Every game presents a challenge for the Rockies’ floundering offense. Wednesday night’s 5-2 loss to the Padres presented a unique puzzle the Rockies couldn’t solve.

San Diego started knuckleball right-hander Matt Waldron, who had no problems making his pitch dance in the mile-high atmosphere at Coors Field. Over six innings, he gave up one run on four hits and struck out five.

The one run he surrendered came in the sixth on Ryan McMahon’s one-out, 444-foot solo homer to right-center. It was McMahon’s third homer of the season.

The Rockies, who have yet to win back-to-back games this season, fell to 6-19.

Waldron throws a knuckleball 35% of the time, but there was nothing frivolous about his approach Wednesday night. He went right after the Rockies, mixing in his sinker, four-seam fastball and a cutter.

The Rockies had some chances, but as has been the case so often this season, they couldn’t deliver a clutch hit. In the fourth inning, Colorado loaded the bases on back-to-back walks by Ezequiel Tovar and McMahon and an infield single by Elias Diaz. But Elehuris Montero swung at Waldron’s first pitch and fouled out to first baseman Jake Cronenworth. Then Brenton Doyle grounded out to third.

This season, with runners in scoring position and two outs, the Rockies have hit .136 (11-for-81) with 24 strikeouts. In the sixth, with two outs and runners in scoring position, Brendan Rodgers grounded out to short.

Rockies starter Ty Blach pitched well for four-fifths of his start. But the first inning was his undoing. San Diego scored four runs on three hits and two walks off the lefty, who was making his first big-league start of the season.

Xander Bogaerts led off the game with a solid single to left and Fernando Tatis Jr. followed up with a walk. Blach got Cronenworth to pop out to left field but then he walked Jurickson Profar to jam the bases — a killer mistake at Coors Field’s wide-open spaces.

Ha-Seong Kim blooped a cheap double into shallow right field to score two runs, Jackson Merrill hit a sacrifice fly, and Eguy Rosario added an RBI single to give the Padres a 4-0 lead.

The Rockies have been running uphill all season, having been outscored 35-7 in the first inning.

San Diego’s lead grew to 5-0 in the sixth. Profar looped a leadoff single to left field off reliever Victor Vodnik and Kim put down a bunt for a base hit. When McMahon threw wildly from third base, Profar advanced to third. Profar scored on Merrill’s groundout to second.

Thursday’s pitching matchup
Padres RHP Randy Vasquez (0-1, 1.80 ERA) at Rockies RHP Dakota Hudson (0-4, 5.06)

1:10 p.m. Thursday, Coors Field

TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).

Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM

Hudson remains winless through his first four starts with Colorado. He’s coming off a loss to Seattle on Saturday at Coors Field when he allowed four runs on seven hits and five walks over four innings. He struck out one. Walks continue to be a problem for Hudson. The right-hander has faced the Padres three times in his career, going 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA that includes seven strikeouts and three walks.

Although Vasquez struggled in his three starts with Triple-A El Paso before being called up last Saturday, he gave the Padres a solid start against Toronto in his 2024 major league debut. He limited the Blue Jays to one earned run on four hits and one walk while striking out three over five innings. With Yu Darvish out with a neck injury, the Padres need Vasquez to give them one of two more solid starts. The rookie has not faced the Rockies.

Pitching probables
Friday: Off day

Saturday: Astros RHP Ronel Blanco (2-0, 1.33) at Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (0-4, 4.32), 2:05 p.m. in Mexico City

A call came from a big Magic fan, and longtime friend and best man at my wedding: “Why is Gary Harris still playing? He gets me nothing.”

While true — Harris went scoreless in 33 minutes in Game 1 vs. Cleveland — the problems with this offense can’t be explained with plus-minus. This isn’t Keyshawn Johnson doing a poetry slam of the boxscore on FS1’s Undisputed.

There’s levels to this.

Magic’s shooting woes pronounced in postseason vs. Cavs

Decision-making. Understanding the coverage and when it changes. Exploiting weaknesses. Not going into its teeth to get swallowed whole.

The Magic enter Games 3 and 4 Thursday and Saturday needing to flip the momentum of a series in which they’ve averaged less than 90 points a game.

So there’s no talk about defense here. They’ve held Cleveland below 100 points twice. That’s enough to win a playoff game, or at least get a split the first two games.

They’ve got to make the Cavs respect their offense to open up the flow. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell if they’re sitting in a zone or just all playing off the ball and daring Orlando to shoot.

