As the Orlando Magic walked off Rich and Helen DeVos Court after Tuesday’s 117-113 home loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the consequences of the defeat started to settle in.
Those ramifications made the loss sting more than most.
“I’ve come a long way with my mental stuff, from last year to this year. Just staying solid and trying to move on to the next play and being in a better mental space. I’ve come a long way,” guard Jalen Suggs told the Orlando Sentinel at his locker at Amway Center. “But this [expletive] hurts. I’m not going to lie to you. Once the realization on the court when it was over, that [expletive] hurt.”
The loss to the Cavaliers eliminated the Magic (34-45) from contending for a spot in the play-in tournament.
Orlando was four games behind the Chicago Bulls for the No. 10 seed in the East entering Tuesday and the Magic’s “magic” number was one — meaning they’d be eliminated from postseason contention with the Bulls’ next win or their own next loss. The Nos. 7-10 seeds in each conference compete in the play-in tournament for the Nos. 7 and 8 spots in the playoffs.
The Magic’s defeat came first, ensuring they won’t play past Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Heat in Miami.
Orlando plays the Cavaliers (50-30) Thursday at Amway Center in its final home game before matching up against the Brooklyn Nets Friday in New York on the second night of a back-to-back.
The Magic still have the chance to finish the season with a winning home record, entering Thursday 20-20 at Amway Center.
“It hurts. It should,” coach Jamahl Mosley said. “The guys battled. That’s who this team has been, all year, no matter what’s going on. When you give that much effort, which this team has continued to do, it should hurt.”
The sting from Tuesday’s defeat was multilayered.
The way the Magic lost, battling with a Cavaliers team that clinched the No. 4 seed in the East, was deflating.
Orlando trailed Cleveland 108-99 with 6:04 remaining, with momentum on the Cavaliers’ side, before going on a 10-0 run to take a 109-108 lead with 3:53 left.
But the Magic didn’t make the shots necessary to counter the late-game shotmaking from Donovan Mitchell (43 points).
“To start the year, there were at least 5-6 games I could remember where we gave the game away after being up for long periods of time with a lot of points,” forward Franz Wagner told the Sentinel. “And we stopped executing and let that affect our defense. This time, we kept executing, got a couple of stops and were able to claw our way back.”
Wagner added: “It says a lot. A lot of growth, honestly. Obviously, we weren’t able to close it out. But having that confidence and knowing we’re very capable of winning — it’s a good feeling for us as a group.”
Losing in the fashion they did makes the journey of the season even tougher to endure.
The Magic started 5-20 with several players — including Suggs, Cole Anthony, Wendell Carter Jr., Markelle Fultz, Gary Harris and Jonathan Isaac — all missing at least 15 early-season games.
They went on a winning run after Anthony and Fultz returned on Nov. 30 and were no longer on a minutes restriction starting in early December. Orlando won eight of nine games from Dec. 7-23.
The Magic showed encouraging flashes once fully healthy — or close to it — once 2023 started. But they didn’t get over the play-in hump, recognizing what it takes to compete at a higher level.
Orlando went 16-19 from Jan. 1-March 19.
The Magic won five of their previous six games before Tuesday to keep their postseason hopes alive for as long as they could. They were the last team in the East outside of the play-in to be eliminated.
“We just worked really hard to get back in the mix and in the hunt,” Suggs said. “Overcame a lot of adversity, a lot of injuries. A tough loss. To know it’s over, it can’t result in anything this year anymore, it’s frustrating. This one hurt a little more than usual. We’re going to bounce back.”
The Magic fought — not just Tuesday, but all season long.
Although their resiliency won’t be rewarded with the opportunity to compete in postseason play, they’re optimistic that the battles and growth they’ve been through over the last few months will produce long-term benefits.
“We’re building something very, very strong and very special here and our mindset still doesn’t change even with us being out,” guard Fultz said. “We had a great season.
“We put ourselves in a position to learn this year and see what it’s like to play against playoff [teams]; meaningful basketball and understand what it takes to win those games. That’s something that we have to continue to build and continue to work on as we go into the offseason.”
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Khobi Price at khprice@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @khobi_price.
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