Orlando Magic should be done with moral victories, growth requires results

Dante Marchitelli of the Bally Sports Florida broadcast relayed to those watching on TV that Franz Wagner was as forceful as he has seen him all year in the huddle as the Orlando Magic tried to regroup heading into overtime against the Sacramento Kings.

Marchitelli said Wagner was imploring his teammates to secure rebounds and finish possessions. The Magic know they were the ones at fault in losing an eight-point lead with two minutes to play in regulation.

They were the ones that fouled Donte DiVincenzo and then failed to get the rebound after he missed his second free throw which led to DiVincenzo hitting a three. Sacramento cut Orlando’s lead in half in one possession. That is what it takes to eliminate impossible deficits.

It takes more mistakes too. They knew they were the ones who gave up two more offensive rebounds leading to Trey Lyles cutting the lead to two. Then finally, they knew they allowed Davion Mitchell to pressure Cole Anthony into a turnover and an easy lay-in to tie the game with 12 seconds left.

A win would have washed all that away. A win would have left those moments as positive lessons that ultimately still came with the ultimate positive — a victory and the maturity to withstand that run and execute to win.

All that right now is more valuable than anything else. The Magic have played enough games this year and show enough potential and poise to start making progress.

They knew it was in their hands to change this outcome and learn a valuable lesson while still succeeding. That is something so important for a young team.

Instead, the Magic fell apart again in overtime. They gave up the final eight points of regulation and the final seven points of overtime in a 114-110 defeat to the Kings.

The Orlando Magic gave up big runs at the end of regulation and overtime that cost the team a chance for a win and left them with another frustrating lesson.

It is not that the message fell on deaf ears. The Magic responded. But it still came in a loss. The reward remained elusive for this young team.

"“These are the opportunities that we have to learn from,” coach Jamahl Mosley said after Saturday’s loss. “We need to continue to understand the game is not over until that final horn goes off. Again, a great experience for our young guys to be in this situation, to understand how we can continue to execute down the stretch, to finish possessions off with a rebound, to value the basketball and, again, execute down the stretch.”"

The Magic’s coaching staff may continue to speak publicly that this team’s measure is not in wins and losses. That may still be largely true. But not when there is an opportunity to win like this.

The players seemed to understand that, somberly walking off the court after giving this one away and speaking with the same kind of seriousness afterward. They too seem sick of losing and want to put results to their names.

Orlando’s young team is at a point where the team has had its fill of moral victories. This team needs results. At the end of the day, despite the protestations against that evaluation, wins and losses are the best way to measure where a team is at.

The Magic should not hide behind their youth or their modest goals for this season anymore. This team should be seeing the fruits of their development this season as the year comes to an end.

This was a game the Magic needed to win, no matter what lessons the team ultimately can get from it. A loss still says so much about the work the team has to put in.

"“I think either way that would have been a game we could learn from,” Mo Bamba said after Saturday’s loss. “We just did so many little things that put us out of position to not win that game. I think we were going to learn from that game either way as far as executing down the stretch. We’re getting the ball in the right places down the stretch, but it’s just a matter of making those shots that we normally make.”"

But sure, you could give the Magic credit for finding that composure Wagner called for in the huddle and digging down defensively as they did for much of the three previous quarters. They found it and again took the lead as Chuma Okeke hit a 3-pointer to give Orlando the lead, making good on Jamahl Mosley’s promise to him that he would make good on a missed open jumper at the regulation buzzer.

But it all came undone again in the final two minutes of overtime. After Anthony hit a step-back jumper to give the Magic a three-point lead, the Kings got back to work.

They tied the game again on a DiVincenzo 3-pointer. Then after Franz Wagner missed a running hook shot, Harrison Barnes delivered with a 3-pointer when Wagner floated too far to the lane to stop Davion Mitchell from driving into the paint.

That was game as Anthony was unable to hit an open three after a defend blew by him and he rushed his reset shot. The Magic fell short.

For an Orlando team still trying to carve out its identity, it was Sacramento making all the “bell” plays and little plays it took to win the game.

If there was a lesson then that this team must learn — and has likely absorbed too many times during this difficult season — it was just how fragile strong play can be and how necessary it is to play well through 48 minutes.

If the Magic want to point to positives, there were plenty. They put themselves up eight with two minutes to play with a near-certainty to win the game. They showed the kind of poise it will take to win games and continued their growth in absorbing runs and battling out to push the lead and control the game. They battled back from a horrid first quarter and a double-digit deficit to control the tempo of the game.

Then the last two minutes happened and it was all lost. That cannot sit well with anyone. And there is no rationalizing this as a good thing.

There should not be at this point of the season. This point of the season should be showing how the Magic have put everything together and the potential they have.

Orlando has done that at times. But the last missing piece is the hardest piece. That is winning consistently and finishing games.

"“Tonight was a prime example of something we can learn from,” Markelle Fultz said after Saturday’s loss. “We had plenty of opportunities to execute and pull it out and do stuff we’ve been working on in practice. Tonight, unfortunately, we didn’t secure the W. That’s definitely something we can go back and look at and learn from. But not hold our heads down on. We definitely should be disappointed but learn from our mistakes and keep moving forward.”"

The Magic are 7-8 since the All-Star Break. They scored a nice late win in beating the Golden State Warriors. They are increasingly earning and picking up these moments late in games.

But Saturday’s loss is a reminder of the work that still lies ahead. There is a lot of work ahead.

All the team can do in a loss is take those lessons and reflect what the team can do better next time. Bamba put it most succinctly though, “Up two with 14 seconds left in the NBA, you have to win that game.”

Dissatisfaction with a loss like this is certainly a start. No one should be happy losing this game no matter what the team might end up learning from it.