After the Magic lost by 14 points to the Cavaliers at Kia Center on Saturday night, Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley and guard Desmond Bane insisted the team generated open looks from 3-point range against Cleveland.

“They were open, correct? … We’ve got to step into them and knock them down,” Mosley said at the time. “That’s what it boils down to.”

Added Bane: “[We] got some open shots throughout the meat of the game, and shots just didn’t fall.”

Taking a look at the advanced numbers, neither were incorrect in their diagnosis of the situation.

According to league tracking data from Saturday’s game, which wasn’t available until Monday morning, the Magic were 10-for-32 (31.3%) on 3-point shots where the closest defender was 6-plus feet away — meaning they were considered “wide-open” shots.

Orlando also shot 1-for-7 (14.3%) on 3-point attempts when the nearest defender was 4-6 feet away, which are considered “open” shots, according to NBA.com.

The Magic overall shot 11-for-40 from beyond the arc against Cleveland, meaning they only took one 3-pointer where the nearest defender was 4 feet or closer to the shot-taker (they missed that attempt).

“Honestly, even going back to the Charlotte game, I feel like we’ve gotten some really good looks,” Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. said at Monday shootaround inside Rocket Arena before Orlando faced the Cavaliers again at Cleveland. “I think we could get Desmond a couple more cleaner looks, in terms of shooting the 3-point shot.

“Other than that, we’ve just got to make shots,” Carter added. “A lot of people say it’s a make-or-miss league and at the end, we can play the best defense, but (if) not making shots, it’s going to be tough to win a game.”

And Carter also isn’t wrong.

Through 44 games, the Magic have shot 35.7% on 3-point shots where the nearest defender was 6-plus feet away, a percentage that ranked 25th league-wide, according to NBA.com. Orlando averages 20 of those types of treys per night, the 13th-most in the league.

As for 3-point shots considered “open,” the Magic have shot 32.6% on 3-pointers where the closest defender was 4-6 feet away, a percentage that was 18th entering Monday. Orlando’s 11.3 open attempts, however, were the fifth fewest, according to league-tracking data.

Bane specifically has seen a decrease in long-range accuracy and number of open attempts as well, something Carter mentioned.

So far in 44 games with the Magic, he’s averaged 2.5  3-pointers per game where the nearest defender was 4-6 feet away and has made 32.1% of those nightly attempts, per NBA.com.

Last season in Memphis? Bane attempted 2.8 “open” 3-pointers and converted 37.5% per night in 68 games — a 5.4% difference year-over-year.

After a while, those misses can take a toll on Orlando’s mindset each night.

The team heads to Miami next, searching for answers from distance.

“It’s hard to do,” Carter said when asked how important it is to not let missed shots impact the Magic mentally. “We’re all competitors. We understand the work that we put in over the summer and throughout the season. So, it gets a little frustrating.

“What we have to do a better job of, is just honing in that frustration onto the defensive end,” he added. “Understanding like, ‘OK my shot isn’t falling, I’m going to come down here and get a stop.’ That’s something that, it’s human nature to get frustrated, including myself. Just getting out of that funk and putting the team in front of yourself, that’s the biggest thing.”

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com

Up next …

Magic at Heat

When: 7 p.m., Monday, Rocket Arena

TV: Peacock, FanDuel Sports Network Florida