The Orlando Magic did not have confidence at the end of games. This was one of the biggest areas they lacked growth and cost them wins in the end.
Of all the things that went wrong for the Magic this season, none played a bigger factor in the team’s ultimate demise and the general feeling of frustration surrounding the 2015 season than the end of game struggles.
It was one thing for the Magic in year two of this rebuild — the first with Victor Oladipo and the first for many of the young players to be major contributors — to have games where they faltered and flubbed things up. The Cavaliers loss where the Magic impossibly lost a seven-point lead with about 30 seconds to play to lose in overtime.
Those losses are frustrating. But they happen. Hard lessons for a young team.
That was not supposed to happen. Not anymore. In order to complete the team’s goals and turn the corner, they needed to close these games out. Or at least not flub games impossibly.
If there is any failure that stands out, it is that the impossible late game collapses continued for the Magic. And they stand out more than anything else from this season.
There was the seven-point collapse against the Bulls which included a five-point possession thanks to a clear-path foul from Tobias Harris on Jimmy Butler and a Derrick Rose 3-pointer. Evan Fournier’s backcourt violation turnover was icing on the cake on the disaster.
The lesson was not learned a few weeks later when the Magic again had a late seven-point lead and saw a Nikola Vucevic turnover and a Henry Walker 3-pointer force overtime for the Heat.
These were two losses. In a 25-win season that may not mean a whole lot. Add in plenty of other games where the Magic blew late leads — the early season home loss to the Wizards in which Bradley Beal made a tip-in at the buzzer and the road loss to the Warriors that saw Stephen Curry make the game-winner with two seconds left.
The positive thought is the Magic had a chance to win all these games. But the end result — what ultimately matters — is a loss.
“I think that’s what a young team has to deal with,” Kyle O’Quinn said. “First you have to put yourself in a position to win. I think we did that a lot more this year than we did in the past two years. Hopefully next year getting over the hump in those fourth quarters. Teams going on big-time runs, that doesn’t happen to veteran teams.”
Youth is the going excuse, but the same mistakes continued to happen.
The Magic struggled under pressure. They made silly turnovers, soul-crushing turnovers. These were the same mistakes that get made time and time again for this team that just defy all explanation.
Orlando’s record reflects the struggles late in games.
In the last three minutes of games where the margin is within five points, the Magic’s offensive rating actually remained a pretty consistent 99.8, in line with their season average. But the team’s defensive rating was at a ridiculous 121.8. No matter how small the sample size (60 minutes), that is not a good sign.
Take that number down, and the Magic might have a few more wins. And a disappointing season changes. At least, a little.
“I think [the difference between the Magic and a “winning team”] is just closing out games,” Elfrid Payton said. “Obviously a lot of games this year, we’ve been in it to the very end. The last five minutes, we just didn’t close it out. Just closing out games is the difference.”
The close out moments were the difference for the Magic in a lot of ways.
It is at these moments when teams have to execute. It was a statement to many of the Magic’s problems that they consistently were unable to execute in these moments. On either end really.
Orlando’s lack of identity showed through most when it counted. And so while some clutch moments from Tobias Harris helped ease the pain on some nights, on most nights the Magic were dreading the worst when the game got tight.
That will have to change for the Magic to take any kind of step forward. It was something that pervaded the 2014 season and did not subside as 2015 continued and, now, ends.
Orlando will have made the next step when the end of games becomes about executing a play and making or missing shots and not hoping the team does not make mistakes.
Next: What Went Wrong: Jacque Vaughn
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