At the end of the game, it doesn’t matter how you got there. As the clock ticks down to the final moments, all that matters is what you do in that moment. And the Orlando Magic ran out of time as they trailed by 17 points early in the fourth quarter.

After scoring just 32 points in the middle two quarters, the Magic were desperate to find a spark of offense somewhere. Everywhere except Franz Wagner – who scored 15 points in the first quarter and 20 in the first half. Orlando had to go somewhere else.

When everything seemed hopeless and too frustrating at the end of this road trip, the Magic needed someone else to pick up the slack. Someone else who at least creates a spark and opens paths that were closed to Wagner.

Jalen Suggs struggled all night long. But when one scored three goals after a catch-and-shoot play in which he failed to bring the ball down, things seemed to change. Suggs made three straight 3-pointers to help the Magic take the lead. The energy in the team began to increase.

However, time was coming to an end. There was a rush and an urgency to get back in the game. And that can work for or against you.

After Guerschon Yabusele missed two free throws with 54 seconds left to keep the Magic within four, the Magic struck toward Jalen Suggs, who went to the corner. He hit a quick, off-balance three-pointer that was unsuccessful.

A bad place for this type of recording. But a sign of how desperate the Magic were before their 102-94 loss to the 76ers on Friday.

“The first one was my mistake,” Suggs said after Friday’s loss. “It was good that I learned from it. I took that back and applied it to the future. I thought the second one was great. Poor execution on my part. Basketball is a league where it’s all about survival. I missed these two and one couple early, I wish I could come back. It’s hard.

Although Suggs had scored 15 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, including three 3-pointers, that miss felt more emblematic of the Magic’s struggles throughout the game. The whole situation spoke to the formula that magic had to follow.

Fanz Wagner will get his points. He will find ways to make this Magic team stronger every night. That’s what All-Stars do. And after another 30-point effort from Wagner, he’s clearly an All-Star.

The question every night seems to be whether other players will come along. It will be a question of whether someone else can put and relieve the pressure on the star. Magic needs a second creator.

And until Paolo Banchero returns, that will likely rest on Jalen Suggs’ shoulders.

It’s the area where Suggs has been inconsistent. Everyone noticed this inconsistency, as lineups with Suggs as the anchor often struggle.

Suggs has problems as a second attacker

Since Paolo Banchero’s injury, Jalen Suggs is averaging 15.2 points per game while shooting 40.1 percent from the floor and 28.1 percent from three. His score may be where the Magic want it most nights, but getting there is quite an adventure.

And that doesn’t stop at his 2.8 turnovers per game versus 3.9 assists per game, as he often struggles to be a lead playmaker from the guard position.

Friday night, Suggs had 22 points but shot just 8 for 19. He shot 5 for 10 from the floor in the fourth quarter. The difference between his struggles early in the game and the spark he played with in the fourth quarter just shows how important Suggs’ support is – and how important it is to make shots.

With Suggs unable to take regular shots or provide a second attacker, the Sixers were able to mix up Wagner and make it difficult for him to get into central defense.

Orlando scored just 34 points on the season as a team and made 26 field goal attempts on the season. Orlando settled for three goals and went 13-46 for the game (a better percentage than Philadelphia). But Orlando missed all 13 three-point shots the team made in the second quarter and made just four field goals in the second frame.

Open or covered, it’s hard to win when a team misses so much. Orlando needs to find a way to make open shots.

The ball losses also increased and prevented the Magic from getting into a rhythm or even attempting shots.

“I think it started in the second quarter,” coach Jamahl Mosley said after Friday’s loss. “There was a break in play on both sides. We turned the ball over 21 times and scored 18 points. If you put the ball upside down, you don’t give yourself many chances there. Our boys fought until the end. We gave ourselves a chance.” In these games, being able to take care of the basketball is crucial.

It’s not just about Suggs scoring more points. This is all to get the rest of the offense going and ease the pressure on Wagner and the rest of the team.

Despite all the misses, the Magic’s defense was once again at an elite level – an overall defensive rating of 107.4. But asking the defense to run an offense that misses so many shots (open or otherwise) and can’t attack consistently downhill is asking a lot. At some point it will crack. It leaves no room for error.

Suggs’ problems without Banchero

Some of these problems will be solved by the return of Paolo Banchero. When the time comes, the players will fall back into their usual roles.

That includes Jalen Suggs.

In the five games with Banchero, Suggs shot 42.5 percent on 8.0 3-point attempts per game. He made 53.1 percent of his 6.4 catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts per game.

Since Banchero’s injury, Suggs is hitting 31.3 percent on 4.2 catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts per game.

According to NBA.com data, before Banchero’s injury, Suggs was shooting 55.6 percent on 5.4 3-point attempts per game with the nearest defender six feet or more away. Since Banchero’s injury, Suggs is hitting 24.3 percent on such shots on 4.1 attempts per game.

Similar traits appear in players across the roster. The lack of a consistent second attacker who goes downhill and kicks to the 3-point line has negatively impacted many players on the team. It hasn’t affected anyone more than Suggs, even though the players were firing unusually hot early in the season.

Even looking at lineups, the Orlando Magic’s most-used bench group with Jalen Suggs as the anchor – Anthony Black, Suggs, Gary Harris, Jonathan Isaac and Moe Wagner – has a net rating of -4.5 with an offensive rating of 83, 0 in 41 minutes together. This lineup with Jett Howard for Gary Harris has a net rating of -16.8 and an offensive rating of 86.8.

This may not be all on Suggs. But it’s clear that Suggs isn’t capable of being the second creator the Magic needs. This has reduced the pressure on Franz Wagner to do more and play more because the Magic are having so much trouble in the minutes he’s out.

The difference for Suggs and for the Magic is what he thinks his fourth quarter sparked. He fired shots.

“It was difficult, we made a really good impression on some people,” Suggs said after Friday’s loss. “When things are going like this, we try to stick together and do the things we talk about to look good, cause problems and make the right basketball play and not get too reactive on offense, which I think we do have done. We did it.’ It’s a little stagnant going to the basket. These are difficult times in basketball.

Until Banchero returns, the Magic will deal with this inconsistency. They need a second attacker to ease the pressure on everyone and maintain the quality look that allows for a more efficient offense.