109-97 loss<\/a> to a Joel Embiid-less Philadelphia 76ers team on Wednesday night; a game they had no business losing, and frankly, no business even playing on the road in the first place.<\/p>\nThat\u2019s the part that stings the most. This didn\u2019t start in Philadelphia. It started Sunday in Boston, when the Magic couldn\u2019t handle a Celtics team that was resting virtually its entire rotation. That was the game. That was the moment. Win that, and you\u2019re hosting Wednesday night. Lose it, and you put your season on this exact path.<\/p>\n
And of course, they lost.<\/p>\n
Same old Magic.<\/p>\n
Same offensive issues. Same defensive breakdowns. Same lack of urgency. Same inability to rise to the moment.<\/p>\n
And then Wednesday night against Philadelphia, the problems were all too familiar. Orlando shot just 7-of-27 from 3-point range. Their pricey homegrown core \u2014 Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs \u2014 combined to go 13-of-42 from the field and an ugly 1-of-13 from deep.<\/p>\n
One of thirteen.<\/p>\n
In a game that mattered.<\/p>\n
In a game that defined your season.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not bad luck. That\u2019s your identity.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s been their identity all season long.<\/p>\n
The only saving grace \u2014 the one consistent bright spot in a year filled with injuries and inconsistency \u2014 has been Desmond Bane. He poured in 34 points Wednesday night, hit 4 of 6 from beyond the arc and once again carried an offense that too often looks stuck in mud.<\/p>\n
At this point, Bane hasn\u2019t just justified the hefty price the Magic paid to acquire him; he\u2019s been the only reason this season hasn\u2019t completely collapsed already.<\/p>\n
While everyone else has missed time, struggled with rhythm or disappeared in key moments, Bane has shown up every night. All 82 games. Reliable. Consistent. Professional.<\/p>\n
Everything the rest of this team hasn\u2019t been.<\/p>\n
And now?<\/p>\n
Now it comes down to one game.<\/p>\n
Friday night. At home. Against a Charlotte Hornets team that should scare the Magic far more than their record suggests.<\/p>\n
You see, all the pressure is on the Magic, while Charlotte is playing with house money. The Hornets are young, loose and energized. They\u2019re excited to be here. They\u2019ve already beaten Miami. They\u2019ve beaten Orlando three out of four times this season \u2014 all by double digits.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Magic look like a team counting down the days until summer. That\u2019s not hyperbole. That\u2019s body language. That\u2019s effort. That\u2019s the same questions that have followed this team all season long: Where is the urgency? Where is the edge? Where is the fight?<\/p>\n
And now, finally, there\u2019s nowhere left to hide.<\/p>\n
No more talk about potential. No more reminders about youth. No more excuses about injuries or chemistry or timing.<\/p>\n
This is it.<\/p>\n
One game.<\/p>\n
You either win, or you go home.<\/p>\n
And honestly? That\u2019s exactly how it should be.<\/p>\n
Because this team hasn\u2019t earned anything more.\u00a0They didn\u2019t earn the right to ease into the playoffs. They didn\u2019t earn the benefit of the doubt. They didn\u2019t earn the luxury of a margin for error.<\/p>\n
They earned this:<\/p>\n
A pressure-packed, high-stakes, season-on-the-line game in front of their own fans \u2014 a final exam after a season full of incomplete answers.<\/p>\n
So what is this team?<\/p>\n
Are they the talented, ascending group we were promised back in October? The one ready to take the next step, to compete with the best teams in the East, to finally matter again?<\/p>\n
Or are they exactly what they\u2019ve looked like far too often this season \u2014 inconsistent, unreliable and ultimately not ready for the moment?<\/p>\n
They have one last chance to prove something\u00a0 \u2014 or confirm everything people have been quietly wondering for months.<\/p>\n
And if they lose?<\/p>\n
Then this season will be remembered exactly as it deserves to be: a disappointment wrapped in excuses, a year defined more by what the Magic should have been than what they actually were.<\/p>\n
But if they win?<\/p>\n
Then at least there\u2019s a pulse.<\/p>\n
At least there\u2019s a chance to keep writing a different ending.<\/p>\n
At least they have one final chance to find their backbone amid this lost season.<\/p>\n
Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on social media @BianchiWrites and listen to my radio show \u201cGame On\u201d every weekday from 3 to 6 p.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com\/listen<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good. This is how it should be. This is what the Orlando Magic deserve. A\u00a0single game. Forty-eight minutes.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,12989,19711,12985,19710,9688,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-611425","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-desmond-bane","12":"tag-franz-wagner","13":"tag-orlando-magic","14":"tag-paolo-banchero","15":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}