Orlando Magic lose their swagger in the third when team’s counterpunch

Orlando Magic coach Jamahl Mosley has talked about a lot of his team’s failures in late-game situations as learning opportunities.

Being in a situation and coming up short is an opportunity to see and experience that moment. It is a chance to go through that pain or that failure and learn for the next time. The Magic are going to go through this and they have to learn.

When the opportunity comes to see the same situation in back-to-back games, they have to show their growth and how much they have learned.

There was a swagger to the way the Orlando Magic played both in Wednesday’s game in Philadelphia just as much in Friday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

They  used a big second-quarter run to take the lead into the halftime locker room. They were feeling good and had an energetic crowd ready to support them and see a home win.

The Magic saw this exact situation the night before.

There was a star on the other side ready to take over the game and will his team back into it. The Los Angeles Lakers knew it, the Orlando Magic knew it, every fan knew it. The Lakers were going to make their run at the lead.

How would the Magic respond? The third quarters have been where everything breaks down.

It broke down again in Friday’s 116-105 loss to the Lakers at Amway Center. Los Angeles opened the quarter on a 17-2 run to flip an eight-point deficit into a seven-point lead.

The Orlando Magic gave away a solid first-half performance with a 17-2 run that gave away their lead and left them learning another difficult lesson.

The air for the Magic completely deflated and they were climbing uphill the rest of the game. The Magic could not get their juice back.

"“From the coaches standpoint, they’ve told us, ‘Do what you have to do to be ready for the third,'” Wendell Carter said after Friday’s loss. “We’re grown men, we’re in this league. You go out there, you have to be ready to play. You can’t really put that on anybody but ourselves. I feel like we have to do a better job of that. I even get this sense we have no swagger going into that third quarter. Everybody’s different, people got to find a way. Including myself.”"

Third quarters have been a problem all year. The Magic’s third quarter on Friday was as bad as it seemed.

The Lakers outscored the Magic 31-16, shooting 13 for 23 from the floor and 5 for 8 from deep. They made it clear from the beginning they were going to steamroll the Magic. And Orlando could not find an answer.

The Magic made only 5 of 19 shots in the quarter and one of their eight 3-pointers.

Cole Anthony, typically a reliable offensive player who has struggled with his shot of late as the Magic’s offense has sunk with him, missed all three of his shots and had two turnovers in the Magic’s first three possessions of the quarter, setting a poor tone that put the Magic on their back foot.

Jalen Suggs, who otherwise had a career night with 22 points, 9-for-10 shooting from the foul line and nine assists, struggled in the third. He may have still been feeling the effects of a nasty fall in the second quarter. But he missed all six of his shots, including five 3-pointers, in the third quarter.

"“I think the biggest thing that I’ve learned is time, score, situation,” Suggs said after Friday’s loss. “In the third quarter, espeically myself, just settling for threes, not making the defense work, they are sagging back and not having to play defense, especially in those first six minutes. They were able to go full-go on offense.”"

While the Lakers never expanded the lead out to anything impossible. Orlando was again trying to find its offensive rhythm and chase the lead. And everything the team was doing seemed not to work.

This was a lesson the team did not learn from their loss Wednesday. Or, it was a lesson the team needed to experience again.

The Magic were left again with whiplash watching one of their leads disappear in the third quarter.

"“Just understanding how you have to come out at the half,” coach Jamahl Mosley said after Friday’s loss. “Whether you are up or you are down, you have to make the same statement you started the beginning of the game iwth. If they are down, they are going to come out and try to punch you in the mouth right away. If they are up, they have to understand we’re going to throw our first punch coming at it.”"

Orlando indeed has had some struggles in the third quarter. It is often when the games turn for the worse for them.

This season, including Friday night, Orlando has a league-worst -12.2 net rating in the third quarter. The team posts a 102.1 offensive rating (29th in the league) in the third and a 114.3 defensive rating (28th in the league).

The Magic have been bad in every quarter for the most part this season — they have a positive net rating in the fourth quarter, but most of those have come in blowout losses where they narrow the margin.

But in January, when the team has been generally more competitive, some other patterns emerge.

Orlando is 27th in the league this month in overall net rating at -7.3 points per 100 possessions. In the third quarter, they are 28th with a -12.2 net rating.

But in the other quarters, the Magic rank better. Orlando is 24th (-12.3 net rating) in the first quarter, 17th (+1.1 net rating) in the second quarter and 18th (-4.2 net rating) in the fourth quarter.

Since the Magic have become relatively more competitive recently, the third quarters have remained the one area where the team is falling behind and getting stuck.

"“We’ve talked about it all year coming out with intensity in the third quarter and being better in the third quarter,” Suggs said after Friday’s loss. “That’s been apparent. We’re not able to come out and ease our way back into it. Espeically when we are up on a team and we played a great first half and knowing they are going to come out and be aggressive and ready to make a run. We’ve talked about it. We’ve just got to execute it a little bit better.”"

Suggs said he felt the team played one of its best first halfs this season Friday night. The energy was good and the team was able to hold its own for nearly 36 minutes — the Magic won the first and second quarter and lost the fourth 31-27 as they tried to climb back into the game.

Just like the loss to the 76ers, the Magic lost the game solely it seemed because of the poor third quarter.

Figuring out the answer and how the team can improve is going to be one of the big challenges for the team. They hav eto find their pet plays to get easy shot sto get themselves out of these killer runs and they have to double down their commitment on defense.

But that really starts with the players as much if not more than the coaches.

"“We have to find within the players, I don’t think it’s a coaches thing at all, wihtin the players we have to learn these great teams play well in the third,” Carter said after Friday’s loss. “They set the tone for the rest of the game in the third. I think that’s something we have to do a better job of dictating what we can control — getting stops on defense. Even if we’re not making shots, defensively and defensive rebounding is something we have to stay consistent with. Third quarters is where teams establish their identity for the rest of the game.”"

Until then, it remains a loss for the Magic. Another disheartening, dispiriting loss for the team. Another learning moment for the team.

The Magic though know they have to look within to finally break this streak and make good on the play they are putting forward for the majority of these games.

That counterpunch to star the third is still knocking them out.