The Orlando Magic had been climbing uphill all game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. But they had not faced the avalanche that this Cavs team is so capable of. They were within striking distance.
After Thursday's blowout loss, they withstood an early run and had decent energy and defense to hang tough. All the Magic needed to do was maintain that energy and make some shots. They desperately needed to make some shots.
Those never came.
Trailing by eight points with two minutes left in the third quarter, the game was in the balance. The Cavs were the ones to tip it in their favor.
Donovan Mitchell followed with two layups to extend the lead to 12, with an ill-advised pull-up three from Paolo Banchero in the middle. A Thomas Bryant three maintained a 12-point lead heading to the fourth quarter.
That is how a lot of the third quarter went. Every time the Magic needed a three, they could not get one to go down. When the Cavs needed one they could.
That is really how the entire game went. Orlando was more encouraged with its start and more encouraged with its effort and energy. Shots would not fall. This team still struggles to score consistently in a 119-105 defeat at Kia Center, the Magic's third straight defeat.
"I think that's been our struggle as of late," Desmond Bane said after Saturday's loss. "Just how we're going to manufacture good looks and good possessions time after time. For the most part, I thought that we played a good brand of basketball, got some open shots through the meat of the game, and shots just didn't fall. Especially down the stretch, we've got to find ways to generate good looks for us."
Orlando is searching for answers again with a defense unable to contain the ball and an offense struggling to hit shots. The team is seeking where its energy will come from.
The team might be more encouraged with its execution and process than it was in recent games. But the result is still frustratingly the same.
It leads to an inescapable and frustrating truth: The Magic get their energy from their offense, the weakest part of their team. And if the offense is not working or getting shots to go down, it is going to be a long night.
Another rough shooting night
The point of the game is to make shots. That is how you score points. And that has remained the most difficult thing for this Orlando Magic team to do.
Orlando posted only a 105.0 offensive rating, a poor efficiency for any team. The Magic shot 40.7 percent for the game and 11 for 40 (27.5 percent) from three.
Even if the Magic's defense were on point, it would be difficult for a team shooting that poorly to keep up. As Paolo Banchero noted after Thursday's game, it is hard to maintain defensive intensity when shots are not falling. That is human nature, as much as the Magic fought against it in last year's futile offensive efforts.
It became far too difficult to sustain their more inspired effort with the shots not falling. Eventually the Cavs were able to pull away.
It started early as Orlando's 3-for-10 shooting effort from deep against Cleveland's 4-for-9 shooting spotted Cleveland the early lead. The Cavs hit a few threes early in the second to build their first double-digit lead.
The shooting difference just wore on the Magic completely. Orlando could not keep up as the team struggled to find scoring in a sluggish third quarter.
This game cam down to the ability to hit shots and very little more.
“Offensively, I thought we had a great process of getting open looks," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Saturday's loss. "We just got to step in and knock them down. That’s a big portion of it. You get the shots, you got to step to them with confidence, knock those shots down."
Finding that confidence has remained the trick. Mosley said the team needs to trust its work. But it is easy to see how hesitant players can be. Confidence is not flowing at the moment.
Progress and frustration
Maybe some of those shots were open, and they did not go in. Jamahl Mosley has preached the coaching cliche that a team cannot control whether shots go in or not, but the team can control its effort and intensity.
For the most part, the Magic had that intensity, whether it came from Jalen Suggs' return (nine points, 3-for-6 shooting and six assists), Moe Wagner looking far more comfortable (13 points, six rebounds) or Desmond Bane (20 points on 7-for-14 shooting) trying to will the team through some cold stretches.
Paolo Banchero kept constant pressure on the rim by getting to the foul line with 12 free throw attempts. He had 12 points on 2-for-9 shooting and 8-for-10 from the line through the first three quarters. He scored 15 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter, making all five of his shots, to give the Magic a puncher's chance in the fourth.
But the hill was always too steep to climb, especially with Donovan Mitchell with the ball in his hands. He snaked his way into the paint and scored at every turn as the defense continued to be a problem.
"I think that's when you talk about the process of doing things the right way," Jamahl Mosley said after Saturday's loss. "If you are not getting the looks that you want, that's something to be said. But we are getting the looks that you want. You have to continue to be able to step in with confidence and knock them down."
Mosley credited the team for not hanging their heads when shots did not go in. They stayed in the game, even as the lead got away from them, it did not become unattinable.
Cleveland went out and won the game, hitting the big shots it needed when Orlando missed. The Magic could not make the run to close the deficit.
But the Magic were always going to get outpaced with how inconsistent its outside shooting has been -- good process or not. Orlando had too many instances, particularly when Cleveland pulled away in the third, where Orlando missed an open three only to watch Cleveland answer with a three.
The Magic have seen that story play out far too often of late. Having some better energy merely left the door open for a comeback.
The pieces are just not coming together in a meaningful way. Orlando is still hoping that it can generate enough offense to give it some solid footing. And that is a shaky platform.