The Orlando Magic have come to a crossroads.
Their weekend series against the Cleveland Cavaliers was meant to be a measuring stick for this team. A group the team is familiar with from its 2024 Playoff series, and a team that the Magic are fighting in the Eastern Conference standings.
Everyone should be aware it is this part of the season that derailed their hopes for homecourt advantage, tumbling them into the Play-In conversation. The Magic are already there in a tight Eastern Conference, but quickly losing ground.
As a pair of losses to Cleveland — including Monday's 114-98 Cleveland win — showed, Orlando is still a long way from achieving its goals. The difference between the Cavs and the Magic is a stark one.
One is a team playing with confidence, with role players who can take advantage of an opponent's mistakes. The other is struggling to do the most basic act in the game, and letting go of the rope and its identity.
These two teams that were separated by a tight Game 7 two years ago and expected to contend at the top of the East are heading in different directions.
The Magic will not right the ship without rediscovering their identity and making a shot. The Magic have lost their formula to win. And until they rediscover that, they will just be lost potential.
Their loses to the Cavs proved that all over again.
Fast start disappears
The Orlando Magic have struggled with how they have started games throughout the season. It always felt like the team was climbing uphill.
If the Magic were going to break their funk, it felt like they needed to stake themselves an early lead.
That is what made the Magic's start to Monday's game so encouraging. Orlando did all the things this team was designed to do through the early parts of the game.
The Magic were hounding on defense, forcing six first-half turnovers. They turned those stops into transition opportunities, scoring six fast-break points.
There was energy and the ball moved around the periemter with ease with the Magic hiting four of their first six 3-pointers. Desmond Bane scored 10 of his 19 points in the opening frame, draining a pair of threes to help set the tone.
Orlando may have left points on the board, failing to convert on four offensive rebounds and six field goal attempts on second-chance points. But the ball and team had energy. Everything fed off each other.
This was how the Magic were always meant to play. Their defense would lead the way and feed an athletic offensive attack. That has been an energy the team has missed for months.
But after shooting 43.3 percent in the first quarter and 4 for 11 from three, the Magic's offense went cold. The Magic made only 7 of 28 (25.0 percent) from three the rest of the game and 25 for 64 (39.1 percent).
The offense stalled as the Magic could not hit from the outside or on the interior. Orlando finished the game with 38 points in the paint on 19-for-44 shooting. They were just 5 for 15 in the first quarter and finished the rest of the game 14 for 29.
"I think we just need to play better," Paolo Banchero said after Monday's loss. "Shots may or may not fall, but we've got to win. Anything we've got to do to win the game."
The paltry attempts in the paint were followed by taking only 15 free throw attempts. Paolo Banchero, who had a stellar 37-point effort on an efficient 13-for-21 shooting, took 13 of those 15 attempts.
There was a startling lack of aggression as the team depended on Banchero to do everything. Lucky for them, he was up to the challenge.
But with Bane going cold after his hot first quarter. Anthony Black was struggling to score, with 14 points with 2-for-9 shooting from deep. And Jalen Suggs, still working his way back from his knee injury, shot only 2 for 13. There was nowhere near the offensive support or push.
Especially since the Magic could not get stops the rest of the game.
Defensive identity vanishes
While the offense has its clear flaws, everything the Orlando Magic have built this season is based on their defense. That was supposed to be the engine that fed this team.
For the first quarter, it looked like the Magic were read to get back to their dominant and physical defense. That is why everything looked so good.
Those good vibes dissipated quickly.
With the Magic leading by 11, Donovan Mitchell spearheaded a 20-9 run to tie the game, scoring nine points to close the gap. He had 16 points in the second quarter alone to push the Cleveland Cavaliers to a halftime lead.
He finished with 45 as he led the Cavs to build their own double-digit lead.
"Just thought that they got going on offense," Paolo Banchero said after Monday's loss. "Donovan Mitchell had a big night. I think they just scored more than we did."
Orlando had no answers as the team could not corral him and keep him out of the paint. Mitchell is a tough shot maker as it is but he had little problem getting into the lane. He was comfortable the entire game, something that never happened in previous versions of this defense.
With the Magic unable to force turnovers or get shots, they were relying on a half-court offense htat is increasingly inefficient and lacking confidence.
It is like when the Magic are not able to get their formula perfect, everything collapses. This team has struggled to show resilience and stop the bleeding in time to get back into the game.
It is supposed to start with the defense. That is supposed to be the team's identity.
That identity has been slipping for weeks now. The Magic are walking down the wrong path, heading, it seems, toward the bottom of the standings.
Like last year, they are floundering in January and heading into February, and losing their goal of winning homecourt advantage to advance deeper in the Playoffs.
Franz Wagner's return will surely help alleviate some of their problems on both ends. But that does not solve it in the present.
Orlando still has a choice for how its season will go. This weekend's losses to Cleveland do not bode well for the future.