Orlando Magic coach Jamahl Mosley probably was not trying to make a statement. But his team needed a win. They needed a spark.
His star players knew that too. Forget minute restrictions or coming back from injury. The season was slipping away. The Magic needed a win by any means necessary Saturday just to eliminate this dour feeling.
Franz Wagner gave his coach a simple message: "Leave me in," Mosley said Wagner told him.
Orlando has skated by this season on grit and determination alone. At times, they were missing brute talent. In what Paolo Banchero termed a "must-win" game, the Magic's stars had to step up and own it. It was on their shoulders to deliver the win.
The Magic left their young star trio of Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, and Jalen Suggs on the floor to start the fourth quarter. The Magic made that statement.
They went on a 20-4 run to take control of the game. Franz Wagner scored 25 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter, matching Tracy McGrady's franchise record for points in a quarter.
When Cade Cunningham got himself going to try to answer the Magic's run and cut into their 14-point lead, it was Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner hitting big shot after big shot to maintain their lead.
This is their team, their season and their time.
If the Magic were going to win or lose this game, if they were going to answer and break a five-game losing streak or fall deeper into their abyss, it was going to come on the back of their best players. It was on them to lead them out of the hole.
Orlando fought back to beat Detroit 121-113 to snap its five-game losing streak, retake sixth in the Eastern Conference and win the season series with its Central Division rival. More than that, it was a statement of this young team's intent.
The stars knew the team needed a win. They delivered.
"It was them. They're fighters. They're competitors. They're tough," Mosley said after Saturday's win. "They want to find ways to win. And we talked about the five-game losing streak and having a process of getting back and it being like training camp. But when the game is on the line, and you want to get something done, this is what your competitors do."
A character-check game
The Orlando Magic could have folded again after trailing by 12 and scoring only 18 points in the first quarter. It felt like everything was happening to them again. They could have submitted to the frustration again.
But Orlando stuck to its defense even with frustration over the foul calling and their missed shots. The Magic stuck with it and found their way.
The game marked just the second time both Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner scored 30 points in the game. Wagner started the game 1 for 12 but made 9 of 10 shots and all four of his 3-pointers in the fourth quarter on his way to his franchise-record-tying mark. Banchero had seven points and made both of his shots, adding four assists and shaking off a cold free-throw shooting night in the fourth quarter.
The duo each finished with 32 points, taking their turns taking over the game.
Regardless of how the Magic got there, or what restrictions they had placed on them, they were going to make sure the Magic would not lose this game.
"It was really a character check for us all day," Wagner said after Saturday's win. "I think all day and during shootaround I thought we had great spirit about us and great focus. Even the first three quarters even though not everything went our way. That's what makes a good team really good that you can fight through those times. I think we showed character today. We need to continue to do that."
Banchero, who passed 30 minutes in Thursday's loss, played 39:48. Wagner, who said he was restricted at 24 minutes, logged 30:10 in his second game back from an oblique injury.
Jamahl Mosley stressed to both of them they need grace and to forgive themselves for any struggles they might face as they come back from injury. The duo holds themselves to a high standard but that is what you expect from two star players. They are as frustrated as anyone else by the team's losing streak.
That made them just as determined to end it.
"This is what your best players do," Mosley said after Saturday's win. "Between he and Paolo, what they're capable of doing when they put their heads down and their minds to it. They work so hard. Pure professionals about getting it done the right way. Just the competitive will and the competitive nature of these two young men is absolutely incredible and that bleeds over to the rest of the team and each person provides that with this group."
That is what feels different about this team and this season. There is ownership among this group for their results. The injuries have sapped them of some ability. But when things got dicy they answered the call. Nothing was going to stop them.
Both players said they were feeling good and played with aggression and force. When Banchero saw that Wagner had it going, he gave the ball to Wagner and let him work.
After struggling through the first three quarters, Wagner did not blink in draining shot after shot and challenging the Pistons' interior defense. That lifted everyone's energy—just as Jalen Suggs' return lifted the team's spirits.
After struggling to get downhill, the team looked more like itself. They were the more physical team, flying around on defense and getting to the basket. And their two stars imposed their will on the game.
"I think you ahve to be able to give yourself grace," Banchero said after Saturday's win. "Me and Franz hold ourselves and each other to a ridiculously high standard. When we don't perform well, I think we both take it very hard. I give credit to coach for reminding us that coming back from injury like we are not everything is going to go our way. It may differ from game to game. Him giving us that perspective changed our mindset a little bit and kind of depend on each other and help each other out and lean on each other."
Becoming whole
The Orlando Magic are not quite whole yet.
Goga Bitadze is still working himself back from the concussion protocols. Suggs may be dealing with a new knee injury that caused him to leave this game in the fourth quarter.
Banchero and Wagner were feeling well enough and were determined enough to finish this game. But they are still working off minute restrictions. There is no telling whether this is the new normal for either or whether another frustrating showing is on the horizon.
But for the first time in several weeks, the Magic looked like themselves. As the fourth quarter started, the Magic took over, knowing the physicality they displayed throughout the game gave them an advantage if they could will their way to the finish.
That is who this team is. That is the standard they have set for themselves.
It took their stars returning to form to find themselves again and lead the way.