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The Orlando Magic had an 18-point lead at one point Monday night against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. Steve Clifford's team was playing well and hitting shots from beyond the arc. Through three and a half quarters, it looked like the Magic were going to upset the Warriors and come away with a huge road win.
Then the fourth quarter happened. The Warriors outscored the Magic by 10 crucial points and wound up winning by a final score of 116-110. Golden State star small forward Kevin Durant scored 49 points and shooting guard Klay Thompson added 29 to help the Warriors win a comeback game.
The Magic played really well, but Steve Clifford wasn't happy with the end result. The 57-year-old is trying to change the culture in Orlando and doesn't want to hear the term “moral victories.”
Steve Clifford on not accepting moral victories after Orlando’s close loss to Warriors:
– “We’ve gotta stop with that shit. You know what you either win or you lose. We’re good enough to win. There’s none of this you know “we played hard”, we’re not doing that anymore.”
— The Lando (@TheLando__) November 27, 2018
The Magic are off to a 10-11 start. They have played better basketball than most expected in Steve Clifford's first year as head coach. Nikola Vučević, regarded by many as the most underrated player in the NBA, is averaging 20.8 points per game on the season. Aaron Gordon is putting up 16.1 points and has shown more consistency in his outside stroke.
Clifford definitely has the Magic trending in the right direction, but he's right. They are too talented to have moral victories. The next step in the team's development is to learn how to close out games on the road.