Orlando Magic win the margins to power their offense

The start of the Orlando Magic's game against the Washington Wizards on Sunday felt like it has for the last week.

The Magic were scoring enough to stay in the game and control it. But they could not blow it open because the open threes they worked so hard for were not falling.

Orlando went 3 for 11 from deep in the first quarter. That is enough to keep a fast-paced offensive team like the Wizards in the game. It is enough to be concerned that it could drain the offense, as it has throughout this part of the season.

The Magic are the worst three-point shooting team in the league right now despite the encouraging looks they get and despite going through the correct process to get those shots.

What has changed now is Orlando realizes the shooting does not matter. If the shots are not going in, the Magic have to find another way to win. They have to find a way to make up for those losses.

If the Magic are going to win right now without Paolo Banchero and win without reliable three-point shooting, they are going to have to win on the margins. They have to make up those lost points somehow.

In the last three games, the answers for the Magic have come by putting more pressure in the paint, by collecting offensive rebounds for extra possessions and, of course, a hounding and energetic defense that is forcing mistakes and giving them advantages in transition.

The Magic got some more reliable three-point shooting to defeat the Wizards 121-94 on Sunday. But they blew the game open thanks to these points on the margins and these extra possessions. This is who the Magic have to be.

"We had to lock in," Goga Bitadze said after Sunday's win. "It's really hard to lock in honestly. These kinds of teams, they're young and running. It's hard to play defense against these kinds of teams. We really locked in and everybody came in, whoever came in, everybody followed the game plan that we had on the board before the game. It worked out and we got the win."

Orlando can thank three-point shooting to build the lead out to 15 points midway through the second quarter. The team went five for eight from three in a surprising and long-awaited burst in the second quarter. But naturally, the 3-point shooting faded, with the Magic finishing at a more respectable 35.4 percent.

In any case, the Wizards had an answer with a three-point run of their own to close the gap to six points at halftime.

Three-point shooting, in other words, was not going to save the Magic. It is important to their wins. But it is not how they win. And that is a fact everyone has to remember, even as the Magic try to take more and more threes to boost the offense.

Instead how they win is what they unleashed in the third quarter.

Magic unleash their defense in the third

The Orlando Magic made their move in the third quarter and let their defense lead the way.

They forced eight turnovers for 14 points in the third quarter. They crashed the glass for 10 second-chance points on five offensive rebounds. They forced the Wizards to shoot 5 for 12 and 1 for 6 from three to win the quarter 30-16 and put the game firmly away.

The Magic know their identity rests on their heart and their ability to defend and use that defense to create their offense. They know it rests on their ability to outwork teams. Maybe they needed a moment to rediscover that.

"I think we did a great job staying the course," Cole Anthony said after Sunday's win. "In the second half, our energy. we played that second half with so much joy. Everyone was smiling and everyone was having a good time. It was just unselfish. If we play like that, we're going to be a lot of teams."

The final tallies for the game show how much the Magic dominated these areas.

Orlando outscored Washington 22-9 in second-chance points off of 15 offensive rebounds. They got them in every way possible with Goga Bitadze recording a few putback dunks among his six offensive rebounds. But there were plays where Anthony Black or Jonathan Isaac scratched out an offensive rebound and kicked back out for a three or possessions where the Magic got multiple offensive rebounds.

These extra chances are vital to find the defense in a sudden imbalance, prevent fast breaks and get extra shot opportunities. Orlando took 19 more field goal attempts than Washington in the game.

That is just all about heart, such an essential part of this team's identity. They outworked an energetic Wizards team and broke their back with these extra opportunities.

"I think before we are shooting 19 percent from three, so we have a lot of opportunities to crash," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Sunday's win. "Tonight, our ability to crash and knock shots down is big. I think that has to continue. it has to be our identity. Not only on the defensive side but being able to crash the glass to keep them out of transition but give us the extra opportunity to knock shots down."

The Magic find new ways to generate points

It is no secret the Orlando Magic's offense is struggling right now. The trends of the last three games have provided a clue toward how this team can win. And it starts for them on defense and the offensive glass.

The Magic are ranked 16th in the league in offensive rebound rate at 28.8 percent and 14th with 14.5 second-chance points per game. But in their last three games, they are grabbing 33.8 percent of their offensive rebounding opportunities and scoring 17.7 second-chance points per game.

For a team struggling to shoot and struggling to generate offense, this has been a significant way for the team to cut into that 3-point margin.

The Magic need these extra points simply to survive right now as their three-point shooting tries to get right. But offensive rebounding is also the new transition defense, forcing teams to commit more to preserve the defensive glass and putting players in a position to stop the initial outlet pass.

Similarly, the Magic know they have to rely on their defense to create their offense. That was the case as they hounded the Wizards throughout that third quarter, finishing with 26 points off 17 turnovers.

Orlando is 11th in the league forcing a 15.4 percent turnover rate this season and 17th with 16.9 points off turnovers per game. But, again, in the last three games as the Magic came out of their losing streak and started to find their footing, they forced a 15.3 percent turnover rate but scored 20.0 points off turnovers per game.

These may feel like small differences. These may feel like inconsequential things. But they are not only essential to the Magic's identity, they are an essential part of the formula for the Magic to win right now as they sort through their offense.

"We'll keep saying it, our defense is going to carry our offense, to generate easy baskets, getting stops to get out in the open court, to finish," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Sunday's win. "That's going to be key for us as we continue down this road. Get stops to get out and run and do a better job defending without fouling so we can get out on the break."

The Magic did not get many fast-break points. But their outscoring the fast-break-heavy Wizards 10-7 in transition was another sign of how thoroughly they dominated and contained the Wizards' attack. It is another place the Magic won off the main page of the box score.

Orlando is still piecing things together in the wake of Paolo Banchero's injury. But they have found one truth: They have to win the points on the margins to succeed.