The Magic Are Struggling From Deep

The Orlando Magic have been one of the most efficient and fun to watch team's over the past couple of seasons because of the beautiful 1-in, 4-out scheme Stan Van Gundy has crafted using his all-world center Dwight Howard as an offensive focal point. When the system is working, it produces a lot of wide open looks for the Magic's perimeter players because the opposing wings often double down when Dwight has the ball in the post.

Though Dwight still hasn't established himself as a lethal offensive threat, teams constantly choose to have their guards and forwards try to strip him in the post. And as Howard has grown over the years, his passing may be his most improved skill, and his ability to pass out the post is a big reason Orlando has emerged as a top four team in the entire league over the past two seasons.

The problem that Orlando has had with this gameplan has been the off nights when the three ball isn't going down, offense becomes hard to come by. They can still compete because of their extremely effective Dwight-centric defense, but Howard still is not a dump-it-down, go-to option in the post and, despite the addition of Vince Carter, the Magic also lack anybody that can create off-the-dribble consistently.

Jameer Nelson has shown flashes of brilliance in that role, but injuries and inconsistency have cost him a chance at materializing as a year in and year out all-star point guard, at least to this point. Carter has been better with Orlando than most people think, but he still hasn't shown the ability to consistently take over the game in crunch time. He's become a solid spot-up shooter and his chemistry with Howard in the pick and roll has been fairly good, but he hasn't produced when isolated and his ability to get into the paint without a screen is not at the level it used to be.

The Magic are off to an impressive 4-1 start, so their shooting woes probably haven't been apparent to the casual observer, but they are currently just the 15th best team in the league in three-point percentage. This after finishing third in three-point percentage last season. Its early in the season and three-point shooting is generally streaky, so the Magic will likely return to form at some point and finish in the top five once again.

But while they may once again finish near the top five in three-point percentage, the fact that shooting, particularly from beyond the arc, is streaky may be the fatal flaw for this team. In the Magic's 59 wins last season, they shot 40.7% from three-point land. In their 23 losses, they shot 32% from deep.

If you look at what they did against the Boston Celtics in the post-season last year, you'll see why they really had no chance to win that series. They shot 34% from three on the series and in their four losses, they shot an even worse 28% from deep. The C's present a unique challenge in that they have a center that can handle Dwight one-on-one in Kendrick Perkins, so their gameplan is to stay at home on the shooters nine times out of 10.

With nobody that could create efficient looks consistently and with Kevin Garnett defending the pick and roll, Orlando's offense was non-existent.

The Miami Heat had a different plan of attack when they faced Orlando earlier this season, but it worked just as well. Though they do not have an elite defensive big man that can handle Dwight, they let the Magic isolate with Howard and it didn't produce efficient results. Dwight had a couple of bank shots and drew a few fouls on his step through across the lane, but his game still isn't complete enough to have him win you a contest on post-ups.

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are so good that at rotating and recovering on their man after helping down low, anytime Dwight would kick it out, they would get back in time to make a good contest. Offensively, their two all-stars attacked the basket and eventually fouled Dwight out of the game, which essentially took away all of the Orlando offense. With James and Wade creating havoc defensively, Orlando shot just four-of-24 from beyond the arc and the result was a 26-point blowout.

Against tough defenses like Boston and Miami (and the Los Angeles Lakers; they shot 33% from three against them in the 2009 NBA Finals), the Magic are not going to have nearly as many open looks as they do against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and if their shooters are in a slump against any good defense, it will be hard for them to survive with a Dwight heavy offense.

Their fantastic team defense will always make them a tough team to beat, but against the elite teams in the NBA that execute their sets well and don't rely on isolation basketball, an off shooting night usually spells doom for the Orlando Magic. And a team with title aspirations simply can't have that big of a weakness.