The Orlando Magic have just eight games to build some momentum for the offseason. Their biggest opponent remains themselves to finish.
The Orlando Magic are hoping the final three weeks of the season are more than their just playing out the string to the end. No one wants to be the one caught looking to the end of the season or give in to the inevitable (and now official) long offseason to come.
And so the most important opponent the Magic will face the rest of the way is not the Playoff-bound San Antonio Spurs or the Toronto Raptors or Chicago Bulls. It is not the Lottery-bound Minnesota Timberwolves or the New York Knicks.
The most important opponent, the one that may have been the most important opponent from the very beginning for this Magic team, is themselves and their own human tendency to give into frustration or find a way out.
For the Magic to accomplish whatever it is they want to accomplish these final weeks, it has to start with facing this demon and fighting through it.
“The way I look at it is there are two paths you can take. You can check out or you can step in.” –Tobias Harris
“The way I look at it is there are two paths you can take,” Tobias Harris said. “You can check out or you can step in. The way I look at it is if we were a Playoff team, you have to have your mind ready for a whole another month and a half, two months of basketball. You have to decide do you want to check out or are we going to stay checked in. These last eight games, that’s something we really have to look down individually and ask ourselves which one we want to do.”
It may not be as dire as the ultimatum Tobias Harris gave following the Magic’s 111-97 loss to the Pistons on Friday night. It was a hard loss to explain with the Magic shooting 52.4 percent from the floor and dishing out 31 assists on 43 field goals.
Harris said when a team posts that percentage and moves the ball that successfully, a team is at least supposed to have a shot at winning the game. Here, the Magic had virtually no shot after falling behind by 15 points in the third quarter and never making any serious run the entire way through the fourth quarter and second half.
This was the Pistons’ game to control thanks to Reggie Jackson‘s triple double, 27 free throw attempts and 12 offensive rebounds. The Magic’s defense and energy were lacking, something players admitted after the game.
The long break before Wednesday’s game against the Spurs will be some time for self-reflection and individually pick the team up to accomplish whatever is left for the team to accomplish this season.
“I’m worried about us playing better in general,” Victor Oladipo said. “We’re trying to lead up into the summer and the new year and a new season a better team and better players. Playing like we did today and playing like we did the other night, we can’t continue to do that. We’ve got to figure out what’s wrong and make adjustments.”
Time is starting to run out though to build that positive momentum. The team senses that it has to pick up its urgency. And only Harris was willing to say the team has to best its 23-win season of last year and pick up at least two more wins in the final eight games. It sounds reasonable.
But it is not reasonable if the team gives efforts like it did Friday night. The team lacked a defensive urgency and just let the Pistons waltz into the paint and to the line. The Magic, minus 17 turnovers turning into 23 Pistons points, played a solid offensive game.
Orlando just cannot get things clicking on all cylinders.
The Pistons used a 9-0 run toward the end of the third quarter in which the Magic three turnovers to take full and final control of the game. Orlando got no closer than nine before the Pistons opened the lead back up to 17 on a slow-burning 19-11 stretch in the middle of the fourth quarter.
The Magic just never threatened. And so the team has to wake itself up to move forward and get things done.
Victor Oladipo has been the biggest proponent of building momentum toward the end of the season. What that looks like at this point still seems a bit uncertain.
“Execute,” Elfrid Payton said about what the team has to do to accomplish what they want in the final stages of this season. “Go out there and do better each and every game. It may not result in a win, but make progress each and every game.”
There is less and less time to make that kind of progress. Time is running out. Whether that creates urgency or not is up to the players and the fight they have with the clock or their submission to the season’s end.
This Magic team still has a lot on the line and something to gain heading into this offseason. Individuals certainly do and they have that to think about.
The season might already be labeled a disappointment. That might be for pundits and writers to figure out. For eight games though, the Magic just still have to fight.
“Keep playing. Keep doing the right things,” James Borrego said. “Basketball is about flow. It’s a long game, it’s a long season. Just got to keep playing. Have pride very time you are on the floor. Have some pride.”