Down their best player, the Orlando Magic again overcame early struggles and found a way to win. That will help in the playoffs.
The Orlando Magic announced fairly early in the afternoon that All-Star center Nikola Vucevic would miss the team’s regular-season finale against the Charlotte Hornets with a stomach illness. This paired with Jonathan Isaac‘s placement in the concussion protocol would mean the Magic would sport a new starting lineup for the first time in 34 games.
In a game where the Magic needed a win to maintain their playoff position, the team seemed like it would have a lot to overcome. It would have a lot to figure out without one of its key offensive cogs.
The Magic would have to scramble and find themselves again. All on the fly and all with the stakes at their highest — the Hornets needed a win to keep their playoff hopes alive.
As if there would be any doubt with this team they would find a way and do it. As if after 81 games of the Magic figuring themselves out and figuring out a way to get the job done time and time again, there would be any doubt the Magic would come out on top in the end.
This is the time to be hopeful and believe. This is the time to be confident and say, why not? Everyone has the same record once again.
And there is one thing the Magic should be sure of at this point — someone will step up and someone will find a way.
With Nikola Vucevic out of Wednesday’s game, the Magic needed some time to find the right formula. They tried posting up Aaron Gordon to little effect. They tried running Evan Fournier in pick and rolls to little effect as the Hornets switched.
None of it mattered. With a Terrence Ross splurge and scoring outburst, the Magic found their groove. Their defense started to play better. Energetic efforts from Michael Carter-Williams and Amile Jefferson — two players who were not even in anyone’s thoughts at the beginning of the season — helped boost the team in a 122-114 win at Spectrum Center on Wendesday.
Aaron Gordon kept at it and found his groove to post a solid 27 points to help pace things with Terrence Ross’ 35.
D.J. Augustin attacked off the dribble throughout the first half but started looking to score in the third quarter. That helped the Magic match Kemba Walker shot for shot and expand their lead slowly.
Everyone had their part to play. And the Magic pulled away and kept the Hornets at a distance.
Walker tried as he might to keep his team in the game. They probably did not know their playoff dreams died with the Detroit Pistons‘ win over the New York Knicks. They still had something to play for.
Orlando did not care. The Magic were not at their best throughout the game. Their defensive effort waxed and waned and the team was wholly reliant on their hot shooting — 54.5 percent for the game.
Yet, the Magic did not really ever let control over the game slip. Walker got the Hornets within three near the end of the third quarter, but the Magic had the lead out to nine by the end of the quarter. The fourth quarter was not particularly close.
Orlando calmly and professionally dispatched of a non-playoff team with key shots at big moments to keep them at arm’s length.
The seeds of an identity sprouting
None of this should be surprising anymore. The fact the Magic can overcome adversity within a game and find a way to scratch out a win is who this team has become. They have displayed how prepared and confident they are time and time again.
Through 82 games — and especially the last 31 games — the Magic proved their resilience and their basketball IQ will enable them to keep pushing forward and reaching for new heights. This team developed its identity throughout the course of the season to the point it became second nature.
That is how the Magic have developed and turned into this team. This team that is about to get its chance in the playoffs against the Toronto Raptors.
It is games and moments like this regular-season finale. Games where they have to adjust on the fly and figure things out. Games where they find themselves down early and have to rally and find a way to scratch out a win.
This may end up going down as the team’s best overall trait. It is the one they will need most in the playoffs. The Raptors certainly have it too.
Why not us? Why not now?
During the team’s 1995 Finals run, owner Rich DeVos asked his young group that many thought would get crushed under the pressure of playoff basketball, “Why not us? Why not now?” It became a rallying cry for the team to seize its moment.
That was obviously a supremely talented team. But they had much of the same resiliency of this group.
They were engaged in a tight first-round series with the Boston Celtics and needed that historic steal against the Chicago Bulls to give them a confidence boost to dethrone Michael Jordan. Against the Indiana Pacers, they had to compose themselves after a back-and-forth final 30 seconds of Game 6 in Indianapolis.
Yes, a terrible moment ultimately derailed their title dreams. But they looked at an opportunity and turned their noses at the critics who said they could not do it.
The 2019 Magic are not the 1995 Magic. There is no Shaquille O’Neal or Anfernee Hardaway to turn games around on a whim. As a seventh-seed, the Magic would have to consider themselves lucky even to get a few games and make it a series.
But this team has shown it is more than capable of causing problems for a higher rated team. This team has shown it is plenty capable of finding a way to win when it does not seem like it can. This team has shown it can adjust and execute when the chips are down, finding a way to pull away and win.
That has all been part of this team’s overall evolution into a playoff team.
So why not believe in this group again? Why not trust that Orlando can find a way in this playoff series and advance?
The Magic have just the same opportunity as everyone else to advance. It will not be easy, of course. The Raptors are a very good team. But so are the Magic.
If there is one thing this Magic team has proven this year, it is they can figure it out and find a way. Now they have a best four-of-seven series to prove it all over again.
This team has shown over and over again their will and ability to adjust and adapt to any situation. There is no reason not to believe.