Orlando Magic find more bright spots as preseason nears its close

As the preseason continues, the Orlando Magic saw bright spots in their play as they continue to work toward the regular season.

The final score of Sunday’s game read: San Antonio Spurs 101, Orlando Magic 100. And there were plenty of strong moments counterbalanced by weak moments. That is how the Spurs took the reigns early and held as much as an 18-point lead in the second half.

Orlando, still using many of its starters, rallied back to tie the game in the fourth quarter as San Antonio sat most of its remaining rotation players.

Still, the rally was impressive. It was capped off with Mohamed Bamba rotating over to block a 3-pointer from Ketia Bates-Diop. The Magic got possession down one and the chance to take the lead.

They put the ball in rookie Jalen Suggs’ hands to create and get the final shot. He certainly looked up for the task. But Bryn Forbes was able to close off his drive to the rim and knock the ball away as time expired.

The Orlando Magic fell short in their third preseason game but found a lot of silver linings to build on as their preseason nears its close.

Jalen Suggs got pulled up by his teammates and received words of encouragement from Cole Anthony, no strange to game-winning shots in his short career so far. That is what the team will have to do: lift each other up.

Despite the loss, the Magic seemed to have found things that will work and some that might not work for this team. With one more game of preseason before it starts to count, the Magic have to be consistent.

The biggest bright spot has to go to their defense. Despite any deficit or rough start, the Magic continued to play hard and play their style of defense.

Eventually, it allowed them to get back into the game in the fourth quarter. As a team, the Magic had 13 blocks and 11 steals. The Magic had hustle plays throughout the game, such as early in the game where Jalen Suggs dove on the ball after the steal and got a fast break dunk for Gary Harris.

A stand-out on the defensive end was the pairing of Mohamed Bamba and Wendell Carter. A lot of people wanted to see how the pair would do and neither disappointed.

Both displayed the ability to scramble and make defensive plays. Bamba blocked five shots. And Carter created defensive opportunities for his teammates by consistently being in the right spots.

It was not all perfect as the Magic struggled to finish defensive efforts with rebounds which led to the Spurs getting open second-chance opportunities. The Spurs had 11 offensive rebounds, many created when the Magic were out of position on scrambles.

The Magic have plenty to fine-tune defensively.

It is still the right direction to move in, but as a team, Orlando will have to learn how to get rebounds after scrambling on defense.

On offense, there were rough stretches throughout the game. The Magic did not start the game well as they were missing shots that were in the paint and struggled to move the ball. There were other times where the offense was working and the Magic were getting in transition, which created easy opportunities.

As a whole, the Magic did have a bounceback shooting night from Wednesday night against the New Orleans Pelicans. Against the Pelicans, Orlando shot 36.0-percent from the field and 11 for 34 (32.4-percent) from three. Sunday against San Antonio, Orlando shot 46.3-percent from the field and 12 for 27 (44.4-percent) from beyond the arc.

There is clear room for improvement on the offensive end. The Magic need to find a way to execute in the half-court better. They fell behind because they struggled to execute and keep up.

In the same breath, it has to be mentioned the Magic have been putting out lineups to experiment and figure out if it would work. At this point, all the stats that come from these preseason games have to be taken with a grain of salt.

Sunday was a strong bounceback game from the loss against the Pelicans and continues to show flashes of what this team can do.

With the bright spots, there is still room for improvement, and as the lineups become more consistent, Orlando will become a more consistent team.

Sunday presented learning moments for everyone and was good to have the starters close the game despite the loss. This will be a good experience as the preseason continues. Now Orlando has to take these lessons and bounce back in their final preseason game against the Celtics.