A repeat of this offensive effort will end their season in a sweep. Here are some (not all) of the problems and some possible solutions before tip at Kia Center:

Problem: Getting shooters in a rhythm immediately. Gary Harris is a role player. He had difficulty in Game 1 because the ballhandlers didn’t find him. He was there, spotting up while Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner and Cole Anthony drew help. After an offensive rebound, Banchero attacked a set defense with four in the paint. He went at Evan Mobley, an elite defender at 6-11, who also has help in the gap. The read should’ve been a skip pass to the opposite wing for Harris spotting up for a catch-and-shoot 3 (his strength). Darius Garland would’ve had to make a decision to defend Wagner’s cut to the basket or leave Harris on the weakside. Instead Banchero drove into traffic for a turnover.

Banchero went at Mobley again, but a dig from Donovan Mitchell up top forced him to pick up his dribble. The 6-8 Wagner tried to back down the smaller Mitchell with the ball, but Harris’ defender (Max Strus) helped one pass away. That made for an easy pass to where the defensive help initiated. Did Harris touch the ball? No. Wagner threw the ball the other way for Banchero to take a contested 3 over Mobley. That’s a bad miss.

Solution: The best plays are simple. When Banchero drove left vs. Georges Niang, Jarrett Allen was one pass away and helped from the corner off Wendell Carter. Banchero made an easy pass to Carter for a spot-up 3 that was good. Markelle Fultz attacked Garland immediately past halfcourt, forcing Mobley to pull early to help stop him. Fultz found Anthony with a quick pass out of the paint. He missed the open 3, but that’s the shot the Magic want. That puts the pressure on the Cavs. Consistent makes would force them to give up a likely 2 inside or probable 3 outside.

The ball didn’t touch the paint until six seconds remained on the shot clock because Fultz attacked the paint off a curl around Moe Wagner, who handed it to him at the elbow. Fultz’s cut collapsed the defense to the middle and he passed out to Franz Wagner for an open 3. He missed, but this is how to stress a defense that’s essentially zoning the paint.

Know that the Magic realized they’d made a mistake with Harris? Don’t take my word for it. Watch how Game 2 started. The first set called for Harris to get a corner 3. It would’ve been a better look had Franz Wagner made contact on Garland, who was trailing Harris after he’d set a back screen for Jonathan Isaac in the paint. Then Harris got the ball as he curled around Isaac’s high-post screen, did a low tuck on his drive through the lane and converted a layup.

For Wagner and Banchero to be more effective, they do need help. But it’s their job to set up the help so they call can prosper, too. They dominate the ball. Not the role players.

Problem: Too much dribbling. Too many isos. Three guys watching the dribbler and screener forces the Cavs to do nothing. Anthony held for the last shot of the third quarter in Game 1. He was defended by Niang (a weak, slow-footed, unathletic defender). He got a ball screen from Banchero, forcing a switch. Banchero had Niang posted deep. Anthony  instead launched a sidestep 3 over Mobley that was not close.

Banchero had an iso vs. Niang, but he danced with the ball for the entire possession and ended up settling for a turnaround fallaway jumper. Allen left his man early to help and shut off the rim.

Solution: Pass. Move. Don’t ball-watch. Find your matchups, but don’t get so transfixed with hunting one that you forget your identity. To play as much iso as the Magic did in Game 1, they’d need to have elite players on the ball in multiple spots. They don’t have that (most teams don’t). That’s not how they’re built. And even teams with elite on-ball talent (see the Nets with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden) can’t win this way. Of course, there has to be off-ball movement to create switches and mistakes by the defense. There needs to be dummy actions to fool them.

Fultz aggressively posted up Sam Merrill with the ball early in the clock. That forced Mobley to help and Garland to pull in behind him weakside. That opened Joe Ingles for a 3. No one ran at him. Ingles missed a clean look from the wing you’d take every time.

On that Banchero matchup with Niang, the better read was for Allen’s man (Isaac) to set a flare screen for Harris, or vice versa, for a clean 3-point look from the corner or wing. Instead, everyone watched Banchero play with his food. And make no mistake, on defense Niang is food. The Cavs helping him causes a chain reaction that opens other spots.

For Wagner and Banchero to be more effective, they need help. But it’s their job to set up the help so they all can prosper, too. They dominate the ball. Not the role players.

Problem: Late-in-the-clock offense

Solution: Too much dribble can lead to this. Late can be good if you’re running multiple actions, exhausting the defense and creating a busted coverage. It’s bad if you’re dribbling on one side, the ball never touches the paint and there are no other actions happening. The Magic’s quick-hit offense worked. These weren’t play calls. it was just catching the Cavs unsettled. It got the Magic easy buckets early.

