Anthony Black has had to go through a lot of lessons this year.
After two seasons playing in and out of the rotation, the team's trades in the offseason squarely put him in the spotlight. It put all the pressure on him to deliver consistently. All those calls for him to be more aggressive would need to come to fruition.
His inconsistency is quickly disappearing. Black is quickly learning from his missteps, as young players do. He is quickly becoming his own player. He is quickly finding out exactly what he can do.
And he is quickly learning sometimes he has to be the one to put that on display.
Black was the Magic's star Saturday, scoring a career-high and team season-high 38 points. He made 7 of his 11 3-pointers and 14 of his 24 shots overall, adding six rebounds and five assists for good measure.
It was not only those offensive contributions. Black was critical on defense. He stole the ball from Nikola Jokic, racing to the other end for an and-1 basket that put the Magic up one with 1:06 to play. On the Nuggets' final possession, Anthony Black knocked the ball away from both Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray before avoiding the foul to challenge Murray's step-back attempt.
It was no good and the Orlando Magic survived a hectic and difficult finish to defeat the Denver Nuggets 127-126.
When nothing else was working for the Magic, they had Black. And that gave them the chance to win. All that work has built up to this.
"I feel like I put in a tremendous amount of work in the summer," Anthony Black said after Saturday's win. "I feel like this year it is just showing. I'm just leaning into it and leaning into my confidence and my abilities."
With everything going on with the Magic right now -- from the injuries to Paolo Banchero's struggles to find his groove -- the team has needed some consistency. It has needed something the team could rely on.
Black has quietly been delivering for this team all season and even more so now.
Black is the star?
Since the end of the NBA Cup and the injury to Jalen Suggs, the Orlando Magic have been kind of rudderless.
The pieces of the puzzle are not fitting together as well as the team tries to navigate injuries. There has been a vacuum searching for some consistency.
That is not the vacuum you would expect Anthony Black to fill.
For most of the first two years of his career, teammates have been begging him to be aggressive. They continually believed there was another level for Black to unlock. It was just up to him to unlock it.
Black showed hints of what that can look like with a 20-point second quarter in the Orlando Magic's blowout win over the Philadelphia 76ers in December. He has had big games before. They all seemed like flashes in the pan, quickly diminishing.
Black has never strung together a run of games quite like this.
In the Magic's last six games, Black has averaged a team-high 24.2 points per game. He is shooting 50.0 percent from the floor and 20 for 41 (48.8 percent) from three.
In a stretch of games where everyone has been inconsistent, Black has been the one solid metronome. He has been a consistent offensive option.
That is something nobody expected from him. Even if he was going to take a pretty sizable leap.
"He's put the work in," Desmond Bane said after Saturday's win. "He laid the foundation for a great season with the way he approached the summer and the way he works. He's a vocal guy. Play with heart, play with energy on both sides of the ball. I'm really happy with his growth. He's a special player, and he's only going to get better."
Black has had a career season, averaging 15.1 points per game on 45.7-percent shooting and 35.6-percent shooting from three. Those may not seem like the most efficient numbers, but they are coming on career-highs in attempts on both.
Black has scored at least 20 points in five of his past six games -- he scored in the lone game he did not hit 20. Black has scored 20 or more in nine games this season. He had nine total in two seasons entering this year.
This is a clear leap from Black.
What the Magic need
Anthony Black filled the role the team desperately needed for much of the game Saturday. The Orlando Magic needed a star to pace them and get points when things were not easy.
Orlando needs a consistent attacker and scorer right now.
They need someone who will make the right plays and pace the team when things get hard. Black has worked successfully in transition, as a spot-up shooter and as a main scorer. Not without some hiccups at times. Saturday was by far his most complete performance.
They just needed Black to tide things over until their main stars woke up.
After struggling in the first half with five points, Desmond Bane scored 15 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, including the go-ahead free throws with six seconds left. Paolo Banchero finished with 12 points, six rebounds and six assists, hitting two critical shots in the fourth quarter to extend the lead to seven points briefly.
The Magic need someone who can score and create consistently.
They found that throughout the second half -- where Black had 22 points after scoring 15 in the first quarter -- and that is why they were able to make up the 17-point deficit and eventually zoom ahead.
The Magic have needed this burst from Black in the worst ways.
"Confidence, stepping into his shot, playing the right way, the things that we have talked about him being and doing each night," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Saturday's game. "When he gets that ball in his hands and just looking to attack and getting downhill. And then taking on the challenge of guarding one of the best guards in the league."
It is not only positive for his development. But it is necessary as this team tries to find itself again. Black has helped fill that vacuum and become a reliable offensive option.
That was always going to elevate the team. Now, it feels necessary for their survival.