The Orlando Magic like to say they fight to the end of every game.
That has been a refrain through several blowout losses this year. Coach Jamahl Mosley lauded his team’s second-half performance in what was a largely 30-point loss to the New York Knicks in the team’s first home game. He has praised the team’s willingness to stick with the game and compete in other losses too.
That might be the optimistic outlook a young coach has to bring to a young team still seeking its identity and its way to play. Mosley has not been afraid to seek out little victories where he can find them — hoping enough of those little victories will lead to wins and then consistently wins beyond them.
So Saturday’s game against the Washington Wizards, at times, came off as one of those little victories.
Once again, the Magic won the fourth quarter. This has not been a strange occurrence this year. Orlando might be one of the best fourth-quarter teams in the league.
But that deserves every alarm bell and necessary context. The Magic are getting blown out a lot leaving these fourth quarters to be essentially statistically meaningless when it comes to the final result of the game.
The Orlando Magic have closed plenty of games strong this year as a good fourth-quarter team. The problem is few of these games are close.
Wins and losses are still supposed to matter, in the end. And the Magic are not competing well enough.
But if the team keeps insisting on trying to find little victories. . . yay?
"“I think it’s a pride thing,” Cole Anthony said after Saturday’s game. “We’ve got to have more pride than that. We can’t get out there for the first three quarters and let us in the game. We’ve got to be better than that and respect our opponent more. It’s a growing point for us. Realistically, we’ve just got to be better.”"
After struggling Wednesday against the Brooklyn Nets — a game where several players said they did not compete fully and perhaps gave too much respect to the star power of their opponents — the Magic were fighting hard through the fourth quarter.
The team was struggling to shoot and keep up as the Wizards finally pulled away — an 18-0 run in the first and second quarter did not do it. It was Kyle Kuzma that finally put Washington ahead comfortably and for good.
Yet, the Magic kept at it. They cut the deficit down and made Washington sweat a bit. Although the lead never got under 10. The Magic ended up losing the game by a respectable 12 points.
Orlando pointed to the team’s fight in the fourth quarter especially as some sign of the team’s mentality and identity. The team won that period 33-22 even though the Wizards still shot better from the field (56.3-percent to 47.4-percent). After struggling to generate any kind of offense all game long, that was a positive sign.
A moral victory if there ever was one.
"“We got stops and we were able to get out and run,” Mosley said after Saturday’s game. “It’s hard to get out and run when you are taking the ball out of the basket. But our ability to play at a faster pace, a couple of shots went down and momentum started to swing a little bit. Giving these guys the confidence to know that when they are shooting the ball and stepping with confidence if they see one go in, it starts to add and you can get ahead with that.”"
Indeed, pace and intensity certainly picked up in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game. The Magic were getting in passing lanes and creating deflections and fast-break opportunities. That started to change the game.
As Anthony said, the Magic needed that intensity throughout the game to give themselves a chance to win. That consistency with pace and intensity are still major issues for this young roster.
Strong in the fourth
But, the team’s strong fourth quarters have served them well in the past. And this statistical anomaly is interesting even if it is still uncertain how this will apply to the team overall.
The Orlando Magic currently are fifth in the league with a +9.9 net rating in the fourth quarter — 116.9 offensive rating/107.0 defensive rating. Those are all very good numbers and obviously would suggest the team finishes games strong.
Indeed, all three of the Magic’s wins required big fourth quarters.
The Orlando Magic needed a 36-point fourth quarter to erase a six-point deficit in their win over the New York Knicks. They needed a 43-point quarter to blow past another six-point deficit against the Minnesota Timberwolves. And they needed a 32-point quarter (and 12-for-18 shooting) to erase a 10-point deficit against the Utah Jazz.
"“We didn’t want to lose by 20,” Cole Anthony said after Saturday’s loss to the Wizards. “The problem with that is we can’t just do that for one quarter. We play like that for four quarters, we have a chance to win that game. Especially at that point in the fourth quarter, it’s too late. Especially against that team. They are number one in the east for a reason. We’ve got to respect them more than that and come prepared to play for four quarters, not 1.5 quarters.”"
This sort of sentiment probably rings true about other opponents the Magic have faced to this point. This has been a repeated pattern very clearly.
The Magic’s starting lineup typically gets the team off to a good start — the starting group has the second-best net rating in the league for groups that have played at least 100 minutes together — then the bench hits a rut and the Magic struggle to rediscover their rhythm.
Mosley’s biggest challenge with this roster — especially with so many players still out — is finding rotational balance. He is settling on a consistent group, but the results are still lacking.
Orlando just struggles to get to the fourth quarter even if the team continues to fight and perform well in that final quarter.
Close to finish
What seemed so impressive about the win over the Utah Jazz too was how close that ended up being. The Orlando Magic have played precious few close games. And they have only led entering the fourth quarter just once this season — the loss to the Charlotte Hornets, really the team’s first “clutch” experience of the season.
Despite these apparent fourth-quarter successes, the Magic have played a league-low seven minutes of “clutch time” (defined as the game within five points in the final five minutes). Orlando has only played four games that qualified for clutch time.
Orlando committed too many turnovers in that loss to Charlotte in its first real clutch-time failure. The Orlando Magic followed that up by rallying against the Toronto Raptors to close with an 11-0 run to have the ball with a chance to win.
There are precious few “winning” moments for this team so far this season.
Their fourth quarters have resembled Saturday a whole lot more than.
They fall behind big and then they rally to make the game look more respectable.
That is what happened against the Raptors and it nearly ended up a win. That is what happened against the Knicks in Orlando — 32 points, 11-for-19 shooting in that fourth quarter. And in the loss to the Detroit Pistons — 30 points and a late rally that made it a single-digit game briefly.
"“It’s just a matter of going out there and competing,” Mo Bamba said after Saturday’s game. “One thing about the NBA is you always have a chance to win until you don’t. Just going out there and competing and showing we want it. We’re young and we want it.”"
That is what happened against the Wizards too. It was a nice fourth quarter and a sign of life and the fight the team has. But it also came in a game that was already decided. The Magic are fighting well and winning fourth quarters that largely have no effect on the game’s outcome.
But too often the game is over before these final 12 minutes. Whether that is a lack of focus, a lack of execution or something else, these have been the team’s results.
Orlando’s effort has been enough to win when the games are close. That is the most exciting part of all this. The Magic’s fight seems to heighten late in games.
They just need to make those moments matter instead of making them merely moral victories.