Desmond Bane had everything rolling in the third quarter.
He scored nine of the team's 18 points as the Orlando Magic tried to stay in the game amid their usual offensive struggles.
Of course, those offensive struggles had a reason. And Bane was at the center of one of the reasons why. As good as he played, Bane was as frustrated as anybody by how things were going and was part of their unraveling.
When he failed to get an and-1 call after making a basket (the foul was called on the floor), he proceeded to hip check Victor Wembanyama running down the floor. The foul got upgraded to a flagrant foul on review. Wembanyama split the free throws and gave the Spurs a six-point lead.
Another foul on Wembanyama expanded the lead to eight.
These are little things. But they add up. And then you add on frustrations like the foul discrepancy, turnovers and missing shots all while trying to solve Wembanyama in the paint?
And that was the difference between the Spurs and the Magic in a 112-103 Spurs win on Sunday evening. San Antonio rolled with the punches and overcame the team's mistakes and all the adversity of a travel day. Orlando seemed constantly frustrated by them, letting them snowball for several possessions.
"I just don't think we came out with the right mentality," Desmond Bane said after Sunday's loss. "I've said it time and time again, we weren't ready to pay. We were a step slow, especially on the defensive end. They were getting whatever they wanted. We're playing the second-best team in the league, you can't afford to have moments like that. I talk about our growth, but we have to start putting it into action and being better."
This has been at the heart of Orlando's issues for much of this season. The team has lost some of its resiliency. The group can get distracted by its struggles and its shortcomings and outside factors in the game.
They are always late getting back while complaining to refs, they are always down on themselves after getting off to a bad starts and problems always seem to snowball.
They just need to get out of their own way.
Beat from the start
You can usually tell how the Orlando Magic are going to play by the way they start games. Those have been a major problem, and the Magic seem due to have one bad quarter every game still. Orlando has been unable to put all the pieces together.
It has always been one step forward, one step back, or even two steps back with this team lately. The Magic do not know what they will get.
They might be trending in the right direction, but their effort still takes constant attention. They had seemingly re-established their physical identity. And it slipped on Sunday.
It was clear from the start that the San Antonio Spurs came ready to play. Or if they did not, they were determined to lay a heavy punch early and expend all of their adrenaline and energy.
"I thought they were the more physical team, the more aggressive team to start the game," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Sunday's loss. "They played desperate and with a sense of urgency to start the game out. We kind of tried to get ourselves walking into the game. That's not the way you can play against a team like this."
Orlando did not seem to know how to respond, falling behind by 12 five minutes into the game. The team trailed by 16 after one quarter, getting beaten to every 50/50 ball and struggling to track players in transition.
Orlando took a one-point lead at halftime by being the harder-working, more energetic team. Jonathan Isaac and Noah Penda dug out loose balls and helped force turnovers to power the team's offense. The Magic made six of 10 from three to crawl back in the game.
But that energy was short-lived. The Spurs opened the third quarter with a 10-2 run to take a seven-point lead. And they became the aggressors again, shooting 9 of 10 from the foul line as the Magic could not stop fouling, particularly Victor Wembanyama.
That is when the team's frustrations with the officiating grew. And that distracted them from a close game. The Spurs slowly grew their lead as the Magic seemed mired in frustration and forced to play hands-off on both ends.
San Antonio ended up with 32 free-throw attempts, making 22, including 11-for-15 shooting from the line from Wembanyama. The Magic managed only 15 free throw attempts total.
For a team reliant on foul shooting, that was a death knell. It only fed frustration that distracted them from the task at hand.
Those little points and those little dips are ultimately what cost the Magic the game.
Lacking precision
This is what it all comes down to then.
The Orlando Magic have a lot of the tools they need to win.
Paolo Banchero had an up-and-down game with 19 points on 6-for-12 shooting. But he was still fairly effective when he had the ball. Desmond Bane was the most effective downhill attacker with 25 points.
Jalen Suggs (five points, 2-for-13 shooting), Anthony Black (11 points, 4-for-12 shooting) and Wendell Carter (two points, 1-for-7 shooting) all struggled to fill in. But they all largely got the looks the Magic want and just missed.
Orlando does not win on talent alone, as prodigious as that talent is. The Magic sitll need that talent focused in the right direction.
To win, Orlando needs to be the hardest-working team and reduce mistakes. The Magic are a typically low-turnover team, but they had 15 turnovers in Sunday's game, making a comeback that much more difficult.
It should be clear this late into the season that the Magic are not good enough to show up and win. If the team has championship aspirations, it certainly needs to understand that lesson.
For as much progress as Orlando seemed to make in winning the last two, the team reverted back to bad habits. The Magic have taken their identity for granted again.
And they need to take accountability for the most basic thing in their arsenal: Their effort.
"There's no excuses," Bane said after Sunday's loss. "We're a better team than what we showed. We've got to be better."
Winning will take a precise and focused effort. And that has escaped this Magic team far too often. And the team is trying to take ownership that they are not giving the effort they need.