The Orlando Magic could have rolled over down 23 points early in the third quarter. Their best remaining player, Jalen Suggs, took a nasty fall and clutched his ankle late in the second quarter. He tried to play in the second half but left for good after about four minutes.
The Magic looked overwhelmed and overmatched. But they never quit.
And so through the third quarter, the Magic whittled down the lead getting it to within two points in the fourth quarter.
They had a chance. That is all anyone could ask for.
But this is an elite Oklahoma City Thunder team. A team with championship aspirations. Even when fully healthy, the margin for error is tiny. With the players the Magic have down, there are not a lot of room for mistakes.
So the question needs to be asked why the Magic found themselves in a 23-point deficit to begin with. It was because the Thunder's defense was suffocating. They are the top defense in the league for a reason and they pushed the Magic into mistakes early.
It was because the Magic's 105-99 loss on Thursday rests on the Magic's own mistakes. Mistakes that are proving far too costly with the team's thinning margin for error as injuries continue to pile up.
Orlando turned it over 20 times for 26 points, giving up 14 for 22 points in the first half. The hopes for a comeback seemingly rose and fell on those turnovers and the Magic put themselves in a deep deficit.
Even when the Magic closed the gap, it was turnovers that cost them, putting the final nail in the coffin when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander turned a turnover into an alley-oop to Aaron Wiggins for a 14-point lead with five minutes to play.
That defined the frustration and mistake-filled game the Magic played.
If Orlando wants to win while playing down so many key players, and if Orlando wants to one day consider itself among the elite class of NBA teams, it will have to protect the ball better. It must reduce these mistakes.
"That's where it begins," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Thursday's loss. "The margin for error is very slim. You can't turn the ball over 20 times for 26 points and hope to give yourself a chance in that situation. We've got to be better in that situation and understanding exactly how they play and what they're doing and reaching and grabbing and going after the basketball. We've got to be a lot stronger with it and make quicker decisions."
A tough team to be precise
Playing the Oklahoma City Thunder is going to be a turnover-inducing experience regardless.
They are a hounding defensive team that puts pressure on the ball and plays passing lanes. Like the Orlando Magic, the Oklahoma City Thunder want to reach and get deflection and force players into rushed decisions. Orlando struggled to break that pressure down early in the game.
Oklahoma City leads the league, forcing a 19.0 percent turnover rate. It should not be surprising the Magic turned it over on 21.1 percent of their possessions.
That is more than one of every five possessions ending in a turnover. And it is nearly impossible to win at that rate.
But everything is hard for the Magic right now. They know it too. Being down so many key players has pushed the Magic to change how they play to try to make up the difference. They have gone bigger and they are trying to push the tempo more.
It is still hard to make up that ground with the margin for error the Magic have. Orlando has struggled with turnovers all year. The Magic rank 21st in the league with a 15.4 percent turnover rate. They struggle with their own mistakes.
That weakness is only getting highlighted more with the absent players. The Magic cannot afford to make these errors. They are still trying to band together with all the injuries. They look disjointed like that.
"I think just continuing to identify what we're trying to run. Just with who is out there, different groups being out there and different guys who haven't played togehter as much," Anthony Black said after Thursday's game. "There's at times indecision. Just what we're working on every day in practice. Getting into our sets cleaner and getting into the ball and playing fast."
Teams like the Thunder will pounce on these errors and mistakes. The Magic are having to figure this all out while other teams are coming at them. It is hard to suffer through those mistakes.
The Magic can still win
But that is also what stands out. The Orlando Magic are still capable of winning despite these errors. They cut a 23-point deficit to as little as two points because they are capable of executing even against an elite defense when they do not turn the ball over.
They needed the confidence they could rise to this challenge.
In the second half, Orlando had only six turnovers for four points. The team was able to limit and withstand its mistakes. That helped the Magic win the second half 53-40. They just put themselves in too deep a hole.
This Magic team has never been short on confidence. But even without key players, their defense can keep them in games so long as they do not undercut it with poor shots, transition opportunities and turnovers. The Magic's half-court defense is still a challenge for most teams to break down.
It will give them a chance to win.
But Thursday, the Magic got taken off their game. Their mistakes were costly against a quality opponent.
"We're more than capable," Wendell Carter said after Thursday's loss. "No matter what five we roll out there with, we're all capable of winning. Of putting together stops, of putting together great runs. On the flip side of it, in the first half, we can't have lapses like that. On both sides, we did a good job in the third quarter bouncing back on both sides. But it should have never even gotten to that. We should have been locked in from start to finish."
Carter said one thing the Magic have to do is bring the physicality they bring on defense to the offensive end. Carter took advantage of the small Thunder lineup for 10 points and 13 rebounds, his second double-double of the year. The Magic needed to play with more force when they got into the paint.
Still, despite all of that, Orlando could still win. They were within a shot and a play of stealing the win. Orlando will always show that resolve.
Games come down to mistakes
But games come down to mistakes. And the Orlando Magic are making too many of them. They are making mistakes they can control. They are at times getting outworked. With the players this team is missing, they cannot even have a hint of that.
That is at least hopeful for the team to break through and find its way again. The Magic can look at themselves more than at their opponent.
" just how good we can be once we stop shooting ourselves in the foot on both ends," Black said after Thursday's loss. "A lot of our losses come from beating ourselves. The fact that we were able to bring it back to two shows how good of a team we are when we are locked in on both ends of the ball and playing with aggression."
This Orlando team has never lost that confidence. But to be that team will take a lot more precision and focus. The Magic cannot be the ones to beat themselves.