Orlando Magic play for pride as they return home

The Orlando Magic returned home angry and willing to put in the work to get a win. If they play with that fire, they can take advantage of this homestand.

The locker room at the AT&T Center must have felt like a dark place for the Orlando Magic.

Coming off a 36-point loss, the existential reality of the season was more than abundantly clear. The Magic were completing a 10-day, five-game road trip and laid an egg.

This was not their first egg of this road trip. They scored just 80 points against the Utah Jazz and 88 points against the Sacramento Kings. Their 72 points against the San Antonio Spurs felt like rock bottom.

Certainly judging by some of the comments players made after the game, they had let the disappointment of a lost season get to them. It is a team searching for something to play for, admitting as much.

It should have been entirely predictable that the team would come out on fire despite the quick travel turnaround. Teams typically play with a bit more fire following embarrassing defeats. The Spurs certainly did Tuesday night.

And so it was for the Magic.

Jonathon Simmons came out firing, eventually scoring a career-high 35 points on 7-for-12 shooting from beyond the arc. D.J. Augustin was firing too with 32 points. Those two players, the team’s main creators were feeling it in rhythm and keeping the ball moving. Nikola Vucevic even had nine assists.

The Magic’s broadcasters commented the ball movement and shooting looked like it did at the beginning of the season. Orlando had 31 assists on 44 field goal makes. That is a ratio that is likely to produce positive results for the team. And the Magic made 18 of 34 3-pointers.

It is tough to stop a team when they play like that.

The anger and intensity you could feel from the Magic was palpable. Orlando was not going to lose this game. The team was not going to give up on this. It was reckless at times — 16 turnovers — and that cost the Magic the lead on several occasions. But the team found an answer each time.

The shooting was unsustainable. The team likely will not make shots at that crazy rate again. But it got the team what it desperately needed — a win.

And Orlando has to look at this game as a statement of its purpose the rest of this season. As nebulous as it sounds, the Magic are playing for pride. And that looks a little bit like this.

They may need a historic, career performance from two mostly unsung players to pull off victories, but the energy they played with matters. Orlando played for pride and delivered a win for themselves and the home crowd.

The Magic are starting a seven-game homestand with the win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday. For the next three weeks, the Magic will have the chance to develop with practices on their home court and all the comforts and trappings of home.

The run will not be easy. The Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers come calling next. Then comes a bit of a reprieve with other teams struggling at the bottom of the standings like the Phoenix Suns, Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls. There will be more than a few wins the Magic squeeze out of this.

This team is still trying to win, after all. And Orlando has won three straight games at home.

That can be something to play for.

Orlando has not had much of a home-court advantage the last five years. They are 14-18 at home. Fairly respectable for a team with such a poor 21-48 record. But that is also the fifth-worst home record in the league.

Orlando Magic

The Magic are not exactly a stalwart at home. But they are better.

And so that can be a place for the team to find their purpose again. It is where they can find the ability to fight harder and play better. This is where they can build the foundations for their future.

The Magic’s wins of late have been more random than anything else. They lack a common thread — other than the team shot irrationally hot or they got an incredibly good game from one player. They all seem like outliers.

If the Magic want to accomplish anything on this homestand, it is to pull one of these threads together and have something be consistent. A win streak (even of two games) where the team does the same things and builds something resembling an identity will make this a positive homestand. Something Orlando can build on.

A lot of this is abstract, for sure. It may not necessarily mean results. The Magic are not going to burn off seven straight wins and take themselves firmly out of the lottery race. That is not who this team is. There are 60 games of evidence to suggest this is not going to happen.

Pride is not as powerful a goal as the Playoffs. There will still be letdowns.

But that is all the Magic have to play for. It says a lot more about the team’s character. That is about all the team has to build upon now.

Being home again brought out the pride. The Magic have shown that at various points of the season.

Now playing in front of their home crowd for the rest of this month, can the Magic show that more often?

Next: Grades: Orlando Magic 126, Milwaukee Bucks 117

Whatever it takes to play with this much fire and intensity will be enough to take advantage of this growth opportunity at home.