So while the Magic still have young players they need to continue developing and gaining experience, the final 10 games should not see a shift in goals or a change in attitude. Mario Hezonja or Aaron Gordon should not all of a sudden see 35 minutes per game. It is not like they are unseating veteran players who are not part of the future anyway — Evan Fournier and Victor Oladipo still need their minutes too. Changing things only reinforces the bad habits that put the Magic in this situation.

The final 10 games need to be about what the first 72 were supposedly about — winning.

Or at least trying to win. Trying to continue building habits and expectations that will carry out into the summer and into next season. The worst thing anyone can do is pack it in and give up the final three weeks of the season.

There is no turning back to that.

It is fair to say the first three years of this rebuild were spent losing. Young players were thrown into the fire, patted on the back when they made mistakes and turned out to learn from their mistakes in action.

Scott Skiles is not that coach. He was not hired to be that coach. He was hired to take a player out when he makes a mistake and teach him while someone else got the job done. He was brought in to create a culture where winning was all that mattered, not how good you could get through losing.

Elfrid Payton has been the lightning rod of this new Orlando Magic. Both frustrating and brilliant at points this season.

He turned in a triple double Wednesday and said, “It would have been nicer in a win,” with a disgusted look on his face. He had another strong game Friday — 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists — and he had a simple message: “No moral victories.”

Even if his play was not consistent, he at least got that message. Losses are not OK. Figuring out how to win has been the difficult part.

Every game remains an opportunity to learn.

It remains an opportunity for Mario Hezonja to get meaningful playing time and get more comfortable in the NBA game. He needs to continue showing growth and improvement after an uneven rookie year. But his minutes will not be gifted to him, he still has to earn them.

It remains an opportunity to win those games late and find the resolve to pull out a close game. It remains an opportunity to fight and find the girt it takes to win.

They have not found that throughout the season. Perhaps hey had it in December when things seemed to be going so smoothly and lost it. There are still 10 chances to try to find that feeling again.

The main point of the season remains the same as the game ticks down. It is the main point of any season really.

The Magic may not have won enough this year. They may not have learned the lessons they needed to at the end of the day.

What remains though is the same goal as before. The same culture-building panacea that drives every team in the NBA at the end of the day. Building a team that has sustained winning, as the Magic management likes to put it, takes time.

It all comes down to that one simple thing. And the Magic should not forget that in these final 10 games.