Suggs dunked off a push when it appeared he was coming to get a handoff from Banchero up top, reversed his cut and beat Mitchell to the rim. How was that possible?

Allen was lifted because of Isaac, who was inserted into the starting lineup by coach Jamahl Mosley. If that’s, say, Moe Wagner, Allen is in a drop and that space isn’t open for Suggs. The Cavs respected Isaac’s spreadability.

The Magic have to get into their offense quicker, move with authority,  screen with a purpose and cut aggressively. Once Cleveland gets set, the quality of the look they’re getting worsens.

Problem: Passing up open shots. It’s happening at an alarming rate.

Solution: Don’t. That doesn’t mean Moe Wagner should be launching 20 3s a game because he’s open. But there are countless times where the Magic had a window for a clean look, hesitated and Cleveland corrected its mistake by recovering. Even worse, the Magic are passing up open shots for worse shots.

Fultz was attacking his matchup with Merrill from the elbow. Because that’s a likely bucket, Mobley held his position in the paint. Fultz didn’t force up a bad shot. He found Carter who had an open 3. He hesitated as Mobley stopped short on his closeout, tried to drive into a single gap and had the ball stripped by Merrill. Carter passed up a potential good look for no look. And that decision put the Cavs in transition.

Problem: The Ingles-Banchero two-man game.

Solution: Avoid it. They’re not in sync the same as Ingles with Moe Wagner with the second unit. They’re spacing isn’t good, and when they run it Cleveland defends successfully 2 v. 2. Meaning, it doesn’t compromise their coverage and lead to other openings.

The last time the Magic hosted a playoff game in front of Orlando fans, four-year pro Cole Anthony was a senior in high school.

Although Orlando reached the postseason in 2020, they played inside the NBA bubble at Disney. The year prior, the Magic hosted the Raptors in the first round but lost both home contests at Kia Center (then known as Amway).

In fact, it’s been 13 years since the franchise has won a home playoff game (2011 vs. Atlanta) despite three postseason appearances since then.

“The city’s hungry,” Anthony said after practice Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s Game 3 against Cleveland. “I know we’re definitely hungry, especially being down 0-2.

“So it’s going to be some fun.”

In order for the Magic to have that fun in front of a home crowd, however, Jamahl Mosley’s squad will have to figure out a way to open Game 3 off stronger compared to the first pair of contests at Cleveland that they lost after slow starts (Bally Sports Florida, 7).

The No. 4-seeded Cavs average the most first-quarter points (31.5) among all playoff teams and the fourth-most (55.5) in the first half. The No. 5 Magic’s 42.5 first-half points are the second-fewest.

“For us, we’ve just got to get off to a better start [and] not let them get off to this hot start,” Anthony said. “Obviously, we’ve got to control Donovan Mitchell.

“If we do that, we’ll have a great chance to get a win.”

Slowing down Mitchell is easier said than done for Orlando. Through two playoff games, the All-NBA guard is averaging the third-most points (12.0) in the 1st quarter among all players in the postseason behind only 76ers center Joel Embiid (13.5) and Bucks guard Damian Lillard (17.0).

If the Magic can crack the code to starting off on the right foot and limit Mitchell from the jump, Orlando could give itself a chance to extend the best-of-seven series.

Magic’s shooting woes pronounced in postseason vs. Cavs

Cleveland’s 41.0 second-half points are the fewest in the postseason. The problem for the Magic is that they’re only two spots higher than the Cavs with 42.0 points after halftime.

A lot of that has to do with shot-making — or lack of — for Orlando.

So far, the Magic have shot 11 of 44 (league-worst 25%) from 3-point range when the closest defender was 6-plus feet away (meaning they’re wide-open looks), according to the NBA.

Even with a defender just 4-6 feet away, Orlando still shot 6 of 25 from distance (24%).

Those open shots, however, could be deceiving. While the Magic might run certain set plays in the half-court to create space, some of those shots could actually be what the Cavs want Orlando to take.

That’s because the Magic shot 33.3% on open 3-pointers where the closest defender was 4-6 feet away during the regular season — the seventh-worst percentage in the league entering the playoffs.

But the Magic like the looks they’re getting.

“Because it’s the shot we’ve taken and stepped in with confidence all year,” Mosley said. “If we weren’t generating other things within the offense, there would be an area of concern but the things that we’ve done with a strength all year, we’re still doing them at a high clip.

“It’s just the ability to step into our shots with confidence, which all of these guys will continue to do.”

And to their credit, they’ve held Cleveland to 3 of 24 (or 12.5%) on 3-pointers with the closest defender 4-6 feet away.

