Tuesday's game against the Washington Wizards was a trap game for the Orlando Magic.
Sure, the Magic could simply out-talent the Wizards, using Paolo Banchero as a battering ram into the paint and trusting that a little bit of defensive pressure would be enough. The Wizards were down to nine players and were without a true center, with recently signed Julian Reese filling in.
Of course, that is not the standard the Magic want to hit. That is not the opponent the Magic are playing against.
The great teams are playing to their standard and expect to play with a level of focus and attention to detail every night. This is not a game against the Wizards. This was a game against themselves. The Magic had to define their standard.
That is what the Magic's 126-109 victory was all about.
"I think that's got to be the m.o. in general," Desmond Bane said after Tuesday's win. "Good teams have a standard and hold themselves to it regardless of the opponent. I was happy with how we responded in the second half. The standard is the standard, and we have to continue to live up to it."
There are still some holes to plug. But the Magic did what they were supposed to when they dismantled the Wizards completely, pulling away in the third quarter with a focused and frenzied defensive effort and moving the ball for open shots.
The opponent had a lot to do with things. But the Magic played to their standard and honed in the details necessary to take care of their business.
That was the challenge for the team in this game. It was something they did not absolutely hit in the first half. But they came out of the locker room and dominated the rest of the game.
Orlando found the details and intensity the team needed for a blowout win.
A halftime challenge
The third quarter lately has been a struggle for the Orlando Magic. They have come out of the locker room on theri back foot in back-to-back losses to the Houston Rockets and Detroit Pistons. It has been a struggle to maintain momentum.
Coach Jamahl Mosley challenged his team at halftime to flip that script. The Orlando Magic did a lot of things right, but had a lull late in the second quarter when fouling and poor shotmaking allowed the Washington Wizards to stay in the game.
How they approached the third quarter would say a lot about this team.
This is when good teams need to assert their dominance and play to their standard more than playing agianst a weakened opponent fighting to stay in the game.
"We challenged these guys after halftime to be ready to go," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Tuesday's win. "They did a great job of responding in that third quarter. The guys took on that challenge, and it was great for them to break the game open in that way."
This was a test of their focus and sharpness. It was a test of whether they could overpower a weaker opponent and play to their standard.
Mosley said the game was a test of whether the team could stick to the process and not get bored doing the simple things. The Wizards are an opponent that can lull a team to sleep.
Orlando put away many of their lineup experiments from the first half, beating Washington 40-27 in the third quarter. The team made all five of its 3-pointers and shot 15 for 19 overall. The rout was on.
But they cut down on the mistakes that have cost them in previous games in the second half. They overpowered a weaker team. They did not submit to bad habits.
That was the challenge this game presented.
"Those are the dangerous games I feel like where you can kind of get lost in the circumstances of what your opponent is doing and who they got and who they don't got," Tristan da Silva said in the locker room after Tuesday's game. "You can't let yourself kind of drift off from what you're supposed to be doing during the game. You've just got to be able to uphold that standard that you set for your team without getting affected by who you're playing and who is on the court."
This could have been a repeat of previous frustrating outings. Especially with how poorly the Magic have played in the third quarter in recent outings. Orlando did not drift away from their standard.
Banchero answers the challenge too
Of course, everything starts with the team's best players. And the most refreshing thing about Tuesday's win was Paolo Banchero's dominance on the interior.
Paolo Banchero scored 37 points on 15 for 21 shooting. He was 13 for 14 in the restricted area.
The Orlando Magic were intentional about using his size against the smaller Washington Wizards. He had eight post-up plays, according to Synergy data, and scored 1.375 points per possession on those plays.
Mosley said like he challenged the team at halftime, he challenged Banchero to get early seals and operate around the rim.
Banchero was quick and decisive, beating his man before any doubles would come. The Wizards had no answers.
That eventually spread to everyone else. Banchero had six assists with five coming in the second half. After a poor 1-for-11 showing from deep in the first half, the Magic caught fire, shooting 9 for 12 in the second half.
Desmond Bane provided a steady scoring presence when Paolo Banchero was out with 25 points in the game.
The Wizards did not provide a lot of resistance. The game was always about the Magic and their focus and attention to detail. It was always about whether the Magic would impose themselves on the game and stick to the simple things they need to do to be successful.
"I thought it was really intentional on both sides of the floor," Jalen Suggs said after Tuesday's win. "Defensively, we got a lot of stops both in that third quarter and especially the start of the fourth. I thought it was great. I thought we had a lot of good looks. I think overall we played solid, everyone came in and did their job. This is a good win for us."
Orlando ultimately did that. And while the Wizards are not a team that will grant a lot of takeaways, the Magic got the job done after two frustrating losses.
They did not beat themselves and passed this test.