Portland Beat Orlando at Home 

Orlando, FL— One of the worst displays of offense you will ever watch in the game of basketball as the Magic now drop their fifth game in a row tonight to the Portland Trail Blazers 101-79.

Magic Head Coach Jamahl Mosley was asked how the team needs to continue to stay confident moving forward, and he probably gave one of the most important messages of the night.

“Stick with the process. The numbers will at some point break the other way, but you’ve gotta stay confident. You [have] to continue to put the work in — Because obviously, we’re getting good looks, they’re just not falling.”

Franz Wagner Returns

The talk of the town was fourth-year forward Franz Wagner making his highly anticipated return to the court tonight, but unfortunately it was overshadowed by a Portland team that handed Orlando a blowout loss at home.

Wagner, who missed the last 20 games due to injury and was upgraded to “Return to Competition Conditioning” earlier last week, has continued to rehab and get his body prepared to return to action. 

Franz Wagner, who has not played since Dec. 6 in Philadelphia after suffering a torn oblique, was upgraded to questionable for the first time on the injury report before the Magic listed him as available less than two hours before tip-off. 

“I think it’s big. Exactly what he represents to this team, who he is, his character, his work ethic,” Jamahl Mosley said on getting Wagner back. “All the standards that he has set as a leader, having him back is gonna be big.”

Franz Wagner, in his return to action, finished in 24 minutes of play with 20 points, four rebounds, and shot 9 of 19 (47.3%) from the floor.

“I thought he was trying to find his rhythm, I thought he found a little groove,” Jamahl Mosley said on Franz Wagner’s return. “Give Portland credit they did a great job of switching things to try to stall us out, and they packed the paint very well.”

Banchero and the Magic Struggle

Paolo Banchero had easily his worst performance of the season, finishing with eight points, and nine rebounds, recorded five turnovers, and shot an abysmal 1 of 14 (7.1%) from the field.

“Paolo had been on a heck of a streak, averaging 25 (points) a game since he had been back pretty much,” Chauncey Billups said of the defensive effort on Banchero. “We just wanted to make it tough…we didn’t think that he would have this type of night — But we actually guard him very well, we made it tough on him. That’s a rare night from him, that’s an anomaly.”

Orlando as a team wasn’t much better shooting 24 of 76 (34.2%) from the field, 6 of 25 (24%) from behind the arch, and 21 of 31 (67.7%) from the free throw line.

Orlando’s Injury Updates

For the rest of Orlando’s injuries, they continued to get good news with Goga Bitadze (out; concussion protocol) who went through some on-court work. Both Gary Harris (out; left hamstring strain) and Jett Howard (available; left ankle sprain) went through on-court workouts at shootaround before Howard was upgraded to available after his shooting slot was complete.

Jonathan Isaac (illness) was upgraded to available, and Cole Anthony (illness) was not at the shootaround and was officially listed as out ahead of the matchup with Portland. 

With players now getting back into the rotation and Orlando slowly getting healthy once again, they were able to roll out a starting lineup that featured Anthony Black, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero, and Wendell Carter Jr. This would be just the sixth game that both Franz and Paolo have played together this season.

Self-Inflicted Wounds Hinder Orlando

Before tonight, Orlando had played three of the last four contests on the road, while being depleted with injuries, and it was a recipe for disaster for Orlando. The Magic wouldn’t allow factors out of their control to be an excuse, and they don’t want anyone to feel sorry for them. 

Orlando intended to get back on track tonight against one of the worst teams in the NBA, especially having both of their stars on the floor, but they were outplayed all night long.

Magic struggle against the Trail Blazers, who are in the bottom half of the Western Conference standings

For the Magic, the shooting woes continued, the team looked fatigued even with more players being back in the rotation, and they couldn’t get out of their own way. Excluding injuries, self-inflicted wounds, and lackadaisical turnovers have been the Achilles heel for the Magic all season long.  

Mosley spoke in the postgame about how much self-inflicted wounds hurt the team tonight.

“A lot. Statistically, I can give you exactly what the problem was: 22 turnovers for 22 points in a 20-point game,” Mosley said. “Self-inflicted wounds.”

Final Thoughts

There was a major disparity with points in the paint as Portland outscored Orlando 58-30 in that department. I asked Magic rookie Tristan da Silva how difficult it is to generate points when teams are packing the paint and the Magic aren’t knocking down shots from deep.

“I feel like there’s been a trend recently of teams kinda packing the paint, so we’ve seen that, we’re kinda used to that,” da Silva said. “We’re just looking for the right plays. Even if shots are not falling in games, we’re still gonna shoot them because they’re the right shots. We still got confidence in every single one of us, to shoot those shots.”

This Magic team is clearly missing the energy from Jalen Suggs and having their big man in the middle in Goga Bitadze. With two starters down and a now five-game losing streak, this team appears to be stuck in the mud. 

Orlando will look to get back on track as they play host to the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night at the Kia Center.