The talk for the past several weeks has centered on defense. More specifically, looking at how to get it back to the top-10 level it was at just a few weeks ago.
No one was expecting the Magic to turn things around in one game. That certainly does not make a trend in any direction. It just needed to be better.
Even with an improving but still moribund New Orleans Pelicans team coming in, the Magic had to do enough and do the right things to shut them down. There was still plenty of talent on the other side.