The Orlando Magic were taking on water as they hit the road after a 1-6 homestand, a turning point in their season that essentially locked them into the Play-In Tournament. Things were at a low. The team was struggling to gain much consistency. Even with their players back in the lineup and starting to improve, things were not clicking.
The close losses forced the team to look at itself in the mirror. There were many close losses, but the team had to find its rhythm and togetherness. Sitting at 29-35, all of the team's goals were falling quickly out of reach.
The Magic needed to right the ship as much as anything in those dark days. They needed to find stability and play to their potential.
Orlando has turned things around. It was a mixture of many things to get the team to go from that low to 12-5 since then. It started with a breakthrough 3-2 road trip that included a road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, snapping their 16-game win streak.
What helped as much as anything was stability. In a season that has seen so many injuries, the most important thing to find their way was a lineup that the team put out consistently. A lineup that helped reserve players fill in and find their ideal roles. The Magic hit on something that worked.
A lineup change to save the season
The biggest thing that may have turned the season was inserting veteran Cory Joseph into the starting lineup when Cole Anthony missed games with a left big toe strain. The stability in the lineup and rotation, even with its players' limitations, has helped the Magic make the most of the end of the season.
"I think it helps when you are seeing the same lineups and the same rotation and guys are getting used to their minutes," Paolo Banchero said after shootaround Friday in Indianapolis. "We have been able to build some consistency there. Since we put Cory in the starting lineup, we have been consistent with him starting and the rotations from there.
"Going into the playoffs, I'm not sure what changes are going to be made or if there are going to be changes, but everyone knowing who's in, who's out, who starts, who is coming off the bench, I think it helps everybody bcause guys are comfortable game in and game out with what they are being asked to do and just where their opportunities are going to come."
Even if Joseph has some weaknesses that will keep him from playing significant minutes in the playoffs, he helps the Orlando Magic get off to their best starts. And there is no denying the effectiveness of the lineup.
The starting lineup with Joseph is now the most-used starting lineup at 14 games and its most frequently used lineup at 216 minutes. It is one of 25 starting lineups the Magic have used this season.
It has been undeniably productive. The lineup with Cory Joseph, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero and Wendell Carter has a +11.5 net rating (116.0 offensive rating and 104.6 defensive rating). Since March 1, the group has played 214 of its 216 minutes.
It is one of two lineups since March 1 to play 200 minutes together—the other is the Indiana Pacers' starting lineup. Among lineups that have played at least 150 minutes since March 1, it is fourth behind the Indiana Pacers' starting lineup, the LA Clippers' starting lineup and the Atlanta Hawks' starting lineup with Mo Gueye in it.
Even against the Hawks, the group went +9 in Tuesday's win.
Joseph is not closing games for the Magic. They typically turn back to Anthony Black to close games. He has struggled at times playing alongside heavier usage players like Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. But undoubtedly, the ability to know when they will come in and out and the players they play with and when has helped stabilize things in a season with a lot of uncertainty.
"It helps a ton. It helps not only the coaches but guys who are playing," coach Jamahl Mosley said before Friday's game. "Understanding ultimately when they are going into the game, when they can come out, barring there are different things that happen in the game with fouls or when guys get hot or certain matchups. But the ability to have a consistent lineup is huge for the entire group."
Searching for stability
The Orlando Magic have been in turmoil and searching for stable ground since the beginning of the season.
Paolo Banchero tore his oblique and missed two months after five games this season. Franz Wagner tore his oblique a month later. Moe Wagner, a bench stalwart, was lost for the season three weeks later. Jalen Suggs started going in and out of the lineup with various injuries in late December before a back and then a knee injury shut him down in January.
In between all of that, Orlando tried Cole Anthony and Anthony Black at guard. They tried rookie Tristan da Silva as the starting forward. They tried playing Goga Bitadze and Wendell Carter together.
Orlando was searching for combinations that could hold the ship steady. Nothing seemed to work. Nothing was able to work long enough before another injury forced some change.
The reality is the Magic likely needed the patience to let players get comfortable and healthy again.
Paolo Banchero found his footing and regained his All-NBA-level of play after the All-Star break. Wendell Carter has looked more energetic and versatile on defense, helping set the Magic's defense right. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is shooting nearly 50 percent from three in his last 15 games.
Things have turned around for the Magic because they have gotten better. They stared at themselves in that low moment and made a decision to play better as much as anything. Orlando was not going quietly into the good night.
"That 1-6 homestand was looking in the mirror trying, to figure some things out, hard conversations that needed to be had," Mosley said before Friday's game. "When you are able to do that in those moments, it propels you forward because it means you've learned something from those lessons and losses in those games, which were all close games. You are forced to look at things you might not have if you won two or three of them."
The Magic indeed learned a lot about themselves in the last five weeks. They were given a stage to make this discovery thanks to some stability with their lineup and the effectiveness of that lineup.
It has the Magic playing as well as any team ahead of the postseason. It has Orlando understanding better what the team may have to address in the offseason.
But undeniably, lineup stability has helped the Magic find their way once again.