Orlando Magic’s rising stars are getting put to the fire

The Orlando Magic are unabashedly about their young players.

They made this season about development and seem willing to sacrifice their best chances to win to give their young players the chance to experience and feel every moment of a game. If coach Jamahl Mosley hangs with a young guy a beat too long and it costs him the game, it will be worth it to put that player there to be ready for the next time.

The Magic have made it clear that every game is an opportunity to learn and grow. And for most of the season, everyone was just waiting for these lessons to sink in and for this team to show its talent.

Those players have made an impact clearly.

Cole Anthony, Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner will all be playing in the Rising Stars game during All-Star Weekend in a few weeks. The Magic have three participants in the same All-Star Weekend for the first time since 2009.

For a developing and young team, that certainly suggests the team is on the right track and has some young players to get excited about. It is certainly a relief for a fan base suffering through an 11-40 season entering Tuesday’s game.

Now they just need to prove it over the course of a season.

The Orlando Magic have three players heading to Cleveland for All-Star Weekend. Those rising stars are getting thrown into the fire and going through their growing pains.

The Magic have been willing to put them to the fire and test them at every turn. Now that they are getting their accolades and the team is experiencing some more consistent success, that heat is only going to get warmer.

Will that pressure create diamonds or leave them as coal?

The reality is that it will be a bit of both.

"“I think it’s really cool,” Wagner said after Tuesday’s game. “It speaks to the talent and the young core that we have. For us three, I think it speaks to we get those opportunities that other young guys don’t get. We should enjoy that and cherish that. You can’t always control if they come or don’t come.”"

The Magic’s young players continue to show out and shine in some big spots. And then they go into a shell and make the kind of mistakes that only youth will allow.

The Chicago Bulls have some actual All-Stars in DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic. And they displayed hte kind of poise that only experience provides in closing the game on a 13-2 kick to defeat the Magic 126-115 at the United Center on Tuesday.

On one hand, all three of the Magic’s young rising stars — along with Wendell Carter — shined to make up for an uncharacteristically poor defensive effort. The team gave up points in bunches but were able to keep up with the scoring, even as they tried to climb from behind.

Even after falling behind by 13 points early in the fourth quarter, the Magic kept fighting back.

Orlando made a 10-0 run to tie the game at 113 with every point coming from their Rising Stars game trio.

Franz Wagner kicked it off with a running layup. Cole Anthony hit an and-1 lay in after that to cut the lead in half. Then off a miss, Anthony got the rebound and quickly pushed it ahead to Wagner who set up at the 3-point line and drained a shot.

Finally, the Magic got one of their bell plays with Cole Anthony diving on the floor to get a steal and tap it to Wendell Carter. He found Jalen Suggs streaking to the basket for the lay in and the tie game.

This was the Magic at their best. They pushed the pace and played with control. They got down and defended, getting stops and making their opponent uncomfortable. They secured the glass and were first to the ball when it was knocked loose.

"“It’s been the same thing over the run, we talked about the poise, the grit that we’re showing and the fight that we continue to show and competing throughout the game,” coach Jamahl Mosley said. “Not getting too high and not getting too low. And that we continue to play.”"

For the Magic, there will always be moments like these where their young players put everything together. And for this team especially, it will always be their young players leading the way.

Wagner scored 22 points on 9-for-16 shooting with three 3-pointers for the Magic. Anthony had 20 points on 7-for-16 shooting, adding nine assists as his playmaking continues to expand. And Suggs scored nine points and dished out seven assists as he continues to get more comfortable on the floor.

Carter was also a driving force throughout the game 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists in the game.

The Magic were feeling the energy and it seemed like their hard work and grind would give them a chance to win an unexpected game on the road.

Things turned quickly for them. And that was perhaps the lesson. For as good as these rising stars seem to be, the Bulls are just that much better right now.

"“Everybody in this league is just as fast, just as strong and just as good of basketball player,” Carter said of the shock rookie players often go through in the league. “It allows them to understand that you’ve got to find other ways to beat players, find ways to manipulate the game, find ways to make the same impact you had on those winning teams before you got here. How you can do those things in the league. It takes time.”"

Chicago closed the final 5:34 on an 11-0 run beginning with Zach LaVine hitting a layup before DeMar DeRozan hit a tough turnaround shot over the Magic’s defense. He then found Ayo Dosunmu for a jumper before Nikola Vucevic absorbed a double team and hit Dosunmu for a three.  Chicago was up by nine in a blink.

The Magic, meanwhile, were struggling to clamber out with time running down. The frenetic pace the Bulls seemed to thrive on in the game was back and the Magic were no longer able to keep up.

Anthony had the only turnover in that stretch, but also missed two shots in that run. Wagner did too. As did Suggs.

The Magic were getting in the paint but were unable to finish and their open shots did not fall. It was a finish of making and missing shots.

The Bulls’ stars made theirs. The Magic’s young guys learned a valuable lesson.

"“I think it really just says a lot about the organization itself and the belief it has in this young core,” Anthony said after Tuesday’s game. “They let us fight through our mistakes a lot of this year and last year to a certain degree. They are looking out for us and we are going to do our best to look out for them. Definitely excited for the future here.”"

The final margin or the defeat should not take away from the effort the team put in or just how good the team looked. Even without its usually stellar defense, Orlando kept itself in the game. The team saw its young players shine bright.

They have been doing that a whole lot more lately.

There are still hard lessons to learn. This team nor these players are not without their flaws and inexperience is certainly one of them. But they are getting this experience and getting thrown into the deep end.

Even if they are still learning to swim, the Magic are going to be better for it. And there was still a lot to be excited about as this team continues to grow.