Orlando Magic show promise, flaws in West Coast road trip

The Orlando Magic had some strong performances in a 2-3 West Coast road trip. But it also showed a lot of their flaws as their season continues.

Every year, the common refrain is the West Coast trip — that first long road trip for the Orlando Magic — will reveal the character of a team.

It is the first time the team is far from home, only able to rely on each other. The Western Conference typically provides more difficult competition that will truly test the team’s commitment to its principles and each other. And there is limited practice time in unfamiliar haunts (alumni gyms excluded) to prepare.

That first trip out West — which almost always takes place around the first week of December for the Magic — is that big test. A test that does not spell success or doom for an entire season, but can set it on its course.

This year’s 2-3 trip out West revealed a lot about the Magic. But hardly enough to make conclusions.

It was both an encouraging and a disappointing trip. It revealed how good the Magic can be and how far they have yet to go.

It was a “losing” road trip, but not a disaster by any means. The Magic are still exactly where they want to be — 11-12 puts them in eighth in the East, two games ahead of the ninth-place Miami Heat and a game behind the division-leading Charlotte Hornets. But clearly, the team knows and saw how quickly everything can fall apart.

Regardless, they still put together a winning month. That is an achievement the Magic can count on a single hand in the past six years. Take a moment to celebrate that. But recognize how insignificant and normal that accomplishment is supposed to be.

The standings are the least of the Magic’s worries right now. The bigger concern is how the team is playing and how the team is coming together.

And that is the part that is still a mystery about this team as the quarter pole of the season has passed and this West Coast trip ends. The Magic are a better, more resilient team. But this is still a team learning to win. It still feels like Orlando’s success is a difficult balancing act that can still topple over.

And this West Coast trip proved all of that, showing how much more consistent the team is but how far they have to go.

Orlando has shed some of its early season struggles. Back through the first six or seven games, the Magic were playing like one of the worst teams in the league. That kind of play raises its ugly head from time to time — see the trip-opening loss to the Denver Nuggets. But mostly, the Magic are competitive and resilient.

Winning on the road is not easy. It is probably the hardest thing to do in the NBA. Holding onto a lead is even harder when the energy of the crowd is going against a team. And the Magic are still clearly learning how to handle those leads — at home and on the road.

In two of the Magic’s three losses and one of their wins, they lost double-digit leads. The Orlando Magic built another big lead against the Los Angeles Lakers only to see them charge back and take a late lead. If not for some big shots from Terrence Ross and smart defense, the Magic would have lost that game.

Like so many of the close games the Magic have played so far this season, it did not feel like a game the team would have won last year.

The next night against the Golden State Warriors, the Orlando Magic built an 18-point lead only to see Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson combine for 32 fourth-quarter points to charge them back for a win. The Magic had no answer for Durant’s brilliance. And with Aaron Gordon sitting out most of the second half with lower back tightness, the team was clearly fatigued chasing him around.

That game was as much a lack of attention to detail. The details that matter most against the elite teams like the Warriors.

This attention to detail has been a critical part of the Magic’s entire season. Their margin for error remains very small and when they are not completely dialed into the game plan things can go very wrong.

That was partly the case against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Orlando again built a double-digit lead only to see it fall apart as Damian Lillard got away from the defense time and time again. And then after fighting back from their own 11-point deficit, they committed silly turnovers and mistakes down the stretch — four turnovers in the final two minutes.

The Magic rightfully felt like they let two games slip by and should be coming home with a 4-1 road trip. That lack of satisfaction is a sign of growth. Or a sign coach Steve Clifford is demanding far more from his team than almost any coach the Magic have had in their recent history.

But Clifford has another important message for his team. He wants the team to get better as the season goes on. That may not be a linear progression but it is something he wants to see.

So place the road trip as another point on that map. It was a point where the Magic had to show their resolve and grow. They largely did. But they also showed just how much more room they have to grow and how much better they have to get.

In one instance, Orlando showed its immense potential. The team can be a Playoff team. And that should undoubtedly be the expectation for the team.

This road trip and this month have raised those expectations firmly. The Magic have made believers of everyone beyond their coach. This is the standard for the rest of the season.

But it also showed how fragile that success can be. Without the right energy or attention to detail, it can all fall apart quickly. And as Clifford said, there is no more patience for moral victories.

Only one metric measures success — winning.

Orlando Magic

And in two cases, the Magic did not finish the game with the precision they require. They took two losses they may come to regret at the end of the season. Especially considering they track with other defeats the Magic have taken to this point in the season — blowing big leads and having to scramble facing a close game.

Orlando has shown how good it can be. The road trip revealed a team with toughness and resiliency. They competed with some of the best teams in the Western Conference toe to toe and walked away with two wins.

But they can also feel it should have been four. This is still a team learning how to win and close games. This is still a team looking for consistency and that last final punch.

This Magic team knows how quickly things can tear apart. It did last year on the West Coast road trip as they returned in the middle of what would become a nine-game losing streak. This Magic team has done well to avoid that trap.

But this team knows it still has work to do. And this road trip proved that.