A season of ‘almost there’ for Orlando Magic, gets one more sharp fall
The Orlando Magic have felt they have been close as they have given away games this year. But one more dose of reality reminds how far is left to go.
The Orlando Magic’s season has been one of false starts, late-game mishaps, moments of growth, moments of frustration and everything else in between.
The moment it has looked like the Magic were about to “turn a corner” and have something positive click into place for them, they come and lay an egg, sending them hurtling down a hole that they cannot recover from for two weeks — resulting in a lot of losses and a lot of questions about the entire direction of the franchise.
In many, many ways, the Magic’s 80-79 loss to the New York Knicks at Amway Center on Saturday, including the league record for lowest scoring total in a quarter when the teams combined for 15 points in the second quarter, should have been predictable.
This team that has gone the entire year without a cohesive identity or much direction from a coaching staff that, yes, is probably out the door in less than a week, has always been primed for a fall.
“It’s a disappointing effort, a disappointing game,” James Borrego said after the loss to the Knicks. “It’s a learning moment for us all. It’s a hurdle we have to get through. For us to make the next step, we’ve got to figure out a way to win a game like this.”
Maybe a fall not as low as losing to the worst team in the NBA for the second time, splitting the season series (something they also did last year with the Philadelphia 76ers), but one that was predictable none the less.
Following an emotional and momentous win against the Heat in December, the Magic lost by 23 points at home to the Pistons. They lost six straight games.
All this before finding that fast-break identity in a win streak over the Bulls and Rockets. It looked like the Magic turned the corner. Then they lost by 10 to the Grizzlies, were blown out by the Thunder and went on a 10-game losing streak.
The comeback against the Boston Celtics on March 8 capped off a two-game win streak, and was followed by a crushing 118-86 defeat to the Pacers in Indianapolis and a six-game skid.
This pattern has not been new. And the team has few answers on how to change it.
“Honestly, just do what we need to do in order to win,” Victor Oladipo said. “It’s tough. We won three games and then the fourth game was super antsy. We’ve just got to treat it like another game. We have to realize we should take it one game at a time and every win is important, every game is important. I’m looking forward to next year and these last two games and finishing out strong.”
There are just two games remaining, hardly enough time to fix this problem in any real long-term sense. Of course, the Magic coming out and playing well against the Heat and recording a win could make the Knicks loss a blip on the radar on this team’s seeming upward trend.
It is hard to see that in the wake of this kind of game.
Maybe you can take the way the team continued to fight and commit defensively (“We scored seven points, thankfully they scored eight,” Borrego said. “We tried to hang our hat on defense tonight and, for the most part, we were pretty solid defensively.”) and still had a chance to win. Victor Oladipo had two 3-pointers with a chance to tie the game in the final seconds. That is sometimes all you can ask for.
The Magic are asking more though. Certainly in their final home game and certainly with all the talk about building momentum for the end of the season.
This did not accomplish that goal.
The season has been one full of near misses and opportunities lost. It has not gone how the team wanted it to go.
The team is close, but its record does not indicated it is that close. The Magic will finish more than 10 games out of the Playoff picture. Something pretty drastic has to change to get that last little push.
This season has made that reality seem pretty far away.
“It is tough. We are almost right there,” Oladipo said. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to continue to keep growing. It will be good for us that we’re in these close games. Wining or losing, that we’re in them because down the road, we’re going to pretty much know how to win tight games. It’s great that we’re experiencing these type of games early in our careers. Now we just got to carry it over, get better and do whatever it takes to win from now on.”
That learning process seems to remain ongoing. No matter how many times the Magic got the lesson this year, they did not seem to have it sink in. Mistakes remain as a unit.
A seasons of almost is, frankly, almost over. But not before one final lesson and dose of reality to where this team is at.