Orlando Magic 'Gotta Keep Fighting', Says Moe Wagner

The Orlando Magic led a big halftime lead slip away in its 117-102 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.

It hasn't taken long for adversity to strike for the Orlando Magic this season. 

Whether it has been injuries or an inability to close out games in the second half of their losses, the Magic have already experienced their fair share of ups and downs. The latest of which came on Monday, when Orlando lost 117-102 to the Dallas Mavericks at the Amway Center.

The Magic led 66-53 at halftime, then was outscored 64-36 in the second half. Orlando (4-3) led by as many as 11 points in the third quarter before the Mavericks (6-2) closed it out on a 23-9 run and they never trailed in the fourth quarter.

With the third blown lead in the second half this season, Magic center Moe Wagner credited it to Orlando being one of the youngest teams and still having to learn from those situations.

"We're still in the game of five minutes ago, we can't put our head down and that's part of being young as well," Wagner said. "To learn from that and even though we were up then you're down and then feels like you lost already... No, you gotta keep fighting."

Mo Wagner (21) is averaging 11.3 points per game this season / Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports

At 4-3 with losses to the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Mavericks, three potential playoff teams in the Western Conference, the Magic have flashed their potential if they can continue to improve. Orlando already showed evidence of that when they blew out the Lakers in their second meeting of the season, 120-101 on Saturday at Amway Center. 

If the Magic can improve in the second half of games against playoff-caliber teams and keep fighting in close games, they'll have a shot to become one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference and possibly the NBA. 

Orlando will look to get back on the winning side of things when they face the Atlanta Hawks (4-3) in a home game on Thursday at Mexico City Arena in Mexico City.