Orlando Magic stayed confident in Chuma Okeke for when they needed him

The Orlando Magic have been scrounging for wins wherever they can find them this season. Every game the team has won this year has come down to the fourth quarter and typically into the final two minutes. It has required their very young team to make very big plays.

Even with the team shorthanded due to injuries and health and safety protocols, they needed someone to step up.

The Brooklyn Nets erased a 17-point third-quarter deficit and had the game tight when the Orlando Magic called a timeout midway through the quarter. They needed to turn to someone they could count on to hit a big shot out of the timeout and extend their four-point lead.

There simply are not that many options that are completely reliable.

The one thing though about the way the Magic have approached this season though makes that fact not matter. Jamahl Mosley has often had to play the role of optimist, as you would expect from a coach in his first year. Part of his job is to keep up the belief in players and point out the little victories to help them improve.

Doing that should, in theory, give them the confidence to perform in the biggest moments. Moments like Saturday’s 100-93 win over the Nets. Moments that allowed a struggling Chuma Okeke to step up for a second straight game.

Chuma Okeke has struggled to start his second season. But the Orlando Magic have kept the faith in the forward and now he seems ready to breakout.

Orlando designed a play to get Okeke an open 3-pointer out of that timeout. Hassani Gravett came around a Robin Lopez screen, drew two defenders to him and kicked out to Chuma Okeke for a three. The basket gave Orlando a seven-point lead.

On the most critical possession of the game, tied with less than two minutes to go, the ball found its way to Okeke again. Robin Lopez had nearly lost it as the Nets sent a hard double team his way. Okeke again stepped up draining a three on his way to 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting with three 3-pointers.

When the Magic needed their young forward to step up and shake off a poor start to the season, Okeke stepped up in a big way and found his confidence all over again.

"“It’s my teammates,” Okeke said after Saturday’s win. “This has been building for a while. My teammates and my coaches, they’ve just been giving me confidence to keep shooting the ball. They always tell me they trust in me and believe in my shot. Them believing in me and telling me to keep shooting and sticking with it. So that’s what I’m going to do and that’s what I did and I iht the shot.”"

Okeke has had a disappointing season by almost any measure.

For the season, he is averaging 7.3 points per game and 4.3 rebounds per game, both numbers in line with his rookie season last year. But his shooting numbers took a major dip. He is making only 37.0-percent from the floor and 25.3-percent from deep.

More than that, Okeke has looked like an odd fit in the offense Mosley is trying to run. He has lacked not only the shot-making but also the aggression attacking the basket or the effectiveness in which he attacked from last year.

Part of that is because Okeke has dealt with injuries.

He said after Friday’s game against the Miami Heat that he was not able to play much this summer. Then he suffered a bone bruise in his hip during training camp and missed the entire preseason and the first part of the regular season.

In the meantime, everyone on the team has continued to keep their confidence in the young player waiting for this breakthrough moment.

"“He made some big-time plays today,” Franz Wagner said after Saturday’s win. “I just really like how aggressive he is playing. His two-way abilities, he has been really showing those. Every bit of it.”"

Okeke’s play has been noticeably different now that he has been pushed into the starting lineup by all the absences. Okeke has started to look much more like the promising player he was last year.

Against the Heat, Okeke scored a season-high 18 points, making 7 of 12 shots and four 3-pointers. He added 10 rebounds, four assists and six steals for his most well-rounded game of the season. He was aggressive, especially attacking off the dribble and hitting his pull-up threes.

His impact defensively has been the bigger thing. Mosley and several players pointed to a strong possession where Chuma Okeke knocked the ball away from Patty Mills several times before finally forcing a steal recovered by Mychal Mulder that led to a Chuma Okeke dunk.

This was the kind of bell play the Magic have talked about all season and was emblematic of the kind of effort they gave Saturday night.

It was also the kind of play and hope they have always had for Okeke with his versatility and smarts defensively.

The last two games have put Okeke into greater focus. They have pushed him, just like everyone else, to be more aggressive to fill in the gaps left by so many players being absent.

Like for so many players on this roster, the unfortunate circumstances of these injuries and health and safety protocol absences, this is their opportunity to step up and find themselves. It has sharpened their focus.

No one probably needed that focus more than Okeke to break out of his early-season slump and push him back on track.

"“I was happy to see the ball go in for Chum,” Mosley said after Friday’s loss to the Miami Heat. “But he understands how much work he has put in and what he has done. I think seeing the result of that has been really good. He’s going to continue to stick with that process of working, being early to come in and late to leave and just putting in that hardhat working effort. It was good to see the ball go in so he can continue to grow and build on that.”"

That is what the Magic have been trying to do with all their players. They are trying to keep their confidence up and stick with the process, knowing the results will come.

That faith has been part of Okeke’s development this season. Orlando has understood injuries have slowed him down as he tries to get back to where he was in his rookie season. The team has simply had to keep his confidence up while he gets his feet back under him.

The Magic’s injuries have sped that timeline up. But the team and his teammates never lost trust and faith in him. Things have picked up for Okeke at long last.

Orlando had faith in him and have to have faith this will last.