The national narrative following the Orlando Magic after their playoff series against the Boston Celtics was general encouragement.
Despite all the injuries and absences this season, the Magic's defense still stood tall, eliminating the Celtics' biggest offensive weapon in their 3-point shooting. Orlando forced Jayson Tatum into a dominant offensive showing to eliminate the Magic.
Orlando's deficiencies were also clear. The Magic did not have enough shooting -- making 26.3 percent from three -- and could not use their offense to take advantage of their stellar defense.
From the local perspective, the playoff series loss seemed to increase the urgency to solve the team's offensive issues and strike now with the team they have and what they have built in the last three years.
Injuries may have deprived the Magic of their ability to accomplish all of their goals during the season. It may have put them in the 7-seed and playing the Celtics in the first round instead of the second, but the team still saw its potential.
"Especially with two of our main guys being out, it shows we found ways to get wins in the regular season," Wendell Carter said after Game 5. "We won one in this series. We're not satisfied. As competitors, we want to be better and do better not only for yourself, but for this team. At the end of the day, we're competitors and we want to win."
That might be the biggest thing to take away. Orlando feels that it is close. The franchise and the team feel like it is on the doorstep of contention. How close and how much the team deviates from its plans and ideals will be determined in the offseason.
But the Magic do not get there without exiting even a five-game series with a certainty of who they are as a team.
Orlando may have been out quickly, but the team saw the traits that could make it a title contender. And keeping those traits will be vital to the team's ultimate success.
The Magic showed two critical things during their Playoff series that will help them build beyond this season and proved they are not far away from the contention status they seek.
The Magic cemented two key parts of their identity.
The Stars Shined
The first was that their stars could produce even against a championship-level defense.
Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner were universally praised for how they handled the playoff series. They previewed how dangerous the Orlando Magic could be.
Few teams have two All-Stars every year. They are usually reserved for teams near the top of the standings. But Banchero and Wagner both look like they will be perennial All-Stars and constants on the All-NBA team.
The injury to Wagner probably saved the Magic from paying Wagner the supermax for making the All-NBA team. Orlando is likely expecting to pay that for Banchero's max when he is a likely All-NBA player next year.
But stars of that magnitude must step up in the Playoffs. And the increase in urgency to improve the roster comes because of how good Banchero and Wagner were carrying this Magic team.
Banchero averaged 29.4 points per game on 43.5/44.4/65.9 shooting splits, leaving points on the foul line. But considering Banchero took a playoff-leading 24.8 field goal attempts per game, he had a lot of control over the game. And he held his end of the bargain, carrying the Magic's flailing offense.
It is fair to say that the only reason the Magic finally got blown out in Game 5 was the three fouls he picked up early in the third quarter. Orlando finally buckled with that pillar removed.
Wagner, after an up-and-down Playoff series last year against the Cleveland Cavaliers, was stellar throughout this series.
He averaged 25.8 points per game on 44.3/18.9/76.9 shooting splits. His 3-point struggles remained the biggest issue he faced, but he scored the decisive points in the last two minutes of the Magic's Game 3 victory, taking Kristaps Porzingis to school.
The Magic knew they had two special players in Banchero and Wagner. But seeing them stand so tall against a championship-level defense in the Celtics and be such a problem that the Celtics could not blow them out.
Orlando was not a typical 7-seed because of these two stars. And Banchero and Wagner are the team's biggest hope for the future.
Defense Stands Out
The Orlando Magic's defense also stood out. Orlando was second in the league in defensive rating throughout the season and have leaned on that defense as its identity.
The Orlando Magic's defense impressed again, keeping the Boston Celtics from finding three-pointers and all-but eliminating that weapon from their arsenal.
The Celtics averaged 48.2 3-point attempts per game and shot 36.8 percent from three in the series. During the Boston Celtics' six-game series loss to the New York Knicks, they shot 46.2 attempts per game and made 35.0 percent of their threes -- with some wild variance between wins and losses.
During the Magic's series with the Celtics, the Celtics took only 31.2 attempts per game, making 37.8 percent.
Boston shot much better from three in the series with Orlando -- with notably strong shooting games in Games 1 and 5. But the Magic's style of lowering the possession counts and limiting three-point attempts limited the damage of that three-point shooting.
Everyone was impressed with the Magic's ability to eliminate the Celtics' most fearsome offensive weapon throughout the series.
Even though Game 5 was the only true blowout in the series, it was not even the Celtics' best offensive showing by offensive rating (that would be Game 4, the decisive game in the series).
Orlando's defense finished with a 117.4 defensive rating. It did not put up the numbers it typically does. But the Magic's defense largely accomplished what it set out to do. The Celtics scored in many of the ways the Magic were happy to live with.
"I think we saw how effective our defense is against one of the best teams in the league," Wagner said after Game 5. "Obviously, small margins win these games. Third quarter today, last four minutes last game, it's just one or two possessions sometimes that makes such a huge difference. We go here 2-2, it's a totally different game. That's what's fun about the playoffs. We'll make sure we get better in the offseason and come back better next year."
That Game 4 loss, that saw the Magic tied at 93 with about four minutes to play before Jayson Tatum took over the end of the game and showed the Magic still have ways to go.
More than anything, it was Orlando's offense continuing to hold it back. The Magic could not score enough or move the ball enough outside of Banchero and Wagner. The defense was inevitably going to collapse against a team that puts so much pressure.
The Magic must find balance to take their next step.
But they have a foundation. If there is a feeling the Magic could be aggressive and hunt for something bigger this offseason, it is because these foundations are set and showed capable of contending with an elite team in this league during the Playoffs.