The Orlando Magic have faced adversity and their own struggles this year. But the enduring characteristic is their willingness to fight and compete.
The Orlando Magic knew they were in a fight.
The Los Angeles Lakers had taken a 24-point lead and the Orlando Magic meticulously and gradually knocked it down until it was a game again midway through the fourth quarter. Every possession seemed precious as the team slowed the game to a crawl and held the Lakers’ star players in relative check.
Dwight Howard came through the lane and took a foul, as he often does, and Jonathan Isaac tried to knock the ball away after the whistle. This started a typical NBA dust-up with players jawing at each other and puffing their chests.
Michael Carter-Williams was the first to escalate it, giving Dwight Howard a harder shove and leading to words between the two.
That is when Wesley Iwundu stepped in. With the 6-foot-10 center getting into the smaller guard, Wesley Iwundu came in with a two-handed push that knocked Dwight Howard off balance. This escalated things with Jared Dudley coming in to defend his teammate. What amounts to a skirmish in the modern NBA ensued with the 10 players on the court holding each other back as referees started to separate them.
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Officials reviewed the play and handed out four technical fouls, eventually ejecting both Iwundu and Dudley from the game. Perhaps with the charged atmosphere around Howard’s return, they did not want things to get too far out of hand or for emotions to spill completely over.
Iwundu left the court, raising his arms to egg the crowd on. He became an instant hero in Magic fandom.
But Orlando would ultimately fall short, succumbing to their own mistakes and uncharacteristic poor execution on the defensive end. It was not the result the team wanted for sure.
But the Magic proved one thing, they have a willingness to fight. They were not going to accept getting pushed around, especially on their home floor. And they fought to the end once again facing one of the league’s elite teams.
"“Just a little pushing a shoving,” Iwundu said of the incident after Thursday’s practice. “Something you see every day in the game. Just me standing up for my teammates and just showing some fight out there. Trying to bring some energy to the building and get things going.”"
That incident may have toed a line the team does not. It is not good for the Magic to be down key rotation players — especially with the injuries they have faced. But it was part and parcel to a larger theme for the Magic, especially in the last 10 games since Nikola Vucevic‘s injury.
If there is one characteristic of this team that is positive through everything, it is this willingness to fight that transcends everything. When the Magic put the rest of the puzzle together, this will serve them best.
It is certainly not everything of course. The Magic still lost the game. They still made critical mistakes that this team should not be making within their schemes and in basic things like rebounding and ball movement.
But after a poor first quarter, the Magic chipped away at the lead and made it a game. Iwundu deserves credit for part of the energy boost the team got. And the team deserves credit for the fight.
However, that was a painful reminder of how focused the team needed to be at the start of the game.
"“The response to the first quarter was big,” Iwundu said after practice Thursday. “That’s what you want to see amongst the team to come out and respond after the slow start. We showed a lot. The game could have been a lot different if we played that way from the jump. We’re not happy with moral victories. We want to win that game as much as everybody else. Luckily we have another game tomorrow to try to improve and win another game.”"
Still, things feel like they could be much worse. And it is this characteristic that has helped the Magic persevere while their best player has been out.
When Nikola Vucevic went down 10 games ago, it felt like the season could really go off the rails. While the Magic have felt inconsistent, they have gone 5-5 and maintained the eighth spot in the East. If the team continues some of its improved play with Vucevic returning, they could be in line to make the step up everyone has seemingly waited on.
Vucevic went through the entirety of the Magic’s practice on Thursday. It was a non-contact practice, however. The team will evaluate how he feels after the team’s shootaround on Friday and make a decision whether he will play.
Regardless of that, Vucevic said he believes he will be ready for Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Vucevic said the team will probably return to the way they played when he was on the floor. But the time away helped the team grow.
"“The negative side was I was out, the positive was some guys had to step up and they did,” Nikola Vucevic said after practice Thursday. “Now, hopefully when I get back we can all mesh together. I don’t think it should be a problem. Hopefully, it will be a boost to the team.”"
Adding that talent from Vucevic — especially his 30.6-percent defensive rebound rate — will help boost the team.
The Magic have listed Markelle Fultz as questionable too. Coach Steve Clifford said Markelle Fultz is feeling a lot better, but the team kept him at home and away from practice on Thursday to help him recover and prevent the illness from spreading further throughout the team.
Orlando though is finally starting to feel complete.
With the way the team knows it can fight and knows it can play, there is plenty of hope that they will turn results in their favor soon. Adding that key player back to the roster should give the team the boost it needs.
As Clifford said on Wednesday after the game, the issue is not effort. It is more about directing that effort in the right way and to the right things.
No one will question the team’s fight after these last 10 games or their willingness to grind and to give themselves a chance.
If there is one enduring characteristic about this Magic team is that their opponents know they will be in for a battle when the ball tips off. Even if it still takes some time to get all the way there.
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