The question for the Orlando Magic all season has been: What is wrong with this team?
The Magic are 57 games into their season. You are kind of who you are at this point in the season. And the Magic are a team that has been searching for their identity and searching for consistency all season.
They know who they are supposed to be -- a gritty, determined defensive team that outworks opponents and grinds their way to victories. That is not who they have been. Not often enough.
If the Magic were going to make a Playoff push, it had to start with rediscovering this identity.
It has taken a while, but the momentum is building for the Magic to find their way again. And the biggest example is how the Orlando Magic finished their game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.
The Magic trailed by one point with 30 seconds to play as Paolo Banchero set up the final possession.
The confident Banchero got the matchup he wanted and pulled up at the foul line for a jumper. It missed short. And that could have easily been the end of the story.
But it was not.
Anthony Black fought off two Lakers to get to the offensive rebound. It squirted out of his hands and fell right to Wendell Carter underneath the basket. He put up a layup with six seconds left that gave the Magic the lead.
They still needed the Lakers to miss on their final possession. But Luka Doncic passed up a deep three, and LeBron James could not hit his attempt. Orlando escaped with a 110-109 victory. The Magic had a gritty win.
"We just stuck together," Banchero said after Tuesday's win. "We've been in a lot of close games this year. Having that experience has helped us out a lot just to stay poised, and everyone realizing they can make a play at any moment."
That looked far more like the Magic expected. A selfless, gritty effort where everyone did what was needed to get the win. Whether it was that rebound, a Banchero scoring binge in the third quarter or a huge Desmond Bane three late in the game.
Orlando escaped looking far more like themselves than they have at any point this season.
Defense and grit make a stand
The Orlando Magic's whole identity in the last four years has been about the team's defense. Their effort and energy on that end must be constant.
More than anything, the lack of defensive grit and determination has been the concerning part this season.
This road trip saw the Magic's defense make a major stand. And going up against the likes of Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves was a huge test for the Magic's defense.
The Magic held Doncic to just 22 points on 8-for-24 shooting, bottling him up and keeping him from finding much of an offensive rhythm, even if he still had 15 assists. LeBron James scored 21 points on 8-for-13 shooting, but he had five turnovers.
Unlike other games where Orlando struggled to shoot, the team never let go of the rope or lost its defensive intensity. The team has been far more consistent on defense.
"I thought the group did a tremendous job of not letting shot making or missing impact our defense," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Tuesday's win. "Our guys stayed the course the entire game. Guys just found ways to have winning plays throughout this game."
Tuesday's game was another example, giving up 111.2 points per 100 possessions. It was the eighth time in the last 10 games the team gave up fewer than 115.0 points per 100 possessions.
In the last 10 games, the Magic are giving up 108.7 points per 100 possessions. On this road trip, the team gave up 104.9 points per 100 possessions.
They did not face many of the best offensive teams in the West on this road trip, but it has been a long time since the Magic were this consistent defensively.
"The maturity of this group is starting to show a lot more," Wendell Carter said after Tuesday's win. "Sometimes the results aren't always in our favor, but when the process is right, the results will come at some point. I thought we did a good job sticking to the gameplan."
That is at least a place the team can start.
Paolo Banchero finds his groove
Ultimately, the team will go as far as its star will take it. The obsession with Paolo Banchero's uneven season goes to this question. Alle eyes are always on him.
Slowly but surely Banchero is finding his groove again. And he is starting to put his fingerprints on the game.
He had his fingerprints all over Tuesday's game.
Banchero poured in 36 points to go with 10 rebounds and six assists, making 12 of 22 shots. He scored 17 of those points in the third quarter to help the Orlando Magic erase a 12-point deficit. He kept the Magic in the game by his sheer force of will.
It was good to see Banchero take over a long stretch of the game like this. It has happened so rarely.
Banchero is averaging 21.7 points per game, 7.4 rebounds per game and 5.3 assists per game with a 53.6 percent true shooting percentage in the last 10 games. On the West Coast road trip, he averaged 27.0 points per game, 9.0 rebounds per game and 7.0 assists per game with a 55.1 percent true shooting percentage.
Things have been trending up for Banchero for a while now.
"His aggression level. The quick decision, getting downhill, finding the matchup that he likes, attacking the basket, putting pressure on the defense," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Tuesday's win. "He got to the free throw line 11 times. That's aggression, that's focus and determination to get downhill. As soon as he steps on the floor, he creates the mismatch."
More than his scoring, Banchero set a tone of the team with his poise and attack. He never forced things, passing to open players when the defense crowded him or getting to the hoop when they were late on their double teams.
He set the tone too on defense, where he was part of the strategy to slow down Luka Doncic. A game after he took a long turn trying to slow down Kawhi Leonard, seeing the team's best player take on the toughest defensive assignment and succeeding was a sure sign the team was moving in the right direction.
Everyone was pulling together.
Winners of six of its last eight games and displaying grit to win back-to-back close games in Los Angeles, Orlando is starting to look more like itself. The Magic are starting to reclaim the identity they believed they had.
There is at least something to build on heading home.