Orlando Magic are putting their lessons to work and winning any way they can

There were plenty of reasons to be disappointed with the Orlando Magic as they fell behind by 17 in the third quarter and trailed for much of the first half.

For the second straight game, their defense did not seem to have any legs or juice, giving up runs to the basket, fouls and 3-pointers. The Magic were not playing the way they were designed to play.

That it happened for a second straight night was also concerning. Especially after such an encouraging homestand.

The lesson from Tuesday’s loss to the Chicago Bulls was likely that defense has to be the team’s catalyst and that Orlando cannot get sucked into a wild out-of-control game.

The Indiana Pacers did exactly that, slapping a zone on the Orlando Magic after losing starting center Isaiah Jackson on the first play of the game and going small the entire game. They were first to every loose ball and rebound and were the aggressor getting every call for much of the game.

The Magic were not playing like a team that was going to win.

Then suddenly the game flipped. The door was open just enough and the Magic did just enough to hang around and give themselves a chance. They just needed a spark.

The Orlando Magic found a spark late to steal a win from the Indiana Pacers as they continue to put their lessons together and pull together more.

It came in the form of Gary Harris and Franz Wagner. Wagner hit a running layup with a foul to kickstart the run. Harris followed with back-to-back threes to tie the game. Wagner finished it off with another and-one layup as the magic climbed into the lead.

Orlando finished the game off from the foul line to hold on for a 119-118 win which felt like something so much bigger.

"“I’m so proud of these guys,” coach Jamahl Mosley said after the win. “These guys showed their resilience. Every person was a part of it whether they played tonight or not. Our bench was live, active and communicating all the things we needed to do. And they just continued to compete at a high level throughout the entire end of that game.”"

Despite all the struggles the team had to find stability and consistency throughout the game and despite the difficulties defensively, the Magic kept grinding and fighting. They never got frustrated enough to make the big mistake and fall too far behind.

They stuck with it and ground to the finish. As they have so many times when they were down too much. This time they got all the way back.

That might be the thing that has changed most for this team. The bad moments are not nearly as bad and give them the chance to do that trademark fighting to get back into the game.

No team should want to be down so much that they need a desperate comeback to win and to play nearly flawless basketball to get the win. The Magic did not play a great game.

But that is something too.

Good teams find a way to win even when they do not have their best game. They find a way to stay just close enough and do something they can hang their hat on to get themselves back into the game just when they have to.

It is not something any team wants to do too often, but being able to do it is a sign of a wider margin for error. That the team can do just enough to stay in the game and then ramp up their play late as they find their rhythm.

Orlando has struggled with all those issues throughout the season. This is not a team with any margin for error.

They had often watched other teams ratchet up their intensity on them in the second half to pull away. The Magic are a team that has often had the terms of a game dictated to them.

Lately, Orlando has been a lot better at getting better as the game goes on and adjusting on the fly to what the game calls. They have been a lot better about finding consistency with their defense and hitting timely shots. This is a team that is putting a lot of its pieces together.

Doing a comeback like this was something on a much higher level for the team. This was simply about a will to win — something the team has not quite expressed this year. And that is what a young team has to learn how to do.

"“We are a real resilient team,” Gary Harris said after Wednesday’s win. “We’ve got a team full of guys who play hard and compete to the very end. We trust each other. We have fun playing with each other. When we lock in on the defensive end, get stops and sharing the ball, we feel like we can compete with anybody. It’s been fun playing with thee guys learning how to win.”"

There were plenty of heroes on the night.

Gary Harris scoring 22 points on six made 3-pointers put the cap on the evening. The veteran made big shots and big plays down the stretch to make sure the team won.

But the team can point to the hard work from Wendell Carter throughout the night and especially in the second half too. He finished with 19 points and a career-high 18 rebounds — 11 and 13 in the second half. After settling down after some wild drives against the undersized Pacers, Carter became a wrecker in the paint.

Indiana made only 36-percent of its shots and 4 of its 13 3-pointers in the second half total. Like the win over the Denver Nuggets, defense was the catalyst for a comeback. In that game, Orlando erased a 16-point deficit to get the win. The team always knew it was capable.

It took the contributions from Robin Lopez, inserted early in the fourth quarter to give the team a clearer advantage on the block. He hit three hook shots in a row to tie the game early and calm the Magic down a bit.

That is what a young team needed. The Magic still fell into the trap of trying to speed through the game with several tough misses at the rim through the course of the fourth quarter.

Mosley said Harris was vital to the team in those late moments, reminding them of situations they saw the previous night in Chicago and how the team could adjust and come out on the better end.

The team kept coming and never seemed to get discouraged. As their defense kept getting better and kept finding its footing, they knew it was a matter of time before that door could open for them.

"“It’s what we’ve constantly said from the beginning,” Mosley said after Wednesday’s win. “We talk about them empowering one another and fighting for one another and competing together with that level of joy and passion. When you are down, our ability to fight back does a lot more than walk away wins understanding they had to go through some things to get that result.”"

Orlando still has a lot to learn and a long way to go. The offense got stuck too many times and the team struggled to break down Indiana’s zone. The Magic’s defense was poor most of the game and they gave up way too many threes.

It was a sloppy game.

But it is always better to learn lessons while winning. And the fact the Magic could, even against a depleted Pacers team, dig out a win on such a bad night is a very encouraging sign for what this team is capable of.

The Magic have shown in the last two weeks they can put those lessons from all those losses together and scratch out victories. Even on a bad night.