Orlando Magic’s standard should be clear after disheartening loss to Detroit Pistons

Coach Steve Clifford had a stern message for his team after their loss to the Detroit Pistons. The standard is clearly changing. How do the Magic respond?

Orlando Magic coach Steve Clifford made it painfully clear to the public what his expectations were. Let there be no confusion over how the team should measure success — its wins. And let there be no confusion over what the team has to do.

In a short press conference following the Orlando Magic’s 103-96 loss to the Detroit Pistons, Clifford simply said the team was not good enough. He has used many of his press conferences to recognize the team’s massively small margin for error. He has pressed the team in public — and surely in practice — for the need to play with intensity and focus.

The fact that it has been inconsistent and he has had to climb the podium and make more muted statements than this has surely been a tax on Clifford for the early part of the season.

Yes, the Magic have made some progress. There were absolutely moments in both Monday’s win over the Cleveland Cavaliers and Wednesday’s loss to the Detroit Pistons where previous versions of the Magic would surely have folded. Instead, they fought and gave themselves a chance to win.

But a chance is not enough. And that is the point Clifford tried to get across forcefully to the media and public.

Clifford is trying to raise expectations externally as much as he is inside the organization. That was at least part of his message.

"“If we’re going to play eight, nine or 10, we’re going to need five or six to be good and play well,” Clifford said. “Tonight obviously, we didn’t have any of that. The starters were really good and the bench were bad. Really bad. Not even competitive in either half.  It makes it hard to win in this league. We’re in the middle of 8 in 13 and guys have to be ready to play.”"

That was not even his sharpest rebuke. He levied that in his next line when asked to find some silver lining. He said when he was last in Orlando with Stan Van Gundy, the players knew their responsibilities and knew the standard. If they did not meet it, they knew about it and heard about it.

Clifford said these players would have the same kind of forthrightness and honesty to them. That was the approach Clifford would take. That is how the team would raise the standard.

Externally, no one has much to say about the Magic or predictions of where they would fall. Expectations were low. And that has led to the way a lot of fans and media talk about the team.

The last six years have been long and have left a lot of fans grasping for any signs of progress. The team has made those small steps so far this year. The team has done a lot of good things and looked like they have figured things out.

But there have been plenty of hiccups along the way. Lackluster efforts against the Milwaukee Bucks and LA Clippers chief among them. They showed they can still fall into those traps. But in the last stretch of games, the Magic seemed to figure some things out.

That is not enough. Effort is not enough. Not without results.

This is a zero-sum game. There is a winner and a loser. And the business and the team is ultimately judged on its wins and losses. That is a clear message Clifford has sent throughout the season.

Never more emphatically than in this loss.

There seems to be some understanding of what the team has to do. The Magic’s starters nearly saved the game and played extremely well. Every Magic starter had a positive plus-minus and every Pistons starter had a negative plus-minus. For whatever that stat is worth.

But Clifford knows the Magic need the bench to play their role too. The Magic are not good enough to win on their own. They need the whole team pulling together. The margin for error is that small. And the starters have to play to that high standard too, even if it feels like they are asking too much.

The starters still had a chance to win the game at the end and made critical mistakes that cost them. Just like critical mistakes cost them throughout the middle quarters.

Orlando built a 15-point lead and lost it in the first quarter. The team built another 11-point lead and lost it in the third quarter. All for the same reason and all extremely quickly.

As good as the starters were, the bench was that bad. No player on the bench had a plus-minus better than -15. The bench unit that saved the game on opening night against the Miami Heat has struggled the rest of the way.

The Magic’s bench is scoring 34.6 points per game, 25th in the league. The group is shooting 38.5 percent, the worst mark in the league. To say the least, the bench has struggled to start the season.

And the team largely cannot sustain its starters on its own. It takes a collective effort.

That has been Clifford’s message for a while now.

It is still early in the season. The team can still bring a lot of things together. There is still a lot to learn.

But undoubtedly, Clifford is not willing to treasure slow progress. He wants to see the team reach its full potential.

This has been the goal and the message the entire time. And while the Magic still have their flaws, they have potential too. That much is clear.

Orlando is trying to reach that potential. And Clifford is trying to hold a mirror up to the team and have them see that.

The question remains how do the Magic respond? That is always the question. Do they take this lesson to heart?

These are the lessons the Magic have to learn to reach the standard Clifford has clearly set.