29 points at home<\/a> to the Atlanta Hawks in another monumental game with playoff implications because the coach didn\u2019t draw up the right out-of-bounds play.<\/p>\nWhen you lose by 52, that\u2019s not strategy.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s pride.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s professionalism.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s passion.<\/p>\n
And right now, the Orlando Magic have none of the above.<\/p>\n
And the fans know it.<\/p>\n
Wednesday night at Kia Center, as the Hawks were running the Magic out of their own building, the boo birds came out. Then came some chants calling for Mosley to be fired as the game slipped into humiliation territory.<\/p>\n
Think about that for a second.<\/p>\n
This team gets blown out by 52 on Sunday, comes home for another huge game, falls behind big again, and the response is to fire the coach.<\/p>\n
That tells you everything about this process works.<\/p>\n
Because when a team underachieves, the coach is always the easiest target.<\/p>\n
Mosley knows what he signed up for, and even says the fans should have booed him and the team Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cRightfully so,\u201d Mosley said of the fans being disgruntled with him. \u201cDid we put out the effort we needed to? Did we have the energy that we needed to? Nope. The fans deserve a better product on a night like this. They deserve to see us play harder. \u2026 You put on that, you need to play hard from the beginning of the game to the end of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s be very clear about something: When you lose by 52 points, that\u2019s more than X\u2019s and O\u2019s. When you follow that up by getting blown out at home in a must-win game, that\u2019s not about rotations or halftime adjustments.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s about players.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s about effort.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s about whether the guys in uniform are competing like NBA players.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t so much about Mosley\u2019s X\u2019s and O\u2019s as it is about the Magic\u2019s E\u2019s and T\u2019s \u2014 effort and toughness.<\/p>\n
With their playoff lives on the line, the Magic had two golden opportunities in the past three games to make up ground on teams directly ahead of them in the standings. Instead, they got humiliated by Toronto and then run out of their own building by Atlanta, who had 102 points after three quarters Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
Where\u2019s the fight?<\/p>\n
Where\u2019s the anger?<\/p>\n
Where\u2019s the leadership?<\/p>\n
Where is the moment when somebody \u2014 anybody \u2014 steps up and says, \u201cEnough! This is embarrassing. This is not who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because what we saw this week wasn\u2019t just losing.<\/p>\n
It was quitting.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s not on the coach.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s on the players.<\/p>\n
Now, to be fair, this season has been a mess from a health standpoint. The Magic\u2019s three core players \u2014 Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs \u2014 have barely played together. Until Wagner returned Wednesday after missing 22 consecutive games and 47 of the last 51, that trio had played just 13 games together all season and 19 games together over the past two seasons.<\/p>\n
Try building chemistry. Try building continuity. Try building anything when the nucleus of your team never see the floor together.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, two of the Magic\u2019s best bench players \u2014 Anthony Black and Jonathan Isaac \u2014 have been out for weeks. And Moe Wagner, once the emotional engine of the second unit, hasn\u2019t been the same since his ACL injury and has been virtually unplayable.<\/p>\n
But fans don\u2019t want to hear about injuries.<\/p>\n
Fans don\u2019t want context.<\/p>\n
Fans want someone fired.<\/p>\n
And Mosley knew coming into this season that the heat was coming. That\u2019s the nature of the NBA. Every coach is on the hot seat \u2014 every single year \u2014 unless your name is Erik Spoelstra or Steve Kerr.<\/p>\n
Just ask some of the most recent examples:<\/p>\n
Just ask Michael Malone, who won a championship in Denver and was out of a job less than two years later.<\/p>\n
Ask Tom Thibodeau, who took the Knicks to heights they hadn\u2019t seen in decades and still got fired last season.<\/p>\n
Ask Mike Budenholzer, who delivered Milwaukee its first title in 50 years and was shown the door two years later.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the job.<\/p>\n
When expectations rise, patience disappears. And the Magic raised expectations the moment they paid Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs and traded four first-round picks for Desmond Bane. Those are not \u201cbe patient\u201d moves. Those are \u201cwin now\u201d moves.<\/p>\n
When you make win-now moves and you don\u2019t win now, someone takes the fall.<\/p>\n
Spoiler alert: It won\u2019t be the guys making $30 million\u2013$50 million a year.<\/p>\n
It\u2019ll be the coach.<\/p>\n
But here\u2019s the uncomfortable truth nobody wants to say out loud:<\/p>\n
If the Magic flame out, it won\u2019t be because Jamahl Mosley can\u2019t coach.<\/p>\n
It\u2019ll be because this roster \u2014 the one everybody hyped, the one everybody said was ready to contend \u2014 might not be as good as we thought. And even more damning, it might not be as tough as we thought.<\/p>\n
Remember when this team was one of the nastiest defensive units in the league? When they defended, rebounded and competed like every possession mattered?<\/p>\n
That team is gone.<\/p>\n
This team is inconsistent, sloppy and soft.<\/p>\n
Yes, soft.<\/p>\n
The Magic are softer than the room-service pancakes they order when they\u2019re staying at the Ritz.<\/p>\n
Hell, the way this team is playing, they should be booked into the Red Roof Inn during road trips.<\/p>\n
What happened? What happened to the Magic\u2019s toughness? Tough teams don\u2019t lose by 52. They don\u2019t follow it up by getting blasted at home in a must-win game. They don\u2019t allow 102 points through three quarters with their season on the line.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not a scheme problem.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a heart problem.<\/p>\n
And if we\u2019re being honest, firing Mosley with six games left \u2014 or firing him after the season \u2014 won\u2019t fix that. It won\u2019t suddenly make the roster tougher. It won\u2019t suddenly make players dive on the floor, rotate harder, box out, communicate and play with urgency.<\/p>\n
Coaches can draw up plays for players.<\/p>\n
They cannot instill pride in players.<\/p>\n
If the Magic end up firing Mosley, it won\u2019t be because he is a bad coach.<\/p>\n
It will be to cover up for a disappointing team.<\/p>\n
Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on social media @BianchiWrites and listen to my new 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
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