{"id":562681,"date":"2026-01-26T21:26:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T21:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/562681\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T21:26:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T21:26:42","slug":"orlando-magic-unable-to-convert-open-looks-from-distance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/562681\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic unable to convert open looks from distance"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the Magic<\/a> lost by 14 points to the Cavaliers<\/a> at Kia Center<\/a> on Saturday night, Orlando<\/a> coach Jamahl Mosley<\/a> and guard Desmond Bane<\/a> insisted the team generated open looks from 3-point range against Cleveland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were open, correct? \u2026 We\u2019ve got to step into them and knock them down,\u201d Mosley said at the time. \u201cThat\u2019s what it boils down to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Bane: \u201c[We] got some open shots throughout the meat of the game, and shots just didn\u2019t fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taking a look at the advanced numbers, neither were incorrect in their diagnosis of the situation.<\/p>\n

According to league tracking data<\/a> from Saturday\u2019s game, which wasn\u2019t available until Monday morning, the Magic were 10-for-32 (31.3%) on 3-point shots where the closest defender was 6-plus feet away \u2014 meaning they were considered \u201cwide-open\u201d shots.<\/p>\n

Orlando also shot 1-for-7 (14.3%) on 3-point attempts when the nearest defender was 4-6 feet away, which are considered \u201copen\u201d shots, according to NBA.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Magic overall shot 11-for-40 from beyond the arc against Cleveland, meaning they only took one 3-pointer where the nearest defender was 4 feet or closer to the shot-taker (they missed that attempt).<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, even going back to the Charlotte game, I feel like we\u2019ve gotten some really good looks,\u201d Magic center Wendell Carter Jr.<\/a> said at Monday shootaround inside Rocket Arena before Orlando faced the Cavaliers again at Cleveland. \u201cI think we could get Desmond a couple more cleaner looks, in terms of shooting the 3-point shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther than that, we\u2019ve just got to make shots,\u201d Carter added. \u201cA lot of people say it\u2019s a make-or-miss league and at the end, we can play the best defense, but (if) not making shots, it\u2019s going to be tough to win a game.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Carter also isn\u2019t wrong.<\/p>\n

Through 44 games, the Magic have shot 35.7% on 3-point shots where the nearest defender was 6-plus feet away, a percentage that ranked 25th league-wide, according to NBA.com<\/a>. Orlando averages 20 of those types of treys per night, the 13th-most in the league.<\/p>\n

As for 3-point shots considered \u201copen,\u201d the Magic have shot 32.6% on 3-pointers where the closest defender was 4-6 feet away, a percentage that was 18th entering Monday. Orlando\u2019s 11.3 open attempts, however, were the fifth fewest, according to league-tracking data<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bane specifically has seen a decrease in long-range accuracy and number of open attempts as well, something Carter mentioned.<\/p>\n

So far in 44 games with the Magic, he\u2019s averaged 2.5\u00a0 3-pointers per game where the nearest defender was 4-6 feet away and has made 32.1% of those nightly attempts, per NBA.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last season in Memphis? Bane attempted<\/a> 2.8 \u201copen\u201d 3-pointers and converted 37.5% per night in 68 games \u2014 a 5.4% difference year-over-year.<\/p>\n

After a while, those misses can take a toll on Orlando\u2019s mindset each night.<\/p>\n

The team heads to Miami next, searching for answers from distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to do,\u201d Carter said when asked how important it is to not let missed shots impact the Magic mentally. \u201cWe\u2019re all competitors. We understand the work that we put in over the summer and throughout the season. So, it gets a little frustrating.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have to do a better job of, is just honing in that frustration onto the defensive end,\u201d he added. \u201cUnderstanding like, \u2018OK my shot isn\u2019t falling, I\u2019m going to come down here and get a stop.\u2019 That\u2019s something that, it\u2019s human nature to get frustrated, including myself. Just getting out of that funk and putting the team in front of yourself, that\u2019s the biggest thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic at Heat<\/p>\n

When:\u00a07 p.m., Monday, Rocket Arena<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0Peacock, FanDuel Sports Network Florida<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the Magic lost by 14 points to the Cavaliers at Kia Center on Saturday night, Orlando coach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3779],"tags":[7,165,48,6,47,76,3883,1412,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-562681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando-magic","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-magic","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-orlando","13":"tag-orlando-magic","14":"tag-orlandomagic","15":"tag-social","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115963519978577708","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}