Moral Victories Not Enough for Magic as East-Leading Cavaliers Meeting Looms

The Orlando Magic let a winnable game slip Friday night in Minnesota. Now, the task of closing out a winning road trip comes against the Cleveland Cavaliers – the East's best team this season and a particular thorn in Orlando's side.

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle (30) shoots against Orlando Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. (34) in the first quarter at Target Center. / Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

MINNEAPOLIS – Shorthanded on the second night of a back-to-back, Franz Wagner’s driving layup gave the valiant Orlando Magic an 11-point lead just 12 seconds into the final quarter.

A streaking Minnesota Timberwolves team was on the ropes, and Orlando had scored 19 of the game’s last 22 points to that point. However, while the Magic were trending toward securing a winning record on its five-game road trip with one contest still to play, they were not yet out of the woods.

The hosts scored 17 of the next 18 points to take a 95-90 lead with 7:09 to play. Orlando burned two timeouts to try and stop the bleeding during the stretch, but to no avail.

Yet, scoring slowed briefly, allowing the Magic to gather themselves and knot the score at 98-all. However, they’d never regain the lead as Minnesota closed on a 20-13 run over the final 3:32.

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) celebrates a series of plays that extended their lead over the Orlando Magic late in the fourth quarter at Target Center. / Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

“I think we just had a mental lapse in that fourth,” Wendell Carter Jr. said in the Magic’s postgame locker room. “It was a game of mistakes. It was the first team to make mistakes in the fourth, and [that] was us.”

Departing the Target Center Friday with a 118-111 loss, Orlando had no positive result to show for its toe-to-toe fight with the Wolves. Instead, the Magic walked away with their seventh loss in the last nine games. 

“We’re kind of past the moral victories and things like that. It’s nut-cutting time,” Carter said. “We want to win as many games as we can going into this Play-In game.”

However the Magic have arrived here – injuries, prolonged struggles or otherwise – the Magic’s only route to the playoffs having to come by advancing through the Play-In is their new reality. The Magic are 31-37 and eighth in the East, nearly equidistant to No. 7 Atlanta (1.5 games ahead) and No. 10 Chicago (two games behind). More importantly, they’re 6.5 games back of No. 6 Detroit, who occupies the last spot free from the Play-In.

With 26 games to play on the other side of the All-Star break, Orlando previously tabbed this time as a crucial one to course-correct and get closer to the team it knew it could be. A 4-8 start to that stretch, however, is not the one they desired.

“It’s about taking as many games as we can,” Carter continued. “We definitely wanted this one [Friday] just so we could not necessarily breathe, but we’d have been 3-1 on the road. A winning road record is always good to have.”

With results split over four games, the fifth and final one comes against the class of the NBA Sunday afternoon.

Just a season ago, the Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers went to seven games in the first round of the playoffs. With a single game over 82 being the difference between the competitors last year, the same can’t be said this time around.

The Cavs have had the Magic’s number in this campaign. Matter of fact, they’ve had everyone’s: They’re a league-best 56-10, and their current 16-game winning streak is the second time this season they’ve won at least 15 consecutive games.

When matched up against one another this year, the Cavs own two stress-free victories over the Magic – the latest being a 40-point drubbing at the Kia Center less than three weeks ago.

"I mean, they're better than us," Paolo Banchero said that February evening in Orlando. "They were a flat-out better team, so I wouldn't even say we're on that level."

Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) tries to get off a shot against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the first half at Kia Center. / Russell Lansford-Imagn Images

One thing that has carried over from the end of last season? The Cavs are a remarkable 30-4 this season at the recently renamed Rocket Arena – the same building where all four of Orlando's playoff losses came last year.

That sting has seeped into this year's matchups, too. After the November loss in Cleveland, Jalen Suggs was somber despite a then-career-high night, admitting that he struggled to bear the reality of falling short again on the banks of Lake Erie.

Although the fourth-year guard is out for the remainder of the year, he's still active in group chats and calls after every game, Franz Wagner affirmed Friday. The same would be true whether Suggs was playing or not, but Wagner said finishing the five-city trip at Cleveland will be "super challenging.

"It was a tough road trip, but obviously, going into Cleveland, with the way last season ended, is always a little extra," Wagner continued. "I thought we've played pretty well on the road so far, so hopefully we can finish it out on a good note."

Like the other two matchups, another national audience will see the contest. After ESPN showed the Nov. 1 clash and TNT had the Feb. 25 matchup, the third-and-final regular season bout between them is slated for ABC's Sunday 1 p.m. primetime TV billing.

Perhaps it adds to the overall ambience, but the Magic's struggles in national broadcast games is not just exclusive to when Cleveland is the opponent. The Magic haven't won a regular season game played with the eyes of the country watching since 2019.

"It's going to be a hell of a challenge there in Cleveland," Banchero said Friday. "They're playing really well right now, and they kicked our ass last time we played them, on TV. So hopefully we have a better effort."

Orlando could again be shorthanded, with Cole Anthony deemed questionable to play while he deals with a nagging left big toe strain. However, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is slated to be back after resting Friday versus Minnesota.

Cleveland could potentially be down contributors as well. All-Stars Donovan Mitchell (sore left groin) and Evan Mobley (right foot contusion) are questionable for the Cavs.

Availability aside, time is fading fast for Orlando to gather itself and make inroads before the postseason arrives. Opportunities at a signature win are thinning, but triumph Sunday could do more than just put a feather in the Magic's cap.

It could also exorcise a few demons.

"We've got 14 games left," Carter said. "And one thing I've learned about this league is that this team won't be together, whether that's some of the coaches or some of the players – some of us won't be here [next year]. This is the last time we'll all be in the same locker room all at the same time.

"We just gotta go out there and play together, understanding that these are more than teammates to me – these are my brothers," Carter said. "So I think, especially now, with so much adversity that we faced this whole season, just go out there and give it our all."

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