Orlando Magic rebuilding their character to get back to playoff level

This year’s Orlando Magic is clearly different than last year’s group. But they will still require the same character to return to the postseason.

It was one of the defining plays of the 2019 Playoff chase for the Orlando Magic.

Michael Carter-Williams poked the ball free from a Memphis Grizzlies player and then went sprawling into the fans sitting courtside at the Amway Center saving the ball and finding Terrence Ross for a breakaway slam.

It was the defining play of the Magic’s 17-point comeback win that night. A win that helped propel the team into the playoffs for the first time in seven years.

Back then, the Magic were playing with urgency. Any misstep — especially a late home loss to the team that would get the second pick in the draft — would leave the whole season in ruin. The Magic would have fallen short of the playoffs if one win in that stretch turned into a loss instead.

But they also played with an edge. They came back from deficits to start the fourth quarter more than any other team in the league last year. There was a never-say-die feeling to the team. Even the confidence that they would pull out wins late. All they needed was the chance.

That play and that moment felt like the manifestation of this ethos. The Magic were down big at home and they rallied to come back and essentially saved their season. It was a defining characteristic of that team.

This year’s Magic team, featuring so many of the same players in similar roles, seems to be chasing that ideal and that characteristic buried deep within them. They seem to be searching for that same spark and urgency. The team has been unable to recapture the pace or feeling that team engendered.

Never mind the Orlando Magic, after a 93-86 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers are .500 once again and sitting comfortably in eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

Expectations can be a hard thing to handle, coloring perceptions of the way the team is playing and how they are measured. This team has not quite measured up even with the team virtually in the same position they were last year.

Coach Steve Clifford would tell everyone before the season that every season is different. There are new challenges — the injuries this year were not something last year’s team had to deal with at all — and the same players never guarantees the same character. Everything had to get built from the ground up.

Yes, there was some disappointment with the team’s fairly slow start. After a false start thanks to the injury to Nikola Vucevic, the Magic are starting to find their footing again. They are starting to rebuild that character.

What is the Magic’s character?

A willingness to get down and defend if the offense is not working. An ability to stay competitive and make the big plays down the stretch to win games. The potential to blow the doors open offensively when they move the ball, but more importantly the shot-making coming from multiple players that could change the game.

The Magic’s game at Cleveland on Friday night could easily get written off as the Magic struggling to play against an also-ran in the Eastern Conference. To some extent, that is what it was. Orlando turned the ball over too much and had some major lapses on the glass that gave the Cavaliers plenty of chances.

Orlando had given up an 11-point lead in the second quarter. The team let the Cavaliers bully them a bit on the perimeter and scored only 16 points in the third quarter (fulfilling the one bad quarter requirement each Magic game seems to need). And the Magic found themselves trailing entering the fourth quarter and chasing the lead.

But like last year’s team, Orlando had no panic or change to the team’s demeanor. It adjusted and made the plays it had to make to win the game.

In a close game heading into the final two minutes, the Magic got blocks from Evan Fournier and Aaron Gordon (officially, some may argue it was Khem Birch) to help preserve one-point leads. The Magic may not have been able to score, but they were not going to let the Cavaliers score either.

Jonathan Isaac broke an 83-all tie with five and a half minutes left on a 3-pointer. From there, Orlando simply kept Cleveland from scoring, locking the paint down and daring Cleveland to shoot over its defense. The Cavaliers could not deliver. The Magic could again and again.

It all culminated on a perfect inbounds pass as Aaron Gordon curled around a Khem Birch screen right in front of the basket for a jam over Tristan Thompson, clinching the game up five points with 19 seconds remaining.

It may have just been Cleveland, but it was an inspired Cleveland team hurting after a 30-point home loss and amid rumors of discontent with the team’s new coach. The Cavaliers played a solid game, showing spark defensively they have not shown all year. The Magic could not break them down

They turned the game into a grind, forcing the Magic to dig deep and find their defensive identity that had sort of gotten lost in recent games. Orlando’s defense has been far too inconsistent for what the team needs to accomplish.

It is these games that turn into a grind where a team’s character is truly revealed. Where a team has to dig deep and find their way even when things are not going right. When a good defense is slowing them down or when shots are simply not falling.

In these games — and every playoff game is like this — it becomes about making plays. Those little sparks of energy like that Michael Carter-Williams play from the Grizzlies game last year are enough to push the team over the edge.

Carter-Williams played his role too in the win over the Cavaliers on Friday. He dug out offensive rebounds and kept plays alive. Orlando regains an edge for these kinds of games with every little play Carter-Williams makes like that.

This Magic team is not last year’s team. It is a different team still trying to shape its identity and find its way to play every night.

They are a better and more confident team than last year’s group. That is seen in their record and their standing, not to mention their expectations for the season.

Now they just have to build the character to grind out wins and make the plays late when they have to. That is the last big piece missing that last year’s team suddenly discovered and had.

Friday night, the Magic took on that character to extend their win streak to four games and get back to .500. With a gauntlet of a schedule coming up — the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets and a four-game West Coast trip — they will need that fight and that character again soon.