It has been the question that has dogged the Orlando Magic the last few weeks.
Who is this team? What can coach Scott Skiles — what can fans — expect from this team on a night-to-night basis? Can this team take that step up and be the team it showed itself it can be?
The Magic have dealt with that up-and-down nature of the team time and time again. In one moment, even within games, the team will look strong and ready to burst through and then will turn skittish and timid, taking away the aggression and the results.
Scott Skiles and the players have repeated on numerous occasions, this is a team that needs every player working together. They need four or five guys playing at a high level to have any chance at success in any game.
What was encouraging about the Magic’s two-game sweep of the Hawks on Sunday and Monday is the Magic showed some more of that consistency.
Excepting the fourth quarter Sunday and the first quarter Monday, the Magic played with aggression and energy. They played with attention to detail and energy defensively. They got back to the fundamentals and principles that made December so successful.
This is how the Orlando Magic were supposed to play.
The question was asked Sunday as the team headed to Atlanta and was not completely answered despite matching the game with the win: How do the Magic do it again?
“It has definitely been missing,” Elfrid Payton said of the defense in the first three quarters of Sunday’s game to Orlando Magic Daily. “It’s something we’ve talked about. Today we were actually able to go out there and do it. The ball moved from side to side and we were able to move from side to side. It was good for us.”
Talk finally turned to action for the Magic. That is a huge step. To match it again with Monday’s win was another positive step. Now the team has to keep that going Wednesday against the — gulp — San Antonio Spurs.
The Magic playing with that intensity and focus is absolutely necessary. But things were far from perfect.
Those fourth quarter gaffes and that slow start in the first quarter remained unchecked. This is still a very flawed team. Every bit of that team from December is there as much as the team that showed itself in January.
As Brett Roberts of Orlando Magic Daily wrote after Sunday’s win, the Magic are still seeking a full effort:
The Magic had some admirable traits in the first 32 games that are starting to resurface.
It is all about sustaining the strong effort over 48 minutes.
It has far more to do with avoiding mental lapses and breakdowns in communication. When the Magic function strong as a five-man unit and aid one another properly on defense, this team looks like a playoff team.
At this point, the Magic still cannot be quite sure what they have on a game-to-game basis. Or even a quarter-to-quarter basis.
Things were rolling really well through three quarters, then the lead got cut in half with the second unit in and the Magic never quite re-grasped the rope.
And in both wins, the Magic struggled with some late-game execution that nearly gave the games away. Paul Millsap after all split free throws to leave the game tied to send it to overtime.
Sustainability and consistency are problems young teams like the Orlando Magic tend to have. Now that the team appears to have found its way out of this funk, the Magic can work on getting back to that level of play consistently.
