Orlando Magic reach their breaking point?

Emotions boiled over and the Magic again made a strong push for a lead to give themselves a chance to win. When will things turn now?

Final. 93. 38. 108. 79

Someone had finally had enough.

Whether it was Willie Green and a rag-tag bench group that included little-used Maurice Harkless charging a comeback in the fourth quarter from as much as a 29-point deficit or whether it was Ben Gordon reacting negatively to a foul and getting tossed. The juice was finally flowing in a lifeless Magic team.

It was a 19-6 run from the Magic to start the fourth quarter that changed the momentum and turned the boos from the still passionate but increasingly frustrated Amway Center crowd into cheers. Channing Frye‘s 3-pointer cut the lead to five points and there was belief that there was a chance to win.

The glimpse was momentary however. As it has always been.

“It’s definitely frustrating not being able to sustain our play for 48 minutes or close to 48 minutes,” Willie Green said. “We’ve got to give ourselves a better chance. Getting down 20 or so points in the first half is tough. It’s tough to beat teams in the NBA when you’ve got to dig out of a hole the whole game.”

Gordon’s ejection came in the middle of that run and seemed to light the fire even further. The belief that the team was going to turn the corner and maybe steal a win behind the unlikely hero of Willie Green.

The hole was too deep. Rick Carlisle called a 20-second timeout following that big Frye 3-pointer and reloaded with his starters. They executed down the stretch and put the game away.

It made everyone wonder what would have happened if the team did not fall too far behind. The outburst of emotion though seemed to be fitting, as this team tried to show some (even a minuscule) sign of life.

“Playing the fourth quarter, it just felt right. It felt like we were doing things right.” — Channing Frye

“We’ve just got to be a man, really — no offense to women,” Channing Frye said. “Playing the fourth quarter, it just felt right. It felt like we were doing things right. In the first half, I felt like we were kind of passive and they were dictating where they wanted to go.”

The Magic need to play like “rabid dogs,” as Frye put it, in upcoming games. There has to be a want and desire to go out and win at this point. He said he felt the team was getting better and continues to figure each other out. The team just needs to get into a rhythm.

As close as this team might be to finding that corner and turning it, the same story has repeated itself. And this is now more than halfway into the season. Even if Jacque Vaughn‘s tenure is coming to an end, the team has shown enough on the floor that it can play at an extremely high level. Putting it together consistently has been the issue.

At some point, you have to figure pride steps in and the team starts playing for each other. Green said the team had to do a better job playing with a sense of urgency.

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In the last five games, the Magic have given up 110.1 points per 100 possessions in the first quarter of the last five games while scoring just 94.9 points per 100 possessions. That puts the Magic in a pretty steep hole. And they know they have little margin for error.

Second quarters are even worse as the starters come out. The team gives up 127.9 points per 100 possessions in the second quarter of the last five games to 92.5 points per possession.

It all means games are likely over before they even reach halftime.

Only, again, to see the Magic make a comeback and give that glimmer of hope late in games. The Magic gave up 66 points in the first half and only 42 in the second. They gave themselves a chance at the end, if not for a better first half.

“That’s what I mentioned to our group after the game. To give up what we did, to allow the points we did in the second half. I wish I could have the exact answer to that. What it does kind of re-iterate is that it can be done by this group.”

The glimmers are there and continue to show up on short occasions.

Green said after Thursday, in a similar kind of loss, he had to look in the mirror and play harder, bring more energy and do whatever he can do. Individually, every player has to do that so they can collectively had a chance to win the game.

That could have been what finally kicked in at the end. And Vaughn chose to let the group ride. It was the right decision as they earned the opportunity even if the execution fell off in the final moments of the game.

Asking this group to complete the comeback was a tall order.

As has been the problem throughout the season, the Magic are trying to bring the same sense of urgency they have when they are down by 20 points as they do at the beginning of the game. It has been the most difficult question for the team to answer, Green said.

It certainly seems well past that point for the team and they have to find something to play for, even if it is the professional feeling that money is on the line on future contracts.

That is the breaking point. The emotion that finally burst out from Ben Gordon at even the scent of victory.

Could the rest of the Magic be making their way to that point?

“I still believe in the guys in this locker room,” Frye said. “I know these guys want to win and want to play the right way. It’s just about us learning. We just have brain farts out there that last maybe five or six minutes. But now we’re down 15 and we have to play perfect. Just stick with us. Everyone wants to play hard on this team.”

Next: The Magic's rally fell short as they lost to the Mavericks