future return to competitive strength.
Because they're not the Lakers who can build a lineup around the big three like LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook, and certainly not the Nets that own Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving. They're not even the Clippers who can build around Kawhi Leonard and Paul George or the Jazz with Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.
At the moment, the Magic is all about building a roster of role players, who occasionally have a double-figure performance, but they don't have star players in the squad who can play more than 20 points per game.
So far this season, Magic top scorer Kerr Anthony has averaged just 15.5 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists in the last six games, but only has a 32.6 percent shooting percentage and 25 percent three-point shooting in terms of personal efficiency. From these data, Cole Anthony's assist stats on the court are players who have made a more significant contribution than scoring.
In Cole Anthony's assist stats, he has as many as 57 assists for Franz Wagner, in addition to players like Wendell Carter Jr., Mo Bamba, Gary Harris, Terrance Rose and Jalen Sargers can get assists from Cole Anthony, which is enough to show that Cole Anthony's pass covers almost all the core players in the Magic's team, which also shows that the Magic's tactical system of sharing the ball is the core.
So far this season, the Magic lineup really doesn't have a scorer who can play a dominant ability, but the coaching staff also allows players to get more shooting opportunities by sharing the ball, and the fast-paced play will also give the team more opportunities to easily get to the basket.
Outstanding performance in recent times
Although this style of play cannot support the Magic to impact the playoffs this season, it will definitely make the team's players understand the importance of team basketball, after all, in the past 6 games, this way of playing has allowed the team to experience victory, especially against the Pacers.
In this game, the Magic had five players on the team who could play in double figures, including Gary Harris, who was on the bench, shot 6-of-15 in 32 minutes (6-of-11 from beyond the three-point line) and had 22 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds. Wendell Carter Jr. also scored 19 points, Franz Wagner scored 17, Cole Anthony scored 15 and Jalen Sargas scored 12.
In the end, the Magic won the game 119-118, and they were able to reverse the 9-point gap by taking advantage of the team's defensive and offensive performances in the final stages of the game. Throughout the game, the Magic were able to deliver 29 assists.
Of course, the Magic haven't won every game with at least 5 players scoring in double figures this season, but it should be noted that they've played this in the last 6 games and are really all very close to winning the game.
For example, in the Magic game against the Lone Rangers, the team can also have 6 players in the team to score in double figures, of which Chuma Okiki scored a team-high 19 points, Franz Wagner scored 18 points, Cole Anthony scored 16 points, Moritz Wagner jr. Wendell Carter scored 14 points, and Mo Bamba also contributed 10 points. So this game also proved the fact that if the Magic can keep sharing the ball and let multiple players on the team have a double-figure performance, they will have a better chance of winning the game.
Write at the end
All of this shows that the Magic's share-ball tactics really give the team more and better shooting opportunities, thus liberating the team's offensive end.
This is the key to the magic's successful performance in the last 6 games, knowing that the magic are games against the Eagles, Bulls, Hornets, Pistons, Lone Rangers and Pacers, among which such as the Bulls, Hornets and Lone Rangers are all teams that can rank in the playoffs, which is enough to prove that magic has indeed played a successful performance in recent times.