The Orlando Magic walked off the floor at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee disappointed but proud.
The team had their eyes set on doing well in the tournament. They felt their chance to prove themselves and make a name in the tournament was ripped from them on the last day. But they also recognized their own mistake in a 20-point loss in their opening game against the Brooklyn Nets cost them a chance to advance.
They were determined not to let that happen again. They came out firing and gave themselves a 36-point cushion as they entered the final game of group play.
This time though, circumstances put the Magic in a hole. Their trip to the NBA Cup quarterfinals was not everything they hoped it would be. Their All-Star Paolo Banchero was already out with a torn oblique. By the time the knockout round rolled around, the Magic were down their other star, Franz Wagner.
Orlando did not get the playoff test run they hoped for. That did not matter much. They still had a game to try to win.
But advancing to Las Vegas was just out of their reach once again. Losing 114-109 to the Bucks on a Damian Lillard three and layup in the final minute was a bitter pill. It was a tough loss regardless of the NBA Cup stakes.
Some players took the loss as just a loss. Something that happens in the regular season. Others took it harder. There was a missed opportunity to score a quality road win and advance in the NBA Cup.
What should be clear is that the NBA Cup is starting to wriggle its way into the NBA psyche.
In the end, falling short of heading to Vegas in the NBA Cup does not affect the Magic’s playoff hopes—other than drawing the Bucks one game closer in this instance. Orlando’s regular season marches on. In a few weeks, the NBA Cup will only serve only as an early season distraction.
Still, it was a lesson. The games had stakes if the teams wanted them. And the NBA Cup was important to the Magic. Like last year, Orlando wanted to do well. The team saw it as a chance to grow and gain experience in meaningful games.
Last year, the Magic used it as a launching pad for their playoff push. They gained confidence from the experience of going 3-1 and falling just short of the wild card thanks to a 30-plus-point victory by the Boston Celtics on the final day.
They wanted it again. Whether this proves to be a confidence builder will be revealed in time. But now that the Magic are out of the tournament, what did they learn?
There are plenty of things to take away.
3. The Magic still must prove themselves
If there is a big criticism for the Orlando Magic’s 17-11 record so far, it is that it is devoid of quality wins. Orlando is 4-8 against teams with records above .500–two wins against the Phoenix Suns, one against the Los Angeles Lakers, and one against the Miami Heat.
East Group A ended up not being the tall task it looked like in the summer. The Philadelphia 76ers are not the contending team everyone thought they were.
And so, in this tournament, Orlando lost the two games during NBA Cup play against teams with winning records. And that loss at the New York Knicks, a 121-106 defeat that saw the Magic trail by as much as 37 points and flirt with not advancing, was jarring.
This was supposed to be the Magic's statement of intent. The whole NBA Cup was meant to be that statement.
Instead, the Magic had to save face with a better showing in the quarterfinal and get the bad taste of what felt like a 30-point loss out of their mouths. Orlando is still looking for a stage to prove itself.
The Magic have plenty of excuses for their struggles—namely Paolo Banchero has been out for the majority of those games and now Franz Wagner is out too. The Orlando Magic showed it is game to fight even elite teams in the loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in the quarterfinal and then again in the home loss Sunday against the New York Knicks.
But both games showed how small the margin for error is for this team in both games. It took only a brief moment of poor defense for Damian Lillard to score the five points he needed to send the Bucks to Las Vegas. And it was only a three-minute stretch in the second quarter that gave the Knicks a double-digit lead they held for the entire second half.
Orlando is not going to use excuses. And while the Magic continue to feast on the bad teams, ultimately their season will be measured in whether they win these big games. They have to beat these teams in the playoffs at the end of the day.
The loss to the Knicks made clear the Magic need more playmaking and shooting. While Paolo Banchero's eventual return will help in both categories, it felt like the Knicks made a statement they are the contenders and the Magic are not ready.
Orlando still needs to prove itself against quality teams. And there will be plenty more opportunities—especially during the rest of this homestand to close the 2024 calendar year.
The Magic still need to win these games—whether under pressure and facing stakes or not.
2. The Magic are serious about competing
Despite the disappointing losses to the New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks on the road, the Orlando Magic still proved they are serious about winning. The way they took care of their business against the Charlotte Hornets, Brooklyn Nets, and Philadelphia 76ers spoke to the seriousness and maturity of their approach to these games.
The Magic spoke all offseason about not giving away games because they were tired or injured. And while there are still areas the team needs to clean up, they treated each of these games seriously. Even when they struggled, they still pulled out the wins.
If there is one thing Orlando has shown the league through the first third of the season, it is that the team will take care of business against bad teams and will compete against the good teams. The Magic, even with their injuries are a tough out.
More importantly, they expect to win. That is something different from last year when the Magic experienced winning for the first time.
Orlando has established its way to win and it all starts on defense. The Magic are still ranked third in defensive rating even with all of their injuries. That feels like the one constant and it gives the offense a very wide berth to figure itself out.
It is no surprise the Magic leaned on that. They had to win with three very different offensive showings. But the defense remained consistent. And that got them moving in the right direction during this important time.
The defense is very real and the Magic are not going to change on that front. They are a tough team to run out of the building. They will compete for everything and only the elite teams seem to have the upper hand on them.
3. Jalen Suggs lives for the moment
The Orlando Magic had to play the entire NBA Cup without Paolo Banchero. That set the stage for other players to step in.
Franz Wagner stepped onto the stage in a major way. He should still be a candidate to be named to the all-NBA Cup team after averaging 30.5 points per game (fifth in the league), 7.5 rebounds per game and 6.3 assists per game. Even in the loss to the Knicks, Wagner poured in 30 points and six assists. He showed out on the national stage.
The NBA Cup was Wagner's moment. It was a shame it got cut short.
But that gave Jalen Suggs a stage to perform. And Suggs had some very big moments during the NBA Cup.
His biggest clearly came in the quarterfinal when he led the team into Milwaukee and nearly took down the Milwaukee Bucks on the road. Suggs had a career-high 32 points in that game.
But what stood out was how he stepped up in the fourth quarter. It was not just the 18 points he scored in the fourth quarter against the Bucks. He also hit a huge game-clinching three midway through the fourth quarter that delivered a win against the Philadelphia 76ers (with Joel Embiid in the lineup for that game).
He had a lot of big moments throughout the NBA Cup. And it checks what he typically does in the fourth quarter.
Suggs' 4.7 points per game in the fourth quarter of games is second on the team behind Franz Wagner and it jumped to 7.0 points per game in the NBA Cup games thanks to 18 in the fourth against Milwaukee and 11 in the fourth against Philadelphia. He shoots 46.1 percent overall in the fourth quarter.
Suggs has always loved the big moments.
He was certainly feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders after the loss to the Bucks last week. His postgame press conference barely rose above a whisper after the loss in the quarterfinal. He missed two shots down the stretch that kept the Magic from keeping up and advancing were still on his mind.
That only shows how much he cares. And Suggs remains the heartbeat of this team.
Like Wagner, Suggs had to put to bed a horrendous showing in Game 7. Suggs started taking steps to doing that in pressure games throughout the NBA Cup games. That should carry over to the playoffs in the spring.