There were two stories that came out of Tuesday’s Orlando Magic loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
The first belonged to the winners. This was Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard being superstars and guiding a Bucks team with championship aspirations back to Las Vegas – the only team to repeat trips to the NBA Cup semifinals. This was a team that has found its groove and is seeking redemption for a disastrous trip last year.
The second belonged to the losers.
The scrappy Orlando Magic team showed out on the big stage despite being without Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner (both out with torn right obliques). They fought the Bucks to the end, giving up the lead with about 30 seconds left.
The Inside the NBA crew extolled the Magic as the “OKC of the East” with Kenny Smith at one point saying Jalen Suggs was a year away from being an All-Star. The national audience finally saw what Magic fans have known for three years.
But the loss did not sit right with a lot of players – Jalen Suggs most of all after the game, at least publicly. They felt they left something on the table and lost their chance to advance.
That disappointment says everything about this team. If they proved anything in the games after Banchero’s injury, it is that they are more than capable of winning.
Through the first 27 games of the season, Orlando has developed its way to play. And it has benefited from knowing how to win, overcoming any questions about the players the team is missing.
“We played great,” Moe Wagner said. “You lose some, you win some. You’ve got to move on with the same energy, the same spirit and the same fight. . . . It’s pretty obvious we know the way how to win. If we were a little more disciplined today, we go home with a win.”
The Magic have displayed a lot of maturity this season. They used their Playoff debut last year as a galvanizing force. It was proof of what they can do. And they grew from it.
The injuries have only temporarily derailed that ascent. Even with them, they still sit in third in the Eastern Conference.
The Magic have learned and mastered the keys to their success. It starts with their defense and their ability to force turnovers. Even with minor slipping these last two games overall defensively (against two solid offensive teams in the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks), the Magic are forcing gobs of turnovers.
Orlando remains a disruptive team. That has always been the team’s ticket to success. And when a team is down bodies and down key players, this is the identity it has to lean on.
“They understand how we need to play night in and night out,” coach Jamahl Mosley said. “We have to defend the right way, we have to stick to the gameplan, you have to value possessions. All of those small things matter. Regardless of who’s on the floor, we’re going to play hard, we’re going to defend. We’re going to try to do all the right things to put ourselves in a position to be successful within a game. That’s what they’re learning and understanding throughout this process and why those small possessions matter.”
That is all part of the maturity this team is going through. They were a young team last year winning for the first time. They acknowledged all offseason that they made mistakes despite all of their success.
They are mostly not repeating them. It was the period of the season when they faced injuries last year that they faltered and fell back to the pack. That is not happening this year.
Orlando has a better understanding of what it takes to win and how this team wins. That is what the Magic continue to show.
