All of a sudden, the season stopped. The finality of the season was setting in as the team trudged its way down the hallway at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse to their locker room. President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman was standing at the end of the hallway to greet and encourage each player.
The season was a success, but this day was not. And that was something that tuck with them.
Orlando has had to sit and stew on this for the past 2.5 months – the 18-point first-half lead they squandered thanks to a run late in the first half, the 1-for-15 showing from Franz Wagner and the 2-for-13 showing from Jalen Suggs. The team had to sit and think about the opportunity they left on the board.
Every young team needs Playoff scars. The only way to learn critical lessons in the NBA is to go through them. Coach Jamahl Mosley recognized that at the time as he tried to put a steady face on a clearly disappointed team.
What would matter is what they did with it next. And the Magic hope that feeling of failure is what will drive them forward in the 2025 season.
“A lot of shouts out to Cleveland, but we lost that game, and nobody wanted to feel that again,” Jalen Suggs said. “Even you could feel the energy leaving, leaving the Cleveland arena. Nobody was satisfied. Like, we knew we had let it slip away. And so I think everybody carried that into their summers and applied it in their own way. And you come back and you see everybody just with a year of maturity, with an understanding of what we’re working towards.”
The team has a more mature air about it. The Playoff experience revealed to them what they were capable of. Now they have to turn to the task of doing it all over again.
That starts with understanding what they left on the table last year. It is not just the Game 7 loss. It is the losses late in the season that put their playoff spot in jeopardy at the end of the season. Magic players have spoken throughout training camp about how important it is to remain focused in the dog days of the season and to value every game.
That includes Wednesday’s opener against the Miami Heat, even if Game 1 in October feels miles away from Game 82 in April.
The Magic know there is a lot more to accomplish. Their potential is undeniable. They have the talent and the drive to compete with any team in the league.
They are not satisfied with what they did last season. They know they are capable of more.
That is why Game 7 was ultimately disappointing to them. It is why the team is hungry to get things started and get back to that moment.
They are focused on making sure that kind of failure does not happen again. They are ready to embrace and meet whatever challenges they face this season.