“We’re all capable of making shots,” Anthony said. “We’ve just got to do it now.”

Down 2-0 to Cavs, now we get to see how resilient Magic really are | Commentary

One player who could help is Jalen Suggs, who’s expected to be available for Game 3 after exiting Monday’s loss at Cleveland due to a left knee strain. Although he’s struggled from 3 through two playoff games (1 of 10), Suggs shot 39.7% from 3 in the regular season, which was second-best for Orlando.

He returned to Game 2 in the second half after suffering the leg injury in the first quarter but Mosley said post-game that the Magic guard was in quite a bit of pain at the time.

“I do expect Jalen to be able to play,” said Mosley who shared that Suggs is doing better and was able to practice Wednesday.

A boost from the fans inside Kia Center could help the Magic as well — the same way the electric atmosphere inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse boosted the Cavs to a 2-0 lead with the series headed to Orlando.

“I’m sure they’re really hungry,” forward Franz Wagner said of Magic fans. “Not hungrier than us though. We’ve got to come out ready to go and have some fun too.”

Added Mosley: “The support that they give and the atmosphere in the building is absolutely incredible. That gives our guys so much energy and the ability to know that we have to take care of homecourt.”

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com

If you go …

Cavaliers at Magic, Game 3

When: Thursday, 7

TV: Bally Sports Florida

Michael Malone’s individual film reviews this week keep encountering a distraction at the end.

His eyes wander from what’s transpiring on the court and focus instead on his team’s sideline, where the Nuggets are about to erupt into a celebration they’ll someday tell their grandchildren about.

His objective, of course, is to leave Jamal Murray’s Game 2 buzzer-beater in the rearview mirror for the time being. Denver still needs to win twice more to eliminate the Lakers. But Malone is only human.

“I go through the film probably five times. And every time I watch it, I get just as excited,” he said Wednesday before the Nuggets flew to Los Angeles. “And not just at the shot, but the reaction. I’m looking at (lead assistant coach) David Adelman jumping in the air. (Head athletic trainer) Dan Shimensky running around like he’s a 2-year-old. The bench reaction. The fans. Fans behind the bench aren’t even watching the game. They’re watching it on the jumbotron, which is so weird to me. It’s happening right in front of you, and they’re like this.”

Malone craned his neck, mimicking the crowd.

“It was a great moment,” he continued. “Those are the moments that you will talk about and relive for 50 years from now.”

Even in the immediate aftermath of the shot, which gave Denver a 2-0 series lead in the first-round matchup, Malone and the Nuggets displayed a healthy sense of perspective for the history of the moment combined with an understanding of what they still need to accomplish. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope spoke to the team in an ecstatic postgame locker room.

“The message was just, ‘Take this moment. Enjoy it. We’ve got a couple days off. Tonight, enjoy this moment,'” he repeated afterward. And after Monday night: “We’ve still got business to take care of when we go to L.A. Just stay with the business mindset and let’s get it done.”

Denver is still 11 for 42 on wide-open 3-pointers in the series. Players other than Michael Porter Jr. are shooting 14 for 29 overall from beyond the arc — a dismal 23.7%. On one hand, it’s a testament to the Nuggets’ imposing stature in the West and their resolve that they managed to win both home games anyway. On the other hand, as players pointed out, they were supposed to win both home games in the first place. All they’ve done entering Game 3 on Thursday (8 p.m. MT, TNT) in Los Angeles is hold serve.

“They’re gonna show up really aggressive,” Porter said of the Lakers. “They’ve shown they can play with us on our home floor. They’ve been up big both games. If I was on their team, I’m sure they have a lot of confidence. Just knowing that they were in the game both games, had big leads. So going back home, I’m sure they feel confident.”

The Nuggets’ top priority at their pre-flight practice? Have the lead after the first quarter this time. No more double-digit deficits early in these games.

Holding a lead has its own baggage, but Malone figures they can cross that bridge when they get there.

“History would tell you that when we have a big lead, we tend to relax. And we tend to abandon what afforded us the lead that we had,” he said. “So when you’re down by 20, you become urgent, you become desperate, you become hungry.”

His late father, Brendan Malone, used to always tell him he felt nervous watching the game whenever Denver took a big lead.

“So hopefully we get a lead,” Malone said, “but it’s not too big of a lead.”

In the meantime, looking back at the film of Game 2 is maybe worth the victory lap.

“It was a hell of a play and one of those shots. Has a nickname been given to it yet?” Malone asked. One was suggested to him: The Shot at 5280. “That’s a lot. We’ve gotta work on that. I’m gonna come up with something better than ‘The shot at 5280.'”

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