Coach Jamahl Mosley has rarely had to be as blunt as he was following Tuesday's 40-point loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He said simply said, "There is no rhyme or reason, we got our butts kicked."
The game was over. The Magic had to sit and stew on those results. Mosley, as most coaches do, would not comment much further on the quality of the team's shots or execution until he could watch the tape except to say that it was not Orlando Magic basketball. The tape would certainly show a lot the team needed to improve upon.
The only thing the team knew how to do was to get in the gym and work. That is the only response they could have to such a terrible game. Orlando needed to return to work and find a way to come together again.
The team has noticed itself splintering. The frustration that has come with this season has only multiplied, and the team has struggled to respond when they hit these lulls.
For the first time, players spoke publicly about the team fighting to stay on the same page and the need for change. That has to start internally with the team's first practice since the debacle on Tuesday.
"Our focus was great, our energy level was right where it needed to be, feeling the sting of last night but also understanding we had work to do to fix whatever we didn't correctly yesterday," Mosley said after practice Wednesday. "Obviously, there was some shot-making [against the Cavs] but then defensively letting go of it a little bit, not allowing us to get discouraged by makes or misses and trusting our process to make sure we play the type of basketball we need to play."
It has been a struggle for this Magic team to find consistency. Since Jalen Suggs' injury on Jan. 3, the Magic are 8-16. They have been wildly inconsistent with their defense slipping and their offense hitting the tank.
The Magic hoped they had turned something of a corner with three strong defensive showings since the All-Star Break, but they got a major dose of reality going up against the East-leading Cavaliers.
Still, things should never have turned out this bad. The team was left to wonder why?
With the team entering the final quarter of its season, the team needed a sense of urgency to get things right. This had to be a wake-up call for the team. An intense practice seemed to be the way Mosley intended to convey that message.
"Conversation is we have to get back to work and get to work," Jonathan Isaac said after practice Wednesday. "It would have been easy to come in today and say we played yesterday and have a light practice because we play tomorrow. We played yesterday and we played today. All we can do is work ourselves out of this situation."
Fitting in again
Practices are valuable because they allow the coach to interrupt play and make corrections in real time. Typically this part of the season sees more instruction using tape as the team hopes to preserve bodies. But the team has needed this time to get themselves back on the same page.
Orlando Magic players do not want to use the injuries as an excuse. But it is the reality they are still fitting players back into the lineup and rediscovering roles.
That the team's two heaviest-usage players are the two players who are having to work the most back into the group has been as big a challenge as any.
Mosley said that it can be difficult to settle back into new roles when players return. Communication lines get broken down with new lineups. Thet eam has to relearn how to talk and work together.
Granted, it has been 15 games since Franz Wagner returned. And while Jalen Suggs has not returned for most of it, the team is almost fully healthy for the first time all season. The Magic have not been able to establish consistency.
Both Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner have had moments where they were working their way back to form just as they had moments where they looked like the stars the team knows they can be. Banchero especially has been inconsistent since his return.
It has been a challenge that has derailed the Magic and kept them from reaching their potential. Only adding to the frustration of this season.
Regardless of their status, Mosley said the team has had to learn how to communicate with each other again. And that has meant urging team leaders like Wagner to step up and speak out to help the team avoid sliding further.
"Everything I would say right now is either an excuse or we didn't do our job at the end of the day. One of those two," Franz Wagner said after practice Wednesday. "I think just naturally we have a lot of guys who are more quiet. Sometimes that happens in a game. That's part of practice for us. Coaches telling guys to speak up and speak their mind and players communicating with each other. Out there in the game, we can't always look to the coaches."
Wagner said he was one of those players coaches urged to speak up. Wagner said he knows it is part of his responsibility to ensure everyone is on the same page.
It takes that kind of a reminder that the Magic have two very young players as their team leaders. It is going to take everyone stepping up but attention is undoubtedly on the Magic's two stars to lead the charge in some way.
Paolo Banchero said after Tuesday's game he has to continue to set a good example and be a good teammate. The team has to challenge each other and be upset over the loss to move forward.
Banchero made it clear they can't just keep saying they want change, they have to make that change happen. That is the responsibility they all have.
The work to get there continues.
"It's been a crazy season," Isaac said after Wednesday's practice. "A lot of things changed throughout the year. You go from Paolo to Franz to Jalen, it's just a lot. It's not an easy thing to deal with. I'm not making excuses. But it's just the reality we're in. We're working hard, we're trying to figure it out. We're not giving up and we're going to keep going."
The Magic have had to apply these lessons quickly and that is what is most important. After a bad loss, the most important thing the team can do is get back on the floor and play again and try to apply what they learned.
For sure, the Orlando Magic's most important game comes Thursday against the Golden State Warriors. They must respond to this defeat and hope they are slowly getting back on the same page and looking like the unit they know they can be.