Orlando Magic trusted their process to find their swagger again

Things looked bleak for the Orlando Magic a week ago.

The team was struggling to score. The shots and open shots the team was taking were not going in. Their top player and superstar was on the sideline and out until at least mid-December. It did not seem like relief was on the way, but the Magic had to figure things out.

The constant refrain throughout that five-game losing streak was patience. Coach Jamahl Mosley said repeatedly his team was getting the right shots and had to stay with that process. The results would come around. The team needed some faith and belief to persevere and find their way out. But they were on the right track, even when things looked pretty dim.

But things are not so bleak anymore. The Magic are not a hopeless team that cannot score any longer. They are not a team whose goals seem unachievable without their star.

Maybe they needed a moment to get their footing again. But they were always too good not to find it. They were always going to find that joy again.

It was evident throughout the Orlando Magic's 114-89 victory over the Charlotte Hornets to open up play in the NBA Cup on Tuesday. They looked like themselves again.

More than that, they looked like a dominant and dynamic team that is planning on staking a claim in the Eastern Conference even without Paolo Banchero in the lineup.

Even more than that, they looked like they had the joy and spirit that defines this team. They looked like they had their swagger back.

Maybe it never left and just needed this outlet to become evident.

"This is why we keep talking about process," Mosley said after Tuesday's win. "During the losing streak, we were getting the right shots, we were getting to the paint, we were doing the things we needed to do, we were defending at a decent clip. Now you put it all together with the ability to make some shots, get the stops that you need to, turn them over the right way. It's still the same shot profile and still the same defense but now you are converting on the other end.

"I think that's part of the process you have to stick with. You can't keep chasing and worrying about the result as much as you worry about the work that you're doing."

Process builds confidence

You could find that intensity and confidence everywhere in moments big and small. Results sure help make the process seem like it is working. It brings out the swagger that has defined the Orlando Magic.

It comes in moments like the one late in the third quarter when Moe Wagner drew a foul and fell to the court as the ball rolled around the rim and in, eventually celebrating with finger guns pointed toward the baseline camera.

It comes in the 10 turnovers the Magic forced in the second quarter to help blow the game open or the 37 points the Magic allowed in the middle two quarters, deploying a suffocating and hounding defense that kept the Hornets from finding any traction.

It comes in Franz Wagner continuing his star turn with 32 points, eight rebounds and five assists as he darted through the lane to finish at the rim or stopped and hit tough mid-range jumpers in an uncharacteristic display of his overall shot-making.

It comes with the aura of Paolo Banchero on the sideline joining the FanDuel Sports Network Florida broadcast wearing shades as the broadcast team presented him with a birthday cake.

When things are good, they are very good. It is hard not to be wrapped up in what this team is capable of. And this team is playing the way they are meant to.

"It's great to find rhythm and play off of momentum," Jalen Suggs said after Tuesday's win. "For as heavy as those moments were, you have to celebrate these moments as well. I think everybody is doing a good job trusting the process and trusting the journey and not so focused on the end goal or the present. There's going to be ups and downs. I think everybody is following that right now, staying steady and trusting the work. And the results are showing."

Suggs said nobody on the team missed a beat. The losing streak and the frustrations that seemed apparent never deterred the team. There was always plenty of time to make that ground back up and find themselves again. They never lost touch as a group even without their star player.

Maybe they just needed the momentum of being at home, where they are undefeated at 4-0.

The groundswell was certainly there and the Magic built off the successes of the last two games since the road trip ended.

Orlando Magic's defense leads its identity

The Magic found plenty of shotmaking early, including Jalen Suggs scoring 13 of his 17 points in the first quarter as he drained his first three 3-pointers and eventually his first seven shots overall. That was necessary with LaMelo Ball scoring 16 of his 35 points in the first quarter too.

Franz Wagner continued to look every part of a star on his way to 32 points, eight rebounds and five assists. He picked his matchups and either attacked the basket or stopped for jumpers from the mid-range as became far more comfortable as the team's leading scorer and main creator.

But Orlando took control of the game because it tightened the screws on defense. It forced 10 turnovers in the second quarter and recorded seven fast-break points to being to pull away. The Magic outpaced the Hornets 17-8 in fast break points for the game. They ended up forcing 22 turnovers for 22 points.

Charlotte finished with an icy 88.1 offensive rating. Orlando's defense was simply too much. That is how they have to play.

"I think our defense fueled everything tonight," Suggs said after Tuesday's win. "It wasn't shotmaking fueling us. It was getting stops on that end and getting out and running, causing problems in transition. It's something we do very well. We played defense, everyone was locked in. We didn't take many possessions off on that side of the ball, which led to runouts and easy buckets which got us flowing."

That energizes this team. They have had to learn how to use their defense to create offense. That is this team's identity and something they have embraced.

The pieces come together

The Orlando Magic always had that in them, even during the losing streak. Only now are those pieces coming together more clearly.

The team looks like itself again.

But there is no time to celebrate. Just as easy as the team created this swagger and joy, it can lose it again. The focus has to remain on the present and the task at hand. The job is still more difficult with the injuries the team is facing even if they have found that rhythm and groove again.

"We're confident, but we also know we're 6-6 and it's early in the season," Wagner said after Tuesday's win. "The way it works is the moment you look too far ahead or look back or any of that stuff, that's when you don't focus on the next game or what's in front of you. That's what's most important."

The team has rebounded from that frustrating road trip last week. It has rebounded from the shock of that injury to Banchero. It has found its identity once again.

Rediscovering that joy in the way they play is vital to the Magic's success.

But the only thing that has probably changed in the last week is the results. The Magic are still doing many of the things they need to do to win just as they were during the losing streak.

Trusting the process of who they are is what is guiding them forward.