The Orlando Magic can feel how close they are to seeing the mountain top and breaking what has now become a 10-game losing streak.
They are feeling and learning from the pressure of these close-game situations, even if the results have not turned in their direction. They can see what their fight and never-say-die attitude can bring them and how it can cover their mistakes and keep them in games.
It is easy to see the good things the team is doing. Wednesday was filled with encouraging moments and performances — whether it was Franz Wagner’s career-high 10 assists or Cole Anthony coming an assist shy of triple-double and finding ways to make an impact even with his shot not falling.
This is a season meant for little victories like that. The team is trying to celebrate them when they can find them.
But that also needs to mean wins. And increasingly it is easy to see and feel the frustration of being so close and consistently coming up short.
The Magic need a win badly — if just to break this double-digit losing streak — and they are searching for answers.
The Orlando Magic again came up short with some frustrating plays down the stretch as they lost their 10th straight game. Something needs to change even as they keep knocking on the door.
It is time to get something to refresh the team’s approach and change their mindset late in games. They need to mix something up and put themselves in a better position to win. They have to do whatever they can to get over that hump and finish a game off.
Orlando continues to knock on the door. But the team continues to see itself making mistake after mistake.
"“First step of winning a game is putting yourself in position to have a chance to win that game in the last five minutes,” Anthony said after Wednesday’s loss. “I think we’ve done a pretty dang good job of that the last six games. I think for us, we’re playing super hard. I think as a team, myself included, we make a lot of mistakes. We make one or two too many mistakes down the stretch which cost us these games. if we keep putting ourselves in these situations, we’re going to end up winning some of these.”"
The reality is Orlando is doing enough things to put itself in shape to win games. They have played clutch minutes in each of their last six games after playing clutch minutes in just 13 of the team’s first 36 games.
Wednesday’s 112-106 loss to the Washington Wizards qualified with the Orlando Magic trailing by five with 4:49 to play on a pull-up jumper from Cole Anthony.
But Orlando quickly fell off from there. Robin Lopez missed two hook shots after the Magic tried to set him up on the block on the next possession to get back within five.
In all, Orlando was down five and missed seven straight shots as Washington got back up by nine points. The Magic could count more than their share of missed open looks as they tried to get back into the game. They could not complain about the quality of their shots attempts or to some extent their execution.
This is where everyone says it is a make-or-miss league. And those are losses a team can deal with to some extent. It is a point for growth to show their good execution even if the results are not there. The Magic keep preaching how they need to trust the process and believe the things they are doing will add up to a win down the road.
But the Magic have continually settled for low-percentage shots or gone away from the ball movement that can make their offense successful. They seem to be pressing some to get back into these games and break out of this losing funk.
The pressure of all those losses is indeed seemingly starting to build up.
"“You can’t get discouraged,” Robin Lopez said after Wednesday’s loss. “Sometimes the results are not going to show up right away. Building a foundation, it’s cliche, but we’re going to get there. Everyone is putting in that work which is necessary.”"
Lopez said the team is getting more comfortable in these late-game situations. Lopez said they are starting to lock in more themselves, rather than relying on the coaching staff to get them focused late. That is a positive point of growth.
The Magic’s issues though go more than that. To win it might take locking in a whole lot sooner.
Orlando has always had to play with a level of desperation in these games. Their struggles to score late in the game were reminiscent of the struggles they had to score throughout the game. The Magic again struggled to shoot, tallying a 41.4-percent field goal percentage and making just 11 of 35 from beyond the arc.
That is still a bit too much settling for three. And Orlando’s best offense still comes with ball movement — 31 assists on 41 field goals certainly suggests that.
But the real issue for the Magic might well be how often they need to use the fourth quarter to catch up. No team has played fewer minutes with the lead than the Magic. That is even since Christmas:
The game Wednesday started with what could easily be read as the ineptness of a struggling team as much as it could be read as the hustle of a team driving to win and not getting the results.
Orlando started the game with the ball and proceeded to miss eight shots on the first possession. That does mean the Magic collected seven offensive rebounds and there was a lot of scrap to save possessions.
But whether it was Franz Wagner missing on early drives, Robin Lopez missing tip-ins and putbacks or Cole Anthony missing from deep, the Magic could not seem to get their shots to go down or get the cleanest looks to get comfortable in the game.
It did not help matters that Washington made its first seven shots to go up 18-10 in the first quarter. The Magic were taken aback by this string of misses to open the game and played the whole contest from behind.
Give the Magic all the credit they deserve for fighting back. They were shooting worse than 40-percent for much of the game and trailed by as much as 20 points early in the second quarter. It is no easy feat with everything working against this team to find their defensive center.
"“With all those shots missed, we’re still in the game,” coach Jamahl Mosley said after Wednesday’s loss. “We talk about the offense not dictating what our defense does. The defense got us back in the game and kept us around where we needed to be for a certain amount of the time. You can’t let the offense dictate what your defense does, that’ the reminder.”"
That was at least one positive that developed from Wednesday’s game. Orlando reeled Washington within striking distance because of the team’s defense. That still has to be what this team is about.
The Magic’s games this year have followed a familiar script for sure. The team is seeing the same things happen over and over again late in games. Orlando is starting to learn repeated lessons.
The Magic are continuing to push to get over the top. The question is when that breakthrough will come and whether the team will stick together and build once it does.