At a certain point, all Paolo Banchero could do was throw his hands up.
As the Orlando Magic watched the Philadelphia 76ers expand their lead to double digits in the fourth quarter, the Magic knew they needed to get themselves back in it. They tried the only way they knew how, ducking their head and getting to the rim, scoring in the paint and getting to the foul line.
So when Banchero would drive the lane, only to have the defense collapse, poke, prod and push him, and the whistle did not come, it could only frustrate him and the team.
It was only more frustrating because this is all the Magic have. Their offense is predicated on their ability to get downhill to the paint and put pressur eon the rim. without it, the team was watching the bottom drop out.
Currently, the Magic are unsure what they will get every night, similar to what Banchero provided on those drives. And when they come up empty, their frustration and inconsistency become apparent.
Right now, when things get hard, the Magic do not have a clear outlet. They only have their frustrations to vent.
"It's frustrating," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Friday's loss. "I absolutely would be frustrated too. I won't go into the call, no call. There's a frustration that Joel [Embiid] goes in there and just falls and gets the call. Paolo goes in there and not the same call. We're attacking the basket that much. There's got to be a little contact there somewhere."
That was all the Magic could do after a 103-91 loss to the 76ers on Friday. They once again fell short with a 12-point fourth quarter that put them behind the 8-ball and further and further behind on the scoreboard.
Banchero finished with 14 points on 6-for-18 shooting, trying to attack the paint and attack the rim but finding no help from the officials -- getting only one trip to the line. His frustration was boiling over. He went only 1 for 5 in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, the Sixers were 21 of 24 from the foul line, parading to the line to take the lead in the third quarter. The Magic, usually so good at getting to the line, were just 15 of 18. Hardly enough to make up for a 4-for-29 performance from three.
As the Magic continue to alternate wins and losses, they are frustrated trying to find consistency once again. Nothing seems reliable nightly.
Frustration on offense
Yet again, things came down to the fourth quarter.
Orlando trailed by four entering the quarter, still within range of the lead. They again struggled to keep pace, scoring only 12 points in the quarter and shooting 4 for 19 in the quarter. They had four turnovers, and while the Philadelphia 76ers failed to score on any of them, they disrupted any hope of breaking through offensively.
The Sixers took the lead with Paolo Banchero on the bench, thanks to six straight points from Paul George. Philadelphia went on an 11-2 run with George scoring eight of those points to build a double-digit deficit.
From there, the Magic were climbing uphill. They were trying to find stability, already down eight when Banchero checked back in with nine minutes to play.
But where the Sixers got scoring from one of their stars, the Magic could not get enough from theirs. No one rose to the occasion. No one could loosen things up.
Orlando kept going to the well the team thinks it can rely on and came up empty.
"We've just got to be better," Anthony Black said after Friday's game. "We've got to be more organized down the stretch. Sometimes I feel like we're playing not to lose. You're not going to win games playing that way."
Orlando instead gave in to frustration as Banchero looked to the officials for help. With the rim taken away, he and the Magic could not find a way to score.
The Sixers had multiple places they could go to in the end.
Hunting for consistency
One bad game does not define a season. But this continues the frustrating trend of the last 12 games, where the Orlando Magic have alternated wins and losses.
Orlando has been unable to gain much traction. And noting seems constant or consistent.
The Magic did not lose this game simply because Banchero was inefficient. It was that it seemed so off-type of how he and the team have generally played recently and throughout the season.
They lost this game because they again struggled with turnovers -- 19 in the game for 20 points, each one seemingly enough to kill momentum particularly in the first half when the team expanded its lead.
For the season, Orlando still ranks sixth in the league with a 13.8 percent turnover rate. The team's 19.6 percent turnover rate Friday was the third-worst of the season and the third straight game at worse than 15.0 percent.
The Magic also again struggled to end possessions with rebounds, giving up 21 offensive rebounds and 22 second-chance points. Orlando's 59.3 percent defensive rebound rate was the third-worst for the team this season.
Five of the worst seven rebounding showings of the season have happened since Dec. 1. Yet the team still ranks seventh in defensive rebound rate at 70.6 percent.
It makes little sense that the Magic cannot count on some of their biggest strengths every night right now. This team does not know which version of themselves will show up.
"I think it's just finding ways to look in that mirror and say how you got to approach it every single night, no matter who you play," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Friday's loss. "You're never going to control if shots fall. But you can control the effort on a simple box out. When we run, we run in space to attack the basket. Those are things you can control."
The team has found itself struggling to find itself every night.
The Magic are not in panic mode yet. But nobody is happy with it.
"It's frustration," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Friday's loss. "Nobody likes to lose. Nobody is happy about taking an L or the way that we did it, not playing our style of basketball."
They are simply treading water and staying afloat -- 7-8 since Franz Wagner's injury. But frustration has certainly set in that the team cannot get itself over the hump.