Orlando Magic try to stay level after three-game win streak

The Orlando Magic are not walking around the AdventHealth Training Center any differently than they were before. Or at least they hope not.

They know what the depths of a losing streak can look like and are under no impression that three games help them erase a difficult start to the season. Orlando is still sitting near the bottom of the standings at 8-20, a full five games back of the Miami Heat for the final spot in the Play-In Tournament at this still-early stage of the season.

The Orlando Magic are riding moderately high after a three-game win streak. That came from their growth and focus. Now they work to carry it forward.

Still, everyone is feeling a bit better after a three-game win streak. They can feel the comfort and confidence of their turnaround, seeing their defense take a big step forward and everything else click into place.

If anything, the winning has made the Magic hungrier for more. At least they hope so.

"“I don’t think anyone is walking around here like we are the hottest team,” Paolo Banchero said after practice Tuesday. “We understand that there is a lot of work to do. We won three straight but before that we lost like nine straight.“I don’t think anyone is super happy because we are on a three-game streak. Everyone is hungrier and wants to do a lot more to keep building and get us even more success. Because at the end of the day, our goal isn’t to win three straight. Our goal is to compete at the end of the season and be in the mix. That’s where we are trying to get to.”"

This was a message that several players made.

Mo Bamba perhaps most famously vocalized that after Sunday’s win over the Toronto Raptors when he said “you don’t want to eat the cheese.”

The team does not want a small taste of success. They cannot get bored with success or take this success for more than what it is.

They have to keep striving and staying “true to themselves” and committed to their work to get better. The team has to see this as the end product of the work they put in and that it will only continue if they keep improving and working.

That is a fancy way of saying the old NBA adage: “You can’t get too high and you can’t get too low.”

The team is focused on what it can do to keep this going and to keep building on what has been working for the team. They know the version of themselves that lost nine straight is still there and something to avoid.

The Magic are trying to keep the consistent message that it is about the team’s growth that creates these final results.

"“We say it in the losses, you say it in the wins: You aren’t as good as your wins and you are not as bad as your losses,” coach Jamahl Mosley said after practice Tuesday. “Each one of those situations you have to learn from. You have to take the good out of each situation and you have to take the levels of improvement out of each situation. Our ability to take the good and the improvements out of every situation whether it’s a win or loss is what we have to continue to do.”"

Still, that served as a spur to get the team to come together and figure things out.

Mosley said the Magic’s loss to the Raptors in Toronto last Saturday was a big wake-up call for the team. After giving up 70 points in the paint and 25 points off 16 turnovers, the team put a bigger focus on the gameplan.

That has shown itself in the last four games at the Amway Center that included this breakthrough three-game win streak. Orlando has been much more focused and determined and the results have shown.

If Orlando is going to make something out of this winning streak, it will be building on the foundations that have helped the team win.

That starts on defense, where the team is giving up 107.3 points per 100 possessions in the last four games (fourth in the league in that time). For the season, the Magic are 26th in the league at 114.5 points per 100 possessions.

The team has also put greater focus on defending the paint. The Magic are giving up 39.0 points in the paint per game in the last four games (third in the league over the last four games) compared to 49.4 per game (18th in the league overall).

The team also has put more emphasis on moving the ball. That has helped boost the team too. The Magic are averaging 112.2 points per 100 possessions (15th in the league) during these last four games, compared to 109.5 for the season.

Those are all bedrock of what the Magic want to do. And something the team can build on.

"“I think defensively we have made statements in each of those games,” Cole Anthony said after practice Tuesday. “That’s the main thing. It has translated to us getting easy buckets on offense and translated into wins.“We’ve got to stay focused. We can’t let three games go to our heads. Just like we can’t let the eight or nine losses we had before go to our heads. Enjoy the wins. You learn from it the same way you learn from a loss. And you try to do it again. Try to stick to that formula and turn it into four wins in a row and five.”"

The team is still looking for that kind of consistency. That is the white whale of any young team — chased to the same maddening results at times.

The Magic have found a little pocket of consistency where things have clicked. And now this group is experiencing success for the first time.

With one more home game left against an injury-depleted Atlanta Hawks team — playing without Dejounte Murray (left ankle sprain) and waiting on status updates for Trae Young (low back tightness) and John Collins (left ankle sprain) who sat out Monday’s blowout loss to the Memphis Grizzlies — the Orlando Magic’s focus and attention to the gameplan will be tested again.

It is just as important to win these games as it is to win the marquee games on the schedule. And that is where this Magic team has struggled at times this year. And then the team will have to figure out how to take this on the road.

Orlando knows its success can easily turn.

For now, the Magic are trying to cement what helped them build this feel-good run and build off this three-game win streak. It will indeed take a level head.