Orlando Magic kept the faith in themselves for "gutsy" win

The Orlando Magic could not hit a shot to save their life. Miss after miss after miss only sank the Charlotte Hornets deeper into the paint. They were daring Orlando to shoot.

The offense stagnated unable to find cutting space or shooting space into the paint. The only way out was to keep shooting and find a three somewhere. The Hornets would not change unless the Magic's outside shooting forced them to.

It started with Cole Anthony hitting a three early in the fourth quarter. The Magic guard was pressed into duty with Jalen Suggs out with a strained hamstring. They needed his offensive boost. But he too was struggling like everyone else, if a little less.

But that 3-pointer got the lid off the hoop. On the next time down the floor, Franz Wagner hit a stepback three.

Then Franz Wagner stole the ball from LaMelo Ball along the baseline and started a fast break. He pushed ahead and found Jonathan Isaac in the corner for three. He hit it for the Magic's third straight 3-point make. The Hornets called timeout and Isaac raised his hands above his head.

As Isaac said, the Magic had to keep their faith in their shooting. They had to believe in themselves, their work and their defensive identity. That was the only way they were going to win.

That faith was rewarded. Those nine points flipped a four-point deficit to a five-point lead. It opened up the lane as Wagner finally got downhill for 13 of his 21 points in the final quarter. The Magic put a stamp on the game with 37 points in the final quarter, running away for a 95-84 victory at Spectrum Center on Monday.

This is what championship teams do. On nights when they do not have their best, they find a way. They stay in contact. They make enough plays. And then when the time is right, they dominate and close the game strong.

The Hornets gave the Magic a chance and they took full advantage of it.

"Just your point about us shooting the ball so poorly and being down four points [entering the fourth quarter], that tells us everything we need to know," Isaac said after Monday's win. "At some point in time, the dam is going to break and we're going to be able to make shots. That's exactly what happened. We found a couple to go in. And then it starts to trickle and next thing you know we're up 10. That's how we do it."

Magic win their way

The Orlando Magic did that their way.

Even though they shot 39.4 percent from the floor and 12 for 46 from three, often left wide open as the Charlotte Hornets invited them to shoot, they found a way. The Magic could not even rely on foul shooting, making only 9 of 17 for the game. It was a rough outing whenever the team had to put the ball in the basket.

But defense travels. And the Magic were stout defensively, keeping the score low and allowing their offense to find its rhythm and find itself again.

Orlando forced 27 turnovers for 33 points. The team scored 21 fast-break points. The Hornets shot only 41.3 percent from the floor. LaMelo Ball had 44 points on 17-for-30 shooting. The rest of the team shot 14 for 45 (31.1 percent).

It was another suffocating effort defensively from the Magic. That is who this team is and what makes them special. They did not let their offense affect their defense.

"Basketball is a game of mistakes and we made some," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Monday. "But we didn't let the offense impact our defense. A team that was averaging 110 points you hold them to 84. It's just a tremendous effort from this group to will that win and get it done by committee.

The defense allows them to make up for their at times spotty offense. Their defense is elite and everyone is committed on that end—even perceived non-defenders like Jett Howard and Cole Anthony who put in strong work in the fourth quarter to help the Magic flip the game on its head.

That defense gives them a chance to win every game. It is the calling card for this team.

But even a strong defense may not be enough when the offense is struggling this much. Not on most nights.

"It wasn't particularly a pretty game," Cole Anthony said after Monday's win. "But you play a lot of games, you've got to be able to grind out some wins sometimes. That's what we did today. We have the personnel. We have people who can defend. We have a great team. We've proven it on nights so far on a night like tonight. Nobody particularly shot it well. We shot 39 percent from the floor as a team. It's hard to win like. We can compete with anyone in the league."

The Orlando Magic had a season-low eight turnovers. The bench scored 53 points with Cole Anthony stepping in for both Jalen Suggs (out with a hamstring strain) and Gary Harris (left the game in the first quarter with a hamstring strain). Anthony had 16 points on 6-for-12 shooting. A dominant showing considering the rest of the way the Magic shot.

They found a way to break through the Hornets' defense. And eventually made enough shots to get them to defend the 3-point line. That changed the game in a 37-point fourth quarter.

Winning Ugly

Good teams find a way. They find a way to gut out wins when they might have their best stuff. Whatever the game calls for, they find it.

And the Orlando Magic know they can find a way. They know they can win at times without elite shooting or even any shooting. They know they can keep themselves in the fight.

Sometimes that is enough for a good team to figure things out, right the ship and win the game. That is something this young team has to learn.

This is what championship teams do. They find a way to win any way, any how.

"We're some dogs, man. We're really about it," Isaac said after Monday's win. "We recognize the talent we have on the defensive end. As shots continue to not fall or fall, we've been able to fall back on defense. We just want it. It's a part of our identity. It's not something that we try to do, it is just who we are.

This game called for the Magic to defend like maniacs and keep the faith the shots would fall. When the shots finaly did fall, the Hornets had no answer because they too could not score.

When the Magic finally did, they put the game away an did not let the Hornets get back up. Orlando is a good team. Perhaps it could play with fire against Charlotte.

But the team never got burned. The team kept the faith and found a way.