Despite a brief two-game winning streak, the Orlando Magic’s struggles resurfaced in a 127-112 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. The team showed flashes of hope after back-to-back wins over the Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets, but those victories came against weaker Eastern Conference opponents. Against a competitive Hawks squad missing Trae Young, the same issues that have plagued the Magic all season, defensive lapses and inconsistent offense, returned in full force. Here are my takeaways from the loss.

They’re Losing Their Identity:

Although the Magic have shown improvement offensively, the trade-off has come at the expense of their defensive identity. Once known for discipline and effort on that end, they’ve taken a noticeable step back. In the loss to the Hawks, defensive miscues and lack of composure proved costly, Atlanta took 42 free throw attempts, a glaring sign of poor defensive discipline that erased any real chance for the Magic to mount a comeback.

Coach Jamahl Mosley acknowledged that sending the Hawks to the charity stripe as often as they did completely disrupted the Magic’s rhythm. He emphasized that the constant fouling erased any momentum his team tried to build throughout the game.

“It was tough,” Mosley said post-game. “We put them on the line 42 times, understanding and knowing exactly what personnel is and how Porzingis gets to the free throw line and what he does to draw fouls. They're attacking downhill team. Being in gaps early, we step slow. Those are just small pieces of what we weren't able to get the momentum in any part of the game.”

The Offensive Struggles Just Continue:

With the offseason additions of Desmond Bane and Tyus Jones, the Magic were expected to make a major leap offensively, especially from beyond the arc. Instead, the early returns have been disappointing. Shots aren’t falling, ball movement looks stagnant, and chemistry still feels off. The 17 turnovers against Atlanta were the latest example of a team still searching for rhythm and consistency on that end of the floor.

Forward Tristan da Silva emphasized that the team needs to focus on getting more quality shots instead of giving away possessions, acknowledging turnovers have been a key factor in slowing down their offensive rhythm.

“It's tough,” da Silva said. “It doesn't give you a chance to get a shot up. Even if you shoot 10% from the field, that's still opportunity to get a shot up and better than zero percent. That's something that we got to work on. Make sure that the first open shot that we get, we take. Don't turn down open shots and make the right play. Move the ball side to side and just play our best team basketball that we can.”

“Turnovers,” Mosley added. “The defensive effort wasn't there. We let the offense dictate our defense, that's on me. I didn't do a great job of getting these guys prepared for this game tonight. Understanding how they were so handsy and so physical knowing that they were going to try to turn us over. I've got to do a better job with this group to let them know that.”

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