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1/17/2010 8:30:15 AM Old Timer

Magic's Stars Look to Align

Denton: Magic's Stars Look to Align

By John Denton
January 16, 2010

Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.

LOS ANGELES – Friday night’s game in Portland was just minutes old and the frustration that has gripped the Orlando Magic for the better part of three weeks had already taken hold. Dwight Howard was in early foul trouble, Vince Carter was still looking for his first basket, Jameer Nelson was having defensive problems and head coach Stan Van Gundy steamed on the bench with a scowl and crossed arms.

It’s a scene that has grown all too familiar to a Magic team that has lost six of its last eight games. To many of the players and coaches, the recent faltering is shocking to the system considering that they were just in The NBA Finals back in the spring and near the top of the NBA a couple of weeks ago.

Before Friday’s game -- one that started with a 20-point halftime deficit and ended with a 102-87 loss to the scrappy Trail Blazers -- a kinder, gentler Van Gundy talked about needing perspective when evaluating his Magic.

After all, the four all-star starters of Rashard Lewis, Howard, Carter and Nelson had played together just 11 times all season because of injury and suspension and Orlando was still trying to incorporate five new players into the mix.

But yet after troubling loss, Van Gundy’s thoughts of perspective gave way to a harsh reality. The Magic (26-14) are a struggling team that’s stuck in a nasty rut and fighting some internal issues now. Problems, without question, that can be fixed by stringing together a winning streak.

To hopefully snap out of the funk and get back on the winning track, the Magic planned to spend Saturday and Sunday looking inward at their own issues. Remarkably, even the looming Finals rematch against the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday seemed to take a back seat to Orlando’s resolution of its own problems.

``Too much time is spent, me included, of why it isn’t working instead of just doing what it takes to make this thing work,’’ Van Gundy said Saturday after the Magic’s afternoon workout at the Lakers’ practice facility. ``It starts with playing harder all of the time.

``I just talked to them and told them that we’ve gone through it all about lineups, rotations and combinations, but the bottom line is that it’s going to come down to those four (All-Stars),’’ the coach continued. ``They’ve got to get it better and play with more energy. Play together and play better, nothing specific. Quit with all of the excuses and the analysis and just make it work.’’

Getting it to work better with Carter, the All-Star shooting guard, would be a good place to start. Carter returned Friday night after missing the past three games with a mild shoulder separation. But his shooting struggles from the past two weeks continued.

After Carter missed six of seven shots and five of his six 3-point tries, it dropped him to 12 of 56 overall and two of 19 from 3-point range in his past six games.

Carter said too often the Magic have allowed those missed shots to affect their psyches, not to mention their defensive intensity. He said this drought where the Magic have struggled has been shocking because he knows the Magic are an elite with an overflow of talent.

``It is disappointing because we know we can do better than we’re showing,’’ said Carter, who practiced in full on Saturday and lifted weights for the first time since hurting his shoulder. ``We’re trying to figure out ways to get this done. We’re a capable team that can accomplish a lot of things. Fortunately, it’s a long year and it’s not a sprint, but you also want to have a better pace in your sprint. Hopefully we’ll get this thing turned around and you’ll see a better Magic team.’’

And you might see a different Magic team come Monday against the Lakers. Van Gundy has gone back and forth on switching up the starting lineup, switching the rotations and switching up the combinations of players who are on the floor together. But he ultimately decided Saturday after much inspiration that it’s not so much about changing the players as it is changing the mentalities.

``The way I see it is, all of our role guys are playing where they should be or above, but our four key guys have to take individual responsibility for this,’’ he said. ``We’ve been overthinking (the changes), I think. We should be able to put about any reasonable combination out there and do well because we have good enough players. Good players figure it out and make it work. Now, we’ve just got to go and do it.