Orlando Magic’s win built on the little moments throughout

So much of the Orlando Magic’s season is about the highlight moments.

There has been a healthy amount of hand-wringing about the Magic’s fourth-quarter struggles — from having one of the worst overall net ratings in the fourth quarter to the overt collapses like the one against the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier this season.

Just as important, the biggest moments from Thursday’s win over the Golden State Warriors are the ones that came at the end.

Jalen Suggs is rightfully the hero after back-to-back big 3-pointers and two steals in the waning moments of the game that had the Amway Center about ready to burst.

The Orlando magic had a brilliant performance in the clutch to beat the Golden State Warriors. But the real lesson is the little moments it took to get there.

To be sure, so much of this season for the Magic is about learning how to win and learning how to perform under the pressure of close games. Whether the team is able to surprise teams and rise up the standings or will still languish near the bottom might come down to how they perform late in games.

But the bigger goal is understanding what it takes to get to those big moments and how the game builds to that crescendo. These are not two-minute games, but 48-minute games. The Magic are still trying to understand what it takes to win.

So as Suggs certainly celebrated his big moment and the win it helped create, he was cognizant of the moments that set him up and how vital they were to deliver the needed victory.

"“All of us contributed all night long,” Suggs said after Thursday’s win over the Warriors. “I ended up getting the ones at the end. The ones that happened before that are at the same level. If they don’t do those things and us as a team don’t play like that, I don’t get those opportunities.”"

To beat the defending champions, it really took a team effort. The Magic had several moments where it looked like the team might be down for the count.

The Warriors got off to a blazing start, building a 10-point lead before Chuma Okeke hit three 3-pointers on his way to 12 points in the first quarter to get Orlando back in the game.

Golden State again looked like it would pull away in the third quarter, building a 16-point lead. The magic though whittled it down to two before the end of the third quarter.

They did that behind Paolo Banchero taking over the game with 12 of his 22 points in the frame. He forced his way to the basket, getting to the line and finishing at the rim to find some rhythm.

Banchero is still learning the finer parts of how to be a star and when to take over games. He said after the game he felt he was getting good shots in the first half but was only sort of half-aggressive. There is definitely a thing where he settles for jumpers as defenses duck under screens, fearing his ability to draw contact in the paint.

But Banchero found that aggression soon enough and that helped propel the team forward and back into the game.

"“As the game goes on, he’s finding his times to when he can go and not go,” Mosley said of Banchero after Thursday’s game. “Early on he was being very aggressive early and then understanding how they were playing him. In the third quarter came, he recognized some of the plays and how they were playing him so he was allowed to get downhill on those second plays.”"

That adjustment was critical to his offensive explosion. The Warriors struggled to stop him once the train started going down the tracks.

But he was hardly alone though. Kevon Harris provided a strong sprinkling of energy throughout his time on the court in the second half, scoring 12 points to go with five rebounds, including four offensive rebounds. He constantly put pressure on the paint and the rim.

The biggest key to the game might well have been the moments after Banchero came out in the third quarter.

Orlando dropped that 16-point lead to nine before Banchero checked out of the game. A bench group of Kevon Harris, R.J. Hampton, Franz Wagner, Chuma Okeke and Wendell Carter brought the Magic the rest of the way there in the third. It was a lineup of Jalen Suggs, Kevon Harris, R.J. Hampton, Caleb Houstan and Chuma Okeke that played critical minutes to start the fourth quarter — going +7 in 3:21 to take the lead — before the teams started reloading their starters.

Those kinds of lineups would normally make everyone sweat. It was certainly a gamble for Jamahl Mosley with Bol Bol struggling in the game and the Warriors trending to smaller lineups to go with this unproven group.

The risk paid off. And everyone played their role to set up the win.

"“Between the bench and our fans, it was electric and exciting,” Mosley said after Thursday’s game. “We are not in that first quarter if Chuma Okeke doesn’t come in and knock down some big shots. We don’t sustain the effort if Kevon Harris doesn’t come in there and do a great job defensively and grab a couple of offensive rebounds. We’re not in the game if R.J. doesn’t come off the bench and play his minutes strongly and make some key plays. That’s a testament to those guys staying ready and stepping into the big moment and not being afraid.”"

To get such a monumental win took getting contributions from a lot of unexpected areas and winning minutes at unexpected times.

If anything this game should serve as that reminder that it is not just the end of games that matter.

Those important clutch and fourth-quarter moments are not just built at the end of the game, they are built on plays throughout the game.

Orlando can point to these moments where the team faltered in the team’s losses too. Whether it is a bad run in the second quarter in the loss to the Detroit Pistons on opening night, the Boston Celtics scratching out key baskets and stops in the middle of the fourth quarter of the home opener or the bench giving away the lead late in the third quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder forcing Mosley to play his big three the entire fourth quarter, these moments add up to make a game.

As important as it can be to focus on the final moments of the game and making plays late in the game, it is just as important to capitalize and make these little moments happen.

"“I really believe it is part for our guys to understand of staying the course no matter what happens in a 48-minute game,” Mosley said after Thursday’s game. “We saw what happened the other night. They learned from that. Understanding you have to play down the stretch and dominate the simple plays. Our guys did that.”"

There is still plenty of learning for this team to do. And winning close games will be a big part of that process. So too will be getting there, learning to protect leads and reduce deficits throughout the course of the game.

Learning how to play and manage the full 48 minutes is something young teams may not think about because there is no glory in a third-quarter run. But it is just as important as the closing moment in the grand scheme of things.

That might be what made the win over Golden State that much more rewarding. There was a great finishing kick from Suggs. But it was the little moments that built it up.