Wendell Carter said the Orlando Magic got together before Tuesday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers.
They had two disappointing efforts at home against the Boston Celtics and Memphis Grizzlies that seemed to halt the good vibes of their four in six stretch. It was not just the expected dose of reality. It was a gut check to a team that had lived on finding positives even in defeat.
There was nothing good about those games.
They simply needed to refocus themselves and absorb all the lessons they had seemingly absorbed before. The team had something to prove as they started a West Coast road trip.
It took the simplest thing to get there. The discussion centered on weathering the storm and making sure the inevitable runs that come in an NBA game do not balloon into something unmanageable. The Magic needed to find a response.
The Orlando Magic took a reminder to play in the moment to help them absorb some runs and beat back the Portland Trail Blazers for a needed win.
Seeing an 18-point first-half lead get cut down to as little as two points again showed this team’s youth. There are still a lot of lessons to learn and a lot of shortcomings to overcome.
Even against a short-handed Portland Trail Blazers team, seeing the Orlando Magic push the lead back out to double digits, hold on and then put one final killing blow to secure the 113-95 win on the road at Moda Center is a sign of progress too.
The things the team is focusing on are setting in and the Magic do have the pride and fight to bounce back. Orlando took a deep look at itself and refocused on its own progress and game.
"“Our biggest thing is being able to weather the storm,” Carter said after Tuesday’s game. “The last two or three games before this one, we were being frustrated by things we couldn’t control. I think we did a really good job of that tonight. When things happened, they happened and we just tried to keep it moving. . . . I think we did a really good job of just moving on to the next play and living in the moment.”"
Carter said that meant focusing on getting the next stop, the next rebound or a good shot. Focusing on the granular of the next play and playing in the moment and play to play is key to helping stop the bleeding and halt runs before they get out of hand.
He is certainly right that this is something that has gotten the Magic down in the past and only made things worse. Nobody can erase a deficit or stop a run in one play. It takes building it play by play.
That is something the Magic have tried to focus on overall as they progress and learn this season. Coach Jamahl Mosley has preached focusing on winning each play and each day as a way to help the team continue to find progress and development.
They have not always been the best at applying that through the course of the games. Their record certainly reflects that.
But the team has learned and improved in that way.
Cole Anthony said the team has had numerous games this year where they lost the game solely because of the third quarter where they come out flat and they struggle to play their best.
Tuesday’s game was no exception to that either, even with the Magic’s heightened focus to start second halves.
They saw a 15-point halftime lead cut to four within five minutes into the third quarter. It was another frustrating way to start the game. And it was all largely of the Magic’s doing.
Orlando turned the ball over six times in the third quarter (13 times total), allowing Portland to set up in transition. The Magic struggled with offensive rebounds early in the game too, allowing the Blazers to get extra opportunities.
On top of all this, Portland went to the line 26 times in the game. There was a lot the Magic could control that they were not that made the game a lot closer than it had to be considering how well the Magic were moving the ball offensively — 34 assists on 44 field goals and 19 made 3-pointers on 38 attempts.
But the team did not hang its head or let the Blazers beat them in that moment. The Magic did all the things they had to do to pull out the win. Once they were able to find their center and absorb these runs, they responded in kind to expand the lead.
"“I think that third quarter they hit us with a big run with those threes right off the bat,” coach Jamahl Mosley said after Tuesday’s win. “We settled ourselves down, communicated the things we needed to see. Our ability to sustain our effort as well as put together a 16-point fourth quarter says a lot about our guys being resilient and understanding the defensive end is where we are going to get things done.”"
The Magic built their leads in the second and fourth quarters thanks to their defense holding the Blazers to less than 20 points. They forced turnovers and turned missed shots into fast-break opportunities. They were able to get their defense set too because they were hitting shots and reducing their own turnover counts.
Wendell Carter certainly deserves some extra credit for the physicality he played Jusuf Nurkic, keeping him from getting easy points around the basket and off the offensive glass. Carter set a good physical tone and made great plays as both a shotmaker and passer throughout the game.
But the team’s final run might have been the most impressive aspect of the game.
Orlando finished the game with a 14-2 run. It started with Cole Anthony saving a broken possession by batting the ball out to Franz Wagner for a 3-pointer to expand the lead back to nine. Wagner hit another three and Chuma Okeke had two 3-pointers all in that final five minutes of the game.
That was enough to bury a team like Portland and put Orlando back on the right track toward a win.
For this young team, it was a sign of how they can respond and make plays to push back when teams test them during these games.
"“I think we just did a really good job staying composed,” Anthony said after Tuesday’s win. “I think we’ve had games in the past where teams have made a run and we’ll kind of put our heads down and act like the game is over. We were super engaged this game and did a really good job not letting that little run affect us. And instead, go on our own run and separating from them and sealing the game like that.”"
It should be said the Blazers were extremely undermanned.
They completed a major trade in the afternoon that sent three players out. While they made another trade last week, the players they received from the LA Clippers are not playing. Damian Lillard is still out with an injury too.
No one will confuse this Portland team with anything near full strength. The Magic got a rare for them “get right” game against a weaker opponent and put their thumb on the scale to win running away even with the hiccups and errors throughout the game.
Still, the Magic needed to come together and experience those positive vibes again. They needed to see themselves take control of the game back and put it away. The Blazers afford them an opportunity to do so.
Orlando got the lesson out of the game the team needed as the group continues to build and regain the confidence perhaps lost from the weekend losses.