Experience was supposed to be the great teacher for this year's Orlando Magic team. It was supposed to fuel the team's progress deeper into the playoffs and higher up the standings. It was supposed to show them what it would take to win and build a consistent winner at the top of the Eastern Conference.
Maybe this team is still in there.
Paolo Banchero had 31 points, including 20 in the third quarter Monday against the Atlanta Hawks. Franz Wagner again carried the team with 37 points. They were superstars scoring seemingly at will. The Magic are not a failed rebuild by any means.
The Magic's defense too stifled Trae Young, holding him to 19 points and eight assists with nine turnovers. He shot 6 for 17 and 1 for 8 from three.
Orlando did a lot of things well enough to win. But the Magic still found themselves in a tight game. They still found themselves leaning on their defense and shot-making to pull out the win. It came down to making or missing shots.
The entire game came down to those details that lead to winning. The details the Magic have come up short on so often during this increasingly disappointing season.
As the Magic finally went cold in the final two minutes of the game—with Franz Wagner missing two pull-up shots and then Kentavious Caldwell-Pope missing an open three with the Magic down by four and 32.8 seconds to go—the realization may be setting in after a 112-106 loss to the Hawks that dropped the Magic to ninth in the Eastern Conference with the All-Star Game on the horizon:
This is not last year's team. This group will not be reaching the highs of last season.
Right now, this year's team is searching for consistency and to play at the level they know they are capable of but have been unable to reach. The search continued Monday as the team fell to 26-29.
"I don't think you can really point to last year," Paolo Banchero said after Monday's loss. "Last year was a different team. It's a different year. And so this is a new season and a new team and we have to prove that we are deserving of being in the postseason. We're going to have to really come together and lock in on this last stretch. We're riding the line right now and we know it can go one of two ways."
The Magic are officially on the line now. The Hawks' win vaults them to eighth in the Eastern Conference, a half-game ahead of the Magic with one more game remaining than the Magic have. It is jarring considering the expectations the team had and the potential this team showed.
The Play-In is more than a real possibility for the Magic. The 9-10 Play-In game is not impossible.
Orlando has indeed fallen on hard times. And even in a game where the team shot 47.4 percent from the floor and 40.0 percent from three, the team was seemingly scrounging for offense to keep up. The Magic could not string together enough stops to take control. They kept getting in their own way.
Missing urgency
The Orlando Magic could not execute down the stretch despite the brilliance of their two stars. They faltered under pressure.
"It reminds me a little bit of the last Miami game," Franz Wagner said after Monday's loss. "I thought we struggled to get a good look at the end of the game and then I think we just had too many stretches throughout the game where we didn't have the right urgency as a group. We had that in the second quarter and then coming out of halftime as well. We've just got to be better."
The offense has been the issue all year. The team can stagnate and rely on its two best players to create everything for them. When teams switch and stymie them from attacking downhill, the Magic devolve into isos and overdribbling and eventually bad or hurried shots late in teh shot clock.
Banchero and Wagner were brilliant on their own. They found pockets and went on long scoring runs. But they struggled to keep others involved. The Hawks were at their worst when the Magic passed the ball to open shooters (they were making them Monday). They were at their best when the ball stuck in Banchero and Wagner's hands.
This defines the Magic's offensive struggles all season.
Despite the strong shooting overall, no other player scored more than 10 points, and no one else seemed to join the party. Anthony Black was third on the team with six field goal attempts. The shots were not coming for anyone else.
There were plenty of mistakes beyond shot selection and a lack of ball movement.
Orlando had 18 turnovers for 20 points, but the team had six for eight points in the third quarter alone. The Magic watched a seven-point halftime lead whittle away. Paolo Banchero scored 20 of the team's 25 points in the quarter, looking to get aggressive and go downhill. But that merely kept the Magic afloat.
Cole Anthony had three of those turnovers fairly early in the quarter, not returning for the rest of the game. Banchero had four turnovers too. Mistakes were plenty.
But the Magic have dealt with high turnover counts before. They have overcome them even if it narrowed their margin for error. The team still seems a bit off as the reality of the playoff chase comes into focus near the All-Star Break.
"It's just focus," Wagner said after Monday's game. "I'm not going to sit here and say Atlanta didn't play a good game. You have to give them credit too. A lot of that stuff is on us whether it is focus or as a group us not having enough purpose out there. That's on everybody that is playing. It's a team sport. But we'll be better, we'll learn from it. We've got 27 games left, I think. This will help us down the stretch."
The lack of urgency and attention to detail is jarring to see considering this team has built itself on effort and intensity. Orlando has lost much of that identity since Jalen Suggs suffered a back injury in early January. Orlando has sought the energy and intensity that defined the team's playoff run last year.
A frustrating journey
This journey has been a fraught one full of injuries and frustration. That is still a big part of the story as Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner especially work their way back from injury. The Magic are missing the energy they get from Jalen Suggs and Moe Wagner, who has been back behind the bench for the first time during the last two game.
Part of the reason the Magic did not attack the trade deadline is because they believe their best basketball is ahead when they are healthy. They have not been fully healthy and together since opening night—a rollicking statement win against the rival Miami Heat.
It is still clear that the team has changes ahead in its future nonetheless. This season has not gone to plan and a loss like Monday's still makes that clear as Orlando cannot reach back and find its identity consistently. The wins are not rolling in.
The Magic are not on the same path they were last year. There is a lot of work to do and the dream of catching last year's win total or seeding, let alone the goal of getting homecourt advantage.
The Magic have struggled at times to walk this path. They are trying to forge a new path that meets their expectations and coming up short. That has given way to frustration.
It has not been easy. But Banchero is right, everyone must put away last season's success and expectations.
Orlando has to find a way to make the most of the team it has together and make its own path wherever it takes them. Right now, the team is struggling to find it.