In the third quarter, the Orlando Magic fought to stay in the game against the Houston Rockets. They were defending hard, but struggling to finish possessions. The score was low enough to give them the chance if they could get themselves right.
They knew they needed to be the more physical team to beat this bruising Rockets team.
That was not the case in the first half. And it was not the case throughout that critical third quarter. The Rockets were always the ones to hit first.
Over and over again, the Rockets delivered backbreaking rebound after backbreaking rebound. Enough of them ended in three-pointers to put the Magic in a hole this team will not get out of often enough.
Of course, that is not who the Magic are, or at least what has led to their success in the last three seasons. The Magic can and will lose because they cannot shoot. They cannot afford to lose because they are outworked and beaten physically.
That happened again in a 97-84 loss to the Rockets on Monday. The Magic were outworked on the glass for 20 offensive rebounds—11 from Steven Adams and another six from Alperen Sengun as the Rockets grabbed nearly half of their own misses. Orlando was made to feel small in giving up those back-breaking opportunities and 19 second-chance points.
This is not the formula for the Magic to win. The formula the team loses far too often.
"We came out there especially early on putting hands on bodies," Wendell Carter said after Monday's win. "We did a really good job of being the first physical team. But we didn't withstand that. We allowed them to crash offensive boards too much. It's definitely a challenge every night. When there's a will there's a way, we have to figure it out."
Orlando may still have scored more second-chance points with 21 on 13 offensive rebounds. The team may have forced plenty of turnovers as the team normally does. Overall, it may have been a good defensive night but it was not enough with the rebounds they gave up.
But something still feels off about the team. The Rockets' dominance on the glass seemed to put the Magic under pressure and stagger them back. Their aggression and energy decreased until it became overwhelming.
Who do the Magic want to be?
As the Orlando Magic have descended this year and struggled to find their footing overall, everything has turned back to this essential question: Who are the Magic? Or better, who do they want to be?
They want to be a physical team that dictates the terms of engagement. They want to be a team that pushes back—like Jonathan Isaac did when he and Tari Eason got chest-to-chest, an odd bit of gamesmanship from the usually reserved Isaac. They want to be the irritant that never goes away—the gnat constantly annoying teams, as Doc Rivers has often put it.
This shows itself not only in how the team talks and chatters but also on the glass, where the team uses a gang rebounding effort without any dominant big. They typically hold their own.
Orlando is still ranked sixth in defensive rebound rate at 72.4 percent. Monday's loss—and the heinous 48.3 percent offensive rebound rate from the Rockets—dropped the Magic down two spots. But this has largely not been a concern.
This is not a team that gets pushed around very often.
But that has been the case far too often. Since the All-Star break, the Magic are 25th in defensive rebound rate at 67.5 percent. Monday was just an exaggerated version of a growing problem.
Why are the Magic losing despite improved offensive showings? Why has the defense suddenly struggled? It is rebounding.
And giving the Rockets nearly one of every two of their misses affects everything else.
"It hit our guys a little bit," Jamahl Mosley said after Monday's loss. "They just came off scoring 146 points, you hold them to 97 points. You are battling as much as you can. Those offensive rebounds, they become deflating because you've gotten the stops that you need but then you've got to finish those possessions off. Twenty offensive rebounds are difficult to overcome, especially in a possession game like this."
The Magic's defense did its job outside of the rebound (and that is holding a lot of weight), limiting the Rockets to 39.3 percent shooting and a 104.3 offensive rating despite all the rebounds. Orlando forced 20 turnovers and scored 20 points off those turnovers. The Magic were able to find some respite.
Draining the offense
But so often going up against the Houston Rockets' set defense puts the Orlando Magic in a bind.
Orlando was not only getting roughed up on defense but also getting outworked on offense. The Rockets are as good defensively as the Magic are and with an offense susceptible to stagnating and settling, the Magic were playing catch up all night.
The rebounding, it seemed, broke their spirit some. They lost the ball movement that led to the win against the Milwaukee Bucks and struggled to get to the paint with force and confidence.
Orlando scored only 36 points in the paint (outscoring Houston by eight points) but shot only 18 for 42 (42.9 percent).
Paolo Banchero scored 25 points on 10-for-23 shooting. Franz Wagner added 15 on 6-for-15 shooting. They both began to settle for jumpers as the ball got stuck and they could not get shots to go down.
Banchero and Wagner combined to shoot 9 for 12 at the rim but just 3 for 12 in the paint outside the restricted area. There were a lot of points left on the board. And the Magic only got 24 free throws—four each from Banchero and Wagner.
That is not the aggressive formula for a Magic win. The Magic did not have enough.
"I really do believe we were trying to fight and get in there and battle," Mosley said after Monday's loss. "Steven Adams got 11 offensive rebounds himself. That falls on not just on the one guy guarding him but guys flying back in to help out on the rebounding situations. We need to have all five guys fly in there."
Carter said the Magic fell into the trap of doing one-pass-and-shot possessions. They lost some trust in the process.
Solving frustrating problems
These are all problems the Orlando Magic have had for a while now.
The supporting cast—only Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner scored in double figures, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope did not even take a shot in the game and Orlando got only 27 points off the bench—has struggled to provide consistent support. The Magic settled for threes after a hot early start, going 8 for 32 from distance. The team got punched and staggered and never fully recovered.
There are long-term issues the Magic are still struggling to resolve. And any time it feels like the team covers up one hole, another pops up.
In all, this is not the team anyone imagined at the beginning of the year, even accounting for the injuries the team has faced. This team is still searching for its identity.
They know they have to be the team that hits first and hits hardest. Everything else branches from that. When Orlando does not, the team ends up with games like this where it is searching for the force and will to win.
Orlando has to be that team to succeed.