Orlando, FL - The Magic took on the Brooklyn Nets to kick off another four-game road trip and ended up taking a 124-104 loss in their first-ever In-Season Tournament game.

The game started off uneventful, with the first period having an even contest between the two teams. The Nets starters began the game hot and torched Orlando’s starting 5, but then Joe Ingles got subbed in, put up a perfect quarter, and got three field goals to go, with two coming from downtown, resulting in eight quick points. He led both teams in scoring for the quarter while also controlling the tempo and allowing Orlando to creep back into the game. 

Ultimately, the Magic let up six 3-pointers in that quarter while only putting up three of their own, which resulted in the first quarter to close 24-33 in Brooklyn’s favor. 

This momentum was carried over into the 2nd quarter, with the Magic cutting back Brooklyn’s lead quickly and getting a seven-point lead of their own about halfway into the 2nd, which came from some smooth shots for Banchero from the 3-point line, giving him nine points on the quarter all from deep and behind some aggressive play from Mo Wagner, who got to the line a few times and was able to drill three shots from the stripe. 

Although the Magic had some good half-court defense throughout the whole half, their transition defense was unacceptable and gave the Nets far too many opportunities to have some free points in the paint resulting in a closer half than expected at 60-57 in Orlando’s favor.

After some adjustments at halftime, the Magic were able to sustain their lead almost the entire 3rd quarter behind a good-looking quarter from Franz Wagner who seemed to be the offensive hub for most of the quarter. About three minutes into the quarter, a struggling Jalen Suggs seemed to have sustained a minor injury as Cam Johnson came down hard on his arm while going for a loose ball and Suggs had to be replaced by Cole Anthony for a while so that he could rest up and check on his arm. 

Eventually, Suggs was able to make his return near the end of the quarter and tried to get a dunk of the year nomination in the dying seconds of the quarter but unfortunately missed. The Nets continued to get easy fast break points all quarter long and the Magic had to answer to the seemingly unlimited fast break attempts from Brooklyn, leading to a five-point lead heading into the last and final quarter for the home side.

In that 4th quarter, things went from bad to worse very quickly with a notorious Magic meltdown in the final period. The team struggled to shoot this quarter, with a poor 28.6% shooting from the field and a horrid 15.4% from 3, which resulted in just 18 points from Orlando the entire 4th. 

Our coveted defense wasn’t much better either, with Brooklyn being able to get in the paint with ease and making shots from all over the floor with a ridiculous seven 3’s being made. Nobody on the Magic could step up and ignite a comeback, so the team ended up flooding the bench with three minutes remaining in the quarter and ended our first tournament game in a tough loss. 

The Magic will play the Bulls back-to-back in Chicago with a chance to get their record over .500 again and to even out their current 0-1 tournament record.