Orlando Magic: 3 key areas of growth in 2018-19

1. Their fighting spirit

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when it happened, but there came a time when something clicked with the Magic and they figured out how to play hard most nights and never quit on a game. The defensive improvements mentioned before led to this happening, but it was a byproduct that was never guaranteed to come about.

Instead, they learned how to not only grind out wins, but also stay in games they had no business hanging around in. It got to the point where sometimes the Magic would start sluggishly, only to go down by 15 points before waking up and beginning a comeback. This wasn’t always evident though, as too many games were thrown away against inferior opponents.

When the race to the playoffs really heated up though, the team was able to remain competitive in every game it played. The Magic went 11-2 to close out the season, with their fighting spirit also branching off in another direction: They figured out how to close out games against tough teams, and also beat the lottery-bound opponents they were supposed to.

Orlando hammered the Hawks 149-113 in the third-to-last game of the season, making it one of the signature wins in team history by scoring a franchise-record 81 points in the first half. This was a game the Magic would’ve struggled with as recently as February, when they dropped games to the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks. It was proof that their fighting spirit had come to include thrashing inferior opponents as well.

Never was the growth in this area more on display than in the following game, a 116-108 win in the TD Garden against the Boston Celtics, which clinched a spot in the playoffs. The Magic started reasonably well, but let the game get away from them in the second quarter. The Celtics’ lead swelled to double digits, with the Magic never leading in the quarter either.

In the second half they brought it back quickly before going on a run of their own to then close out the game and make it back to the postseason. This, more than any other game — of which there were many, including memorable wins against the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets — showed that the Magic had turned a corner.

This was the most important area of growth too, because the younger players have now learned how to play this way. They know what it take to grind out wins, comprehensively beat lesser opponents and hang around against contenders. Best of all, they’ve used this knowledge to work their way back to the playoffs. Next season, they’ll know exactly how to do it again.