Jalen Suggs' energy remains the key to Orlando Magic's success

Jalen Suggs can always change a game in a moment. And it is never quite clear when his energy will impact the game.

Perhaps the killing blow, or the highlight-reel blow, came midway through the third quarter.

Suggs stepped into a 3-pointer and drained it before picking up Egor Demin near midcourt. He harassed the rookie guard, pokig the ball free and giving himself a runway for a fast-break dunk. Suggs delivered a 360 dunk that seemed to declare authoritatively that he was fully healthy after he missed a month with an MCL contusion in his left knee two games after returning from a hip injury.

When Suggs is making these kinds of highlight plays, the Magic's energy lifts. And at home, especially, that seems to be more than enough to bury teams.

Suggs had plenty of these plays throughout the game. He recorded his first career triple-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in the Orlando Magic's 118-98 win over the Brooklyn Nets. He even flirted with a 5x5 with a career-high four blocks and three steals.

"I thought he was great tonight," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Thursday's win. "His energy, his poise, his focus on the defensive end, getting guys involved and making the easy play. It was beautiful basketball because he came down with such poise to find the simple, easy pass for guys. That's what he is capable of doing. We know what he can do defensively. His ability to get guys involved is really special."

Suggs has always been the team's heartbeat. He has always been the barometer of the team's mood and energy. That is his role for this team. When he struggles and gets down, the team follows him.

He was as locked in as he has been, delivering great lob passes from out of bounds and spreading the ball around with energy and verve and hounding the Nets' ball-handlers on a night when they could not get their feet under them against a revitalized Magic defense.

Suggs was everywhere. And that is Magic basketball.

Struggling since his return

Jalen Suggs has been in need of a breakthrough game.

His first games since returning from the MCL contusion have been uneven. And the Magic's play has followed much of that unevenness.

In six games since returning from injury, Suggs averaged 11.3 points per game but shot only 34.7 percent from the floor and 26.3 percent from three.

He had only two games shooting 50.0 percent or better and, more alarmingly, only one game with a positive plus/minus, coming in the win over the Toronto Raptors.

There was hope that Suggs' return and presence would swing things on its own. But entering Thursday's game, the Magic had a -10.9 net rating with Suggs on the floor, including a 105.8 offensive rating. He still made a clear defensive impact, but the Magic needed his scoring to lift a lagging offense.

He has looked a step off as the Magic tried to ease him back into the swing of things. But Orlando was desperate for his offensive impact.

If there was one positive sign from Tuesday's loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, it was that Suggs found an offensive groove, scoring 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting.

That carried over into Thursday's game.

Suggs did not do a ton of heavy lifting with his scoring, but he was distributing the ball and making shots when the ball swung to him. He finished 6 for 9 from the floor and 3 for 5 from three. That powered his triple-double.

But it was more than his offensive counting stats.

He was active defensively, flying in for blocks and rebounds and starting fast breaks. He brought a level of energy on both ends that has been rare since his return. The Magic wer a team-high +24 with him on the floor. He made a true different, lifting the entire team's energy and hounding the Nets into constant mistakes and bad spots.

This is Suggs' job. He sets the tone defensively for the entire team and converts that energy into offense.

A seriousness on defense

That energy carried to the rest of the team.

The message coming out of the trade deadline was a return to basics and rediscovering the team's backbone on defense. They needed to find this identity first and foremost.

Jalen Suggs is the head of the snake on that end. He helps set the tone with his energy. But every player on the Magic has needed to pay with more intention and effort.

If the Magic are going to reclaim their defensive identity, everyone has a part to play.

"There was a seriousness to them," Jamahl Mosley said after Thursday's win. "A level of focus of what we needed to do. We had ben with this team before and had big leads and given them away."

Orlando got the pressure it likes from its backcourt, and that set the tone for the team for the rest of the game. The team tallied 14 steals and 11 blocks, the most "stocks" the team has had in any game this year.

The Magic opened the game by giving up just 19 points in the first quarter, holding the Nets to 7-for-22 shooting and 3-for-15 shooting from three. They followed it up by giving up just 21 points in the second quarter.

Orlando kept Brooklyn at arm's length for the rest of the game. The Nets trailed by 16 at halftime and only cut it to 14 briefly early in the third quarter.

"Everyone was focused today and locked in," Suggs said after Thursday's win. "Obviously, there was a heaviness around today. But I think we did a good job rallying together, picking each other up and keeping everybody locked in on the task at hand. I think it showed. We didn't waver much, our energy was consistent throughout. It's nice to have nights like this to reset the standard of what you can be. It's something you can look back on and try to replicate and be night in and night out."

The Orlando Magic's 100.0 defensive rating was their best since the romp over the Philadelphia 76ers in November. It was, at least, a sign that the Magic's elite defense is still in there somewhere.

When Suggs plays with the intensity, joy and fervor that has defined him and this team for so long, it spreads to everyone. Suggs does not need to be the leading scorer to make this kind of impact.

The Magic have shown signs of being normal. Suggs had his little dance party during the win over the Miami Heat last week and then there was that fourth quarter against the Toronto Raptors when he blew past his minute restriction to make sure the team won.

Suggs' energy remains essential to this team's success.