Orlando Magic just could not finish

The story of the 2015 season is going to be one of an inability to finish. It was a failure to answer the questions from the preseason.

The final game of the season always seems like a microcosm of the 81 games that came before it.

The hope and potential for the Orlando Magic showed through the first three quarters. The Magic moved the ball, defended hard and controlled the pace and tempo of the game. Things were not perfect, and the young team faltered, but they maintained the lead and control.

Then it all came crumbling apart. The pressure became too great. The Magic’s young stars forced things trying to create anything while still making smart plays. They became tentative and watched their lead evaporate and grow in the opposite direction.

The Magic’s attention to detail on defense especially waned. The game was out of reach.

Orlando scored just 13 points in the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s 101-88 finale in Brooklyn at Barclays Center. It was a predictable ending as the Magic ran out of gas again and could not dig down to close the game. Down by four for several possessions, the Magic could not break through and take control of the game back. And then their defense finally cracked as the Nets ran away with the game.

The fourth quarter was foreseeable the entire game.

The Nets cut a nine-point Magic lead with three minutes to play to as little as three, seizing momentum before the end of the quarter and retaking the lead in the second quarter. The Magic were again up eight with 2:31 left in the first half, and then let the lead slip to two points before halftime. The end of the third quarter, the Magic were up seven with four minutes to play. The quarter ended tied.

The Magic had these moments to extend their lead and reclaim momentum. They ended each quarter slowly and had to fight and stave off the Nets’ runs. A young Orlando team can only do that for so long.

And with the turnovers — 17 turnovers for 22 points — and missed free throws — eight of the 13 the Magic took — the Magic were playing with a pretty thin margin for error. Especially with just three guards on the roster available to play (Evan Fournier sat out again, Luke Ridnour was not with the team and Ben Gordon was apparently shut down a while ago), Victor Oladipo had to play heavy minutes and looked every bit worn out as he tried his best to carry this team.

The margin for error has been small for the Magic all season. Their talent and experience dictated that before they stepped foot on the court.

That did not mean the Magic did not have their chances throughout the season.

Magic coach James Borrego said his team had a fourth quarter lead in 20 of the 30 games he coached. The Magic only won nine of those games, of course. It was a stat meant to highlight the positives and the growth that this team has made. It was meant to signal this team is not as far away as it might seem.

But it is also a stat that portrays the stark reality that the team has been tested under the crucible of close games time and time again and have come up short more times than not.

And the way the Magic have consistently closed quarters — shaky, losing grips on the lead rather than strong — was just a symptom of the larger problem that cost the Magic close games throughout the season. This team struggled under pressure.

It all should point back to the goals the Magic hoped to accomplish at the beginning of the season.

Back in October and November, Orlando hoped to establish an identity, a way of playing that would allow the young players to shine through and grow. They hoped to be playing competitive games at this point of the season.

Instead, the Magic never could find themselves as a group or schematically. The direction from the coaching staff was never quite coherent and roles were never quite defined. Any semblance of an identity was taken away by the team’s talent shortcomings and the lack of imagination from the coaching staff.

Nothing the Magic did on either end of the floor was sustainable. At least James Borrego came in and said the team would pack the paint and make it hard for teams to score around the rim. Even if that meant giving up 3-pointers.

That at least was an identity. And the team did play better.

But, at the end of the day, and repeatedly at the end of games, the Magic had nothing to lean back on. They were playing pick up basketball, which is some really ugly and ineffective basketball.

Without that backstop established, the season was doomed to fail. The team was doomed to fail in these moments. They were doomed to get tight and doomed to lose leads repeatedly.

Youth and experience certainly plays a role in all this. Trust in a system has to be grown too. But there was not trust to build to begin with.

That will be the unfortunate story of the Magic’s 2015 season. As good as this team can be and as close as they might seem, until the organization and the coaching staff (whoever it might be) figures out what it has and how best to mold it into something coherent, the Magic would continue to struggle.

At least the disappointment is over and the chance to fix these problems can begin with the season now over.

Next: Magic fall apart in the fourth quarter in finale loss to Nets