Orlando Magic turn a corner during winning homestand

The Orlando Magic faced a lot of their flaws and missteps in the course of their game against the Dallas Mavericks.

They turned the ball over throughout the first quarter to dig themselves a deep hole. They came out a bit slow in the third quarter, giving up a lead and turning the game into a fight.

They watched Luka Doncic put on a superstar-level performance, often with no recourse to stop him really. Doncic dropped 34 points and was a +11 for the game.

The Magic have lost plenty of games when these things did not go in their favor. They have folded, despite their best fight to stabilize things, and fallen behind. There were plenty of games where the team was just never in it despite some solid stretches of play.

The Magic have been waiting for a breakthrough of consistency. They have been waiting for the team to handle and withstand runs. They have been waiting for a moment when they did not need their best to win.

The Orlando Magic have waited for their breakthrough moment. And with a winning homestand, they appear to have gotten it as they showed more consistency and tangible growth.

If there is one thing Sunday’s game showed — just as much as it did the rest of the homestand — it was just how much this team has grown and just how close this team is to turning a corner in its development, reaching a new level of consistency and expectation.

"“I feel like we’ve all taken that step forward as individuals, knowing that that’s what is going to make us first great individually and, when we are all on the same page, great as a team,” Wendell Carter said after Sunday’s win. “The third quarter was where we were struggling with energy, pace, rebounding and defensive and getting stops. A lot of great teams, believe it or not, don’t pick it up until the third quarter. For us to start to tap into that shows the potential we have as a team.”"

Facing down the team’s troubles and even some of its latest fourth-quarter issues, the Magic were able to compose themselves. They picked up a big 110-108 win over the Mavericks, finishing the game in the fourth quarter thanks to a runner from Franz Wagner with a minute to go and some key defensive stops down the stretch.

Orlando finished its homestand at 3-2. It is a small step forward for sure. But for a season as tough as this one, every small step is a big one for the team. No one will take it for granted.

And no one will ignore the way the team did something that it can truly build on.

The Magic withstood those turnover mistakes — 16 for 16 points, including six for seven in the first quarter. That would have almost certainly doomed the team in previous games, even after they got things under control.

Instead, the Magic clambered back into the game with a 41-point second quarter. The team found its center and stayed on the attack enough to race into the lead. Suddenly the Magic stopped making these mistakes and found their pace to control the game.

When Doncic got going to get the Mavericks back into the game in the third — 11 of his 34 points came in the third — the Magic found a way to defend him better. They limited him to just six points on 2-for-3 shooting and three assists in the fourth quarter. They found a way to get the ball out of his hands and give themselves a chance thanks to their defense.

In the fourth quarter of a close game, the Mavericks seemed poised to take out the young Magic team. They erased the deficit and built a small lead of their own. Orlando was the one that had to rally. And they did so despite an offense that was struggling to get good shots. Their defense led the way.

That would have been an easy point for the Magic to fold or falter as they have in the past. Instead, they hung tough and used their defense as the catalyst. And then they broke through.

Cole Anthony hit a tough floater with a little more than three minutes to play. Then in a tie game with a minute to play after the team’s exchanged free throws, Franz Wagner hit a tough running layup to give the Magic the lead for good.

The Magic dug in defensively on the final possessions to get stops too.

"“Their ability to understand where we were in the game,” coach Jamahl Mosley said after Sunday’s win. “We’ve watched a ton of film to understand the game of runs. They went on their run, they made some big shots. We know we have to tighten it up defensively. Our guys did a great job of having poise, understanding situations they can go into and what we can run in those situations. It was great for our guys to experience this and understand what it means.”"

More importantly, it came in a win.

On the final possession, Chuma Okeke locked down Luka Doncic. Jalen Suggs stunted to prevent a kick out to the corner and got the ball to go where the Magic ultimately wanted — a rotational pass to Maxi Kleber in the corner. Orlando ran out to contest the shot and get the sharpshooting big man to recalibrate before he fired and missed.

Orlando survived and took that tangible step forward — an 11th win on the season.

That poise late in the game was the biggest point of growth for the Magic in the homestand, according to Mosley. They displayed it throughout the night.

This young group continually made plays to keep itself in it. The Magic showed the will to get down and defend. It was the kind of maturity the team is showing more and more of.

Orlando is starting to figure out what it needs to do to win and what it needs to do to succeed more often. The Magic are finally turning these positive individual moments into something a bit more tangible.

The Magic have been waiting to see that happen more and more. This is still about incremental growth. And games and stretches like the one the Magic just completed at home are important to cementing that growth and identity.

"“On this five-game [homestand], just playing more consistent throughout the game,” Wagner said after Sunday’s win. “Before that, we were in a lot of games and we gave it away in a five-minute span where we didn’t guard anyone or move the ball well. Now, when we have a couple of bad minutes, we pick it up a lot quicker and get back to how we were playing.”"

Orlando has spent January improving in some key areas — especially defensively where Orlando ranks eighth with a 107.8 defensive rating. Things are starting to look a bit more consistent indeed.

Nothing is completed, of course. The team will have to keep up this play and build upon it, improving offensive and picking up more of these tangible successes.

But in a season that has been hopeful for individuals, but disappointing as a team, the Magic had a reason to celebrate a solid run of play.

That is something to build on. And there are few reasons to think this is not something the team can continue to build on to finish their season the way they want.