Orlando Magic fans had to wait a little while for Franz Wagner to return.
To help control his minutes, the Magic opted to have him come off the bench for the first time in his career. When he checked in with four minutes to play in the first quarter, he got a loud ovation.
It will not take long for the team to feel his impact. At long last, the Magic look like themselves.
The threat of Wagner's movement and energy was on full display as he finished with 14 points and five assists on 6-for-10 shooting in 16.5 minutes. He made two of his four 3-pointers.
They were critical as the Magic took an at time frustrating game into a runaway.
Wagner sparked a 14-5 run by finding his brother Moe Wagner for an open three. Wagner hit another three and began blowing kisses to the Kia Center crowd.
It was safe to say the vibes were back again in a 118-99 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday. It was more encouraging to see Magic basketball return.
"I thought our defense was really good, honestly, all game," Franz Wagner said after Monday's win. "I thought we did a good job staying the course. I thought we played a pretty solid game."
For the second time in three games, the Magic's defense led the charge with a feisty, turnover-driven game where the team just upped the pressure, sometimes despite woeful shooting.
The Magic have been looking for their foundation and their style. They have been looking to restore their identity. They found it to blow out the Bucks out at home.
Defensive challenge accepted
The Orlando Magic's formula for the last three years has been based on their defensive effort. One of the season's most confusing aspects has been the loss of the team's defensive energy and efficiency.
To get back on track, the Magic needed to defend at a higher level. That was a challenge to the group at halftime Monday.
"The second half making the decision to pick the pressure up and be more physical," Anthony Black said after Monday's win. "That was something we talked about at halftime. I think we did a good job.
"We're just playing a little harder. We're having less lapses and better communication. We're just doing a good job covering for each other. That's allowing us to pressure the ball a little more."
Orlando started switching 1-5 and not really caring if that led to mismatches on the interior. The Magic were going to use their ball pressure and intensity to throw the Milwaukee Bucks off-kilter.
Orlando forced 20 turnovers, scoring 27 points off those turnovers. The Magic tallied 14 steals, including five from Jalen Suggs.
Orlando turned up the heat, especially in the third quarter, forcing five turnovers, holding Milwaukee to 20 points and 8-for-22 shooting. That is when the Magic took a close game and turned it into a rout.
"We took on the challenge at halftime," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Monday's win. "We were getting stops and steals, but we weren't converting. That third quarter is what it should look like. We were able to get out and get some easy, early baskets. It started with our defense. Holding them to 20 points in that third quarter was big for us."
The big thing was that the Magic's defense led throughout the game. It was a constant, whether the team was struggling or leading.
That has been the biggest element that was missing.
Orlando put together its second game holding a team to less than 100 points in three outings. The Magic's 101.0 defensive rating was the third straight game holding an opponent to less than 105.0 points per 100 possessions and only the 12th such game this season (they had 25 last year).
The Magic may have built their three-game win streak against a terrible Brooklyn Nets team, a tanking Utah Jazz team and an injured Milwaukee Bucks team. But they got the job done, and did it with the frenetic and disruptive defensive showing that once defined this team.
Waiting for the shooting
Of course, needing to lean on the defense was necessary given the Orlando Magic's struggles to shoot the ball.
This is typically where this year's Magic team has fallen apart. They let their offense affect their defensive energy. More than anything, this shift in the team's mindset has been most frustrating to see.
Shots certainly did not fall in this game. The Magic made only four of their 21 threes (19.0 percent) in the first half. Orlando was 14 for 42 overall (33.3 percent). The team made six of its 11 threes in the breakthrough third quarter that gave the Magic the lead for good.
Orlando let Milwaukee hang around in the game simply because the team could not make enough open shots to create distance. In all, the Magic went 10 for 33 on wide-open threes, where the closest defender was six or more feet away.
The Magic were not complaining about the looks they were getting. The team needed to wait for the shots to go in. That finally happened in the third quarter.
Orlando's offense will come around at some point. But the team is more concerned with retrieving its defense. A defense that should be devastating and good enough to give the team enough time to find these offensive spurts. A defense that should be good enough to feed the Magic's offense -- 19 fast break points in this game in addition to those 27 points off turnovers.
This was closer to the Magic's ideal.
"When that ball is not going in the hole, you have to find a way," Jamahl Mosley said after Monday's win. "Our ability to contain the basketball, rely on our defense to get out and get some early baskets to watch the ball go through the hoop is big for us. It wasn't falling in the first half. But you have to continue to trust the work that you've put in and trust that process. Our guys made sure we relied on our defense to set the tone for this game."
Franz Wagner, who scored 14 points off the bench in his return game, credited the team's communication on defense for the sharper-looking rotations. He also credited the team's offensive energy. Even though the shots were not falling, the ball was moving and that set up the energy and the intensity on defense. Especially when shots did fall.
Orlando has struggled to take words and make them action. The team has struggled to put all those pieces together all season.
Monday against the Bucks, they looked like themselves again. And that is something the team can continue building on now that they are fully healthy.