It was never going to easy.
When a team is losing and struggling to find consistency, there is always this air of inevitability. The sense of "here we go again" as leads dwindle. Losses find losing teams. They have to go out and take the win when it is there.
The Orlando Magic were supposed to be well past this point. But here they were with 10 games remaining in the season and on a six-game losing streak, desperate to get any win any way they can.
Going on a 12-0 run to break a tie in the fourth quarter against a tanking Sacramento Kings team seemed to give the Orlando Magic the distance they needed at last to celebrate a win.
It is never that easy.
Daeqwon Plowden hit back-to-back threes to cut the deficit in half to put pressure on the Magic. Even up nine with 2:33 to play, Plowden hit an and-one layup, the Kings forced a jump ball that led to a breakaway Malik Monk dunk and Plowden hit another three after Desmond Bane missed a wide-open shot.
The Magic were up one with 50.4 seconds left. The pressure was on the Magic to close this game out. The chance for a defeat was real again.
The shot the Magic hit to give them relief at last was not easy either. But the Magic worked their offense beautifully, starting with a Paolo Banchero drive that fed out to Desmond Bane that kicked back out to Jalen Suggs for the critical three with 27.4 seconds left and the relief the Magic were so desperate for.
There would be no disappointment this time.
It went in to give the Magic a four-point lead with 27.4 seconds left, and that relief the Magic were so desperate for.
"It's great to get a win," Jalen Suggs said in the locker room after Thursday's win. "Just trying to knock down my open ones. I was shot-ready, Des[mond Bane] made a good pass, and I just try to knock down my open ones. It's very important. You can't lose at this point of the year. Good win."
The win for the Magic did not have to be pretty. It just needed to go into the win column and get the team out of the rut at least for an evening.
This Magic team that had struggled so much for the last two weeks could finally breathe a little bit.
A win by any means
Make no mistake, the Orlando Magic took this win in the end, displaying the togetherness and formula that can make this team successful.
Paolo Banchero continued his post-All-Star break scoring surge ith 30 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. He made 11 of his 22 shots. He had four points and two assists, including a no-look pass to Jamal Cain, during the 12-0 run that gave the Magic some breathing room.
Desmond Bane scored 11 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter to help put the game away. Cain came off the bench for 11. Tristan da Silva poured in a solid 18 points, making three of his four 3-pointers.
Any win just feels like a sigh of relief after so much frustration and heartache in the last two weeks. Things clicked in a meaningful way.
"There is a little bit of relief," Desmond Bane said after Thursday's game. "But I think this group is just very hungry to play better. We understand that, yeah, we won, but we have to play better basketball if we want to do what we want to do down the stretch. Conversations in there on how we can improve on both ends of the floor to help us go get one in Toronto."
The Magic found their offensive groove.
They kept constant pressure on the Kings' woeful defense. They shot 54.1 percent from the floor and 13 for 27 (48.1 percent) from three. The Magic made 28 of 32 free throws as they forced their way to the line and stayed aggressive despite just 44 points in the paint.
The Magic's 128.7 offensive rating was their ninth-best offensive efficiency this season. That carried the team to victory.
"Super satisfying, knowing the struggles we just went through in these past games," said Jamal cain who scored 11 points off the bench. "In the NBA, it's hard to win. Any way we can get a win. We needed it, we wanted it. It just feels good to come out with a win."
But it was not always Magic basketball at its best. And the Magic still looked shaky at times, unable to separate themselves from a team that has little motivation to win -- and a long injury list to match.
Still work to do
The Orlando Magic are not satisfied with one win. Nor should they be.
The Sacramento Kings are one of the league's worst teams, yet they found points as easily as the Orlando Magic did. Sacramento had a 123.2 offensive rating, marking the third straight game Orlando gave up more than 120 points per 100 possessions.
While Orlando is happy to get a win, this did not look like Playoff basketball. The Magic, who gave up 122.6 points per 100 possessions in their last seven games, are far from the defensive juggernaut the team is trying to be.
Coach Jamahl Mosley put it simpler when asked to evaluate the team's defense. He said, "We didn't." The defense still looks out of sync and nowhere near the intensity it played with during the win streak.
"It's better to learn lessons in a win than a loss," Mosley said after Thursday's win. "That's the thing we're going to talk about tonight. We got the job done. No, it was not pretty at the end of the day. We know that. We saw it. We see what it is. To get the win and find a way through it all, that's important right now for us."
Indeed, the Magic continued to struggle on defense against the Kings. DeMar DeRozan scored 17 of his 33 points in the second quarter. Sacramento outscored Orlando 48-44, although that might be a mirage because Orlando doubled up Sacramento from the foul line.
The Magic, so desperate for a win to end this losing streak, will not complain about an ugly win. But this also clearly did not look like a playoff team playing playoff-level basketball.
The Magic were able to close the game out, and that is what ultimately matters. The results can trump the process this time of year.
"If we want to be a playoff team, you have to be able to do stuff like that," Paolo Banchero said after Thursday's game. "I think we did what we were supposed to do out there.
The Magic simply needed a win any way they could get it. And while Thursday's victory was far from pretty or ideal, for the first time in a while, it got the job done.