Magic's Late-Game Struggles Stem from Loss of Standard

ORLANDO, Fla. – Franz Wagner drove to the paint and kicked out to a wide-open Caleb Houstan on the left wing.

With the Orlando Magic in another fourth-quarter clutch situation, the third-year forward confidently stepped into the triple and buried it. Houstan had started the final quarter after sitting through the three before it, but his three gave the Magic a 121-116 lead with 4:19 to play over the 10-seed Chicago Bulls.

But that would be the Magic's final made field goal in the contest. Coby White – a possible trade deadline target this past February – scored all the Chicago points in a 9-2 Bulls run to close Thursday's contest and earn a 125-123 victory over the Magic.

While White made four of his last six shots en route to a career-high 44-point showing, Orlando collectively shot 0-for-3 from the field and had three turnovers in the final 4:18.

The Magic's loss was their fifth straight, closing out a brutal 1-6 homestand. Four of those six losing outcomes were decided by two or fewer points, including the final three games.

Consecutive losses to the 20-win Toronto Raptors by two points on Sunday and one point on Tuesday preceded Thursday's two-point loss to the 25-win Bulls, marking the first time in the Magic's 36-year existence they've lost three straight games by two or fewer points.

"I think when you get good looks and they don't go in, then they come down and score and cut into the lead, it does add some pressure," Paolo Banchero said of the closing stretch in the Magic's postgame locker room. "Coby White had it going, he made some big shots, and we just had trouble controlling them in transition – especially toward the end."

The Bulls' customary gun-and-gun pace did net them 25 fastbreak points, but the Magic's recent inability to prevail in close games is equally, if not more troublesome.

Orlando has the NBA's third-best fourth-quarter net rating (7.0). Yet, of the top 12 teams in said category, only the Magic and Atlanta Hawks (6th, 5.2), who leapfrogged Orlando for eighth in the East Thursday night, have losing records.

And, in 29 clutch games this season, the Magic are just 14-15 despite having a 4.0 net rating in those scenarios.

Note: Clutch games occur when the score is within five points at any point during the final five minutes of regulation or overtime.

But that doesn't tell the whole story, because Orlando has been a notably different team since Jalen Suggs first sustained a back injury at Toronto in early January and was taken off the floor via wheelchair.

Through Jan. 3, the Magic were 21-15, with 10 wins coming in 16 clutch games. Orlando had a 28.4 net rating in those scenarios.

Suggs then missed 10 games with the back injury before returning versus Detroit on Jan. 25. The Magic won that game – just the sixth contest where all three of Suggs, Banchero and Wagner were available to play this season – but Suggs sustained a new injury in the process.

Initially a quad contusion, Suggs tore cartilage in his left knee while ramping up to a return that required season-ending surgery.

Now since Suggs' initial back injury, Orlando is just 7-20 overall and 3-9 in clutch games without him in the lineup. Each translates to a bottom-five winning percentage in the NBA in that span.

That's different from earlier this year, when the Magic withstood injuries to Banchero and Wagner to keep afloat.

"I mean, some of it is late-game execution, but in most of these games we shouldn't even be in that spot, in my opinion," Wagner told locker room reporters Thursday. "I think that's the bigger issue."

Added Wagner: "I'm not saying that we deserve to be somewhere else when playing the way we're playing, and that's what gets you in these situations. We've got to clean that up and man up, and individually and as a group, figure it out."

At 29-35 with 18 games to play, the Magic sit ninth in the Eastern Conference. Orlando has already equaled the total number of losses from last year's 47-win, 5th-seed playoff campaign.

The heights achieved last year helped set expectations for this one, and some circumstances out of their control have made meeting them a challenge. But frustration has replaced confidence, and Orlando – still plenty talented with Banchero and Wagner in All-Star form – has had complications with course-correcting.

"You can't just say, 'Oh, we're more talented,' because I don't think that's the case, honestly," Banchero said. "I think these teams are coming in with confidence, they see that we've lost games and so they feel like we're beatable.

"I think teams are seeing what our weaknesses are and they're attacking it, and we're having trouble adjusting," Banchero added. "We've been taking some tough losses."

Orlando now finds itself staring down the barrel of a five-game, make-or-break road trip. Four of the five opponents are at least six games above .500, and the only other opponent (New Orleans) is playing better basketball than their season record suggests as they've gotten healthier.

If there's a run to come this season, it needs to show its face fast. But, all it may take is one result to get the ball rolling.

"If we can grab one or two of those games early and then give ourselves a chance on the back half of the road trip, we can build some momentum," Banchero said.

"But it's going to take a huge turnaround."