Orlando, FL– Defensive intensity, resiliency, and the belief of this ascending Orlando Magic team were on full display yet again as they beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 104-94 tonight at the Amway Center.
The Magic have been a top defensive team in the association so far this season and they held the Cavaliers to their second lowest scoring output of the season. After the Cavs beat the Magic the week prior 121-111 in Cleveland it was a huge bounce-back game from this group.
Paolo Banchero left the game with one minute remaining in the third quarter as he rolled his ankle up on Darius Garland before heading back to the locker room and eventually returning to the court in the fourth quarter to close it out.
Banchero had a very rocky start to this game as he shot an abysmal 2-10 from the field in the first quarter and finished the game with a season-high eight turnovers in the evening. Paolo finished the game on a strong note as he got a loud applause from the crowd when he checked back in after sustaining his injury, he had a team-high 20 points and made plenty of big-time clutch buckets down the stretch.
Banchero after the game was asked about his ankle and if he thinks he will be ready for their road trip to Boston Paolo said he was yelling at the TV in the locker room while getting his ankle taped up and that he’ll be good to go Friday at Boston.
Defensive effort has been the Magic’s calling card all season long and getting their two best defenders Jonathan Issac and Jalen Suggs helped this team out tremendously. Jonathan Issac was a (+8 ) in his lone 13 minutes on the court and you could feel his presence everywhere on the court. He checked into the game and immediately grabbed an offensive board as he finished it off with a putback layup early in the second quarter, and he hit a big right corner three from Cole Anthony to start the fourth.
Jalen Suggs made his return tonight after sustaining his injury versus the Cavs last week and his defensive impact was more than evident on Donovan Mitchell. Suggs held Donovan in check tonight as he limited him to 22 points on 6-18 shooting from the field and a horrendous 2-10 from behind the arch. Jalen continued to shoot the ball well and made winning plays on both sides as he had an incredible block on Donovan Mitchell late in the fourth quarter as Cleveland was closing the gap on Orlando’s lead.
With the emergence of Goga Bitadze who has stepped in and filled in very nicely in the absence of Wendell Carter Jr, it will be interesting to see how those minutes get distributed once Wendell is returned from his injury. Goga had another incredible game tonight as he finished with 15 points on 6-8 shooting from the field, had eight rebounds, and had four blocks on the evening.
The Magic are now one of three teams in the NBA with at least 16 wins so far as they join that list with the Celtics and Timberwolves. Orlando sits in the two seed in the Eastern Conference and they are just one game back of the Boston Celtics.
Orlando has yet another opportunity to show the basketball world why they’re a force to be reckoned with as they will travel to Boston for back-to-back games at the Garden on Friday and Sunday. The Magic currently hold the tiebreaker over the Celtics as they defeated them back on Nov. 24 113-96 in Orlando.
The Magic will now get prepared for two games against one of the perennial contenders in the Boston Celtics this upcoming weekend.