Defense is the difference

No need to beat a dead horse here. Orlando's defense is not as good as it was last year and that is why the team is struggling (although how much you want to say 7-3 is struggling is debatable).

The litany of comments from Magic fans after Wednesday's game against the Cavaliers is pretty simple. Orlando looked uninspired and unprepared to play -- especially on defense.

The defense was markedly improved against the Nets on Friday, but things still are not right -- and Stan Van Gundy said as much after former Magic man Rafer Alston recorded a triple double.

With Rashard Lewis' suspension up, one hopes everything will get back to normal as Lewis has both the ability to stretch teams offensively with the strength to defend most power forwards. That would seem to be able to cure any ail the Magic currently have on either side of the floor.

While that might be what helps Orlando's offense improve (hard to imagine as the team is still putting up pretty gaudy offensive numbers despite struggling and stagnating at times), Lewis is not the cure-all for the defense.

We all know the story, the Magic were the most efficient defensive team last year but have since fallen to the middle of the pack. What exactly has gone wrong?

1) Rotations are late and the team is struggling to get out to shooters. Simple stats help out most here. Last season, Orlando gave up 94.4 points per game and 43.3 FG% to go along with 34.2 percent shooting from beyond the arc. This year, those numbers are 95.2 points per game, 45.6 FG% and 38.6 percent from beyond the arc (a better mark than the Magic are actually shooting).

Without even getting into defensive efficiency, it is pretty clear the defense has taken some sort of step back. But thinking about defensive efficiency, Orlando ranks 12th giving up 101.3 points per 100 possessions. Everyone knows last year they led the league last year. Improvements must clearly be made.

2) It is hurting that the anchor is not playing his best. Dwight Howard was truly the defensive player of the year last season with 13.9 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game last year. Everyone should still expect the same rebounding numbers, but the blocks might go back to the mean. But I do not think anyone could expect the way Howard has played early.

So far this season he is averaging 10.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per year. Take out Friday's dominating performance against New Jersey and Howard is at 10.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks.

One game is not going to change a whole lot obviously, but you could clearly see what difference a focused and energetic Dwight Howard on defense can do from his 26 points, 12 rebound, five block performance against New Jersey on Friday.

It is no secret he has struggled with fouls and that Orlando is simply better with Howard on the court. Howard has had only one game this year (the opener against Philadelphia) with less than three fouls. He has already fouled out of two contests this year and had five fouls in two more. That is nearly half the games where Howard has had to struggle through fouls at some point of the game.

Howard obviously NEEDS to be on the court and have the ability to play aggressively. Orlando is just simply a better team with him out there. He has a +12.7 +/- rating per 100 possessions while on the court. The team is -11.9 points per 100 possessions with him off. That is a huge dropoff.

3) The third area the Magic must improve is, I believe, at the point guard. Jameer Nelson has not been himself defensively for the Magic. Nelson is giving up a 50.2% effective field goal percentage so far this year. That's not great, but it's not stifling defense either.

Time and time again this year, we have seen point guards find a way to attack the middle of the paint and that starts with Nelson. In Orlando's three losses, the team has been giving up big stats to opposing point guards -- 21.7 points and 6.3 assists per game.

Mo Williams had his big 28-point night where he could not miss a shot against Orlando. Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum had a coming out party for the Pistons. And Russell Westbrook had a field day in a 20-point, 10-assist effort in the Thunder's blowout.

Not all of this is Nelson's fault. He has always been a pesky defender, if not an above-average one. Not having Howard behind him -- and everyone -- has absolutely hurt this team. But the league is so point guard-centric now that getting a good defensive effort from Nelson is an absolute must.

He has to do a better job keeping opposing guards out of the paint. It will help tighten up the perimeter defense and keep Howard from further foul trouble.

Rashard Lewis is clearly not going to fix all these things. But with both Lewis and Ryan Anderson coming back tonight, things should steadily improve for a team that can certainly score enough to hide a defensive lapse or two throughout a game.