The Orlando Magic were facing another double-digit deficit at the half on Thursday against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Yes, the team was still undermanned with six players in health and safety protocols. Cole Anthony and Wendell Carter were still working their way back from injuries that kept them out for a better part of a week. They looked every bit rusty in the first half.
Orlando does one thing though and that is fight. The team may not be able to solve every problem in real-time and may not have the depth to compete every night, but the team is going to try to fight its way out of any hole until the game ends.
The Magic and their players seem to understand this is all part of the process for this group.
The Orlando Magic are still learning and growing together. One way they are doing it is by discussing and holding each other accountable in the moment.
So what happened at halftime in the Magic’s locker room, with the team struggling offensively and trailing 55-43, is probably the most important sign of growth this team could have?
They had a conversation.
Players talked out what was going on the court, shared observations and took the criticism to heart. The Magic were able to make some adjustments and changes, even before coach Jamahl Mosley and his staff added their two cents.
Then they went out and executed them, shaking off a slow start that put them down 20 to climb all the way back into the game by the end of the third quarter.
The effort ultimately ended up short, falling 110-104. But the lesson was far-reaching.
For a young team looking for signs of growth. This type of ownership over their team and the collective leadership this young team is showing is empowering. They are the masters of this rebuild and while there are hard days and work to do ahead, this kind of culture will help everyone improve.
"“When we get into that locker room, we all get in there and speak our mind about the game,” Anthony said after Thursday’s game. “It’s not anyone pointing fingers. It’s kind of like a group discussion. The veteran guys gave us good advice. [Markelle Fultz] and E’Twaun [Moore] talked about playing with pace. Tim [Frazier] too. Just really pushing that pace and putting pressure on them. Even against them, they had that fake full-court press. Getting by them and getting into our offense a lot faster and not letting them slow us down.”"
The Magic took that to heart in winning the third quarter 35-28 and pulling what was at one time a 20-point deficit down to five thanks to a 25-8 run that cut the lead to three at one point.
The Magic did this by spreading the floor a lot more and hitting shots from the outside to kickstart things. But they also forced turnovers, increased their defensive pressure and got out in transition. This helped Franz Wagner score his 17 points in the quarter and brought Orlando back into the game.
The Magic played the whole game at a pace of 95.5 possessions per 48 minutes, well below the team’s increasingly speeding up pace. In the second half, the Magic played at 98.0 possessions per 48 minutes. In the third quarter along, they played at 100.0 possessions per 48 minutes.
This is not how coaches usually talk about pace. But it is indicative of how the team was trying to get into its offense faster and find its rhythm. Orlando had six of the team’s eight second-half fast-break points in the third quarter.
That pace helped the Magic put pressure on the Pelicans better and helped them reverse their poor trends in the third quarter. The message that came from those veteran players clearly stuck.
"“Something we have struggled with throughout the whole year is third quarters, coming out of halftime and playing well,” Carter said after Thursday’s loss. “This third quarter we played tonight, they came out and jumped on us pretty early. But we sustained that and understood we still had a whole rest of this quarter and the whole next quarter to play. That’s something we have to do a better job of even when we go down that we have a lot of time. That’s something we tried as a group to focus on is weathering the storm, weathering the runs and give runs back.”"
The Magic’s third-quarter problems are well-documented. The team has a -13.8 net rating in the third quarter, the second-worst in the league. Orlando is scoring only 100.2 points per 100 possessions third quarter. They needed a tough lesson coming out of the locker room.
But the larger point is how the team has talked and taken ownership of these problems.
There have been plenty of statements from the team identifying these problems. But rarely have they revealed how they intend to fix these problems or attack these problems. Or how the group is trying to do so.
That is what hearing about how they talked in the locker room and how veterans stepped up with their observations to help the team.
Mosley has spoken on several occasions about how involved the team remains in this problem-solving and how they are still pulling for each other and all trying to get there.
This is part of the culture the team is trying to build. And this was a key part of Thursday’s game.
"“At halftime, our veterans and our guys who were observing the game from the bench did a really good job talking about the things we needed to do to get back in the game,” Mosley said after Thursday’s game. “The energy of the game was a little bit lower early on. Those guys at halftime came and talked about we had to pick up the pace. We have to get into the ball more, speed the game and make them a little more uncomfortable.”"
The Magic are still trying to make their identity — especially the pace and control they play at — something a bit more permanent. Orlando is still seeking consistency.
But this is all a sign of progress. And for the first time all year, the Magic have strung together a bunch of good games — including two wins. That is something the team can grow from.
The team is focusing on little victories for sure. But they are also holding each other accountable for that and staying on each other to make progress together.
That is all this team can ask for right now.