Orlando, FL – In a showdown at the State Farm Arena, the Orlando Magic faced off against the Atlanta Hawks, with each team missing their all-stars in Paolo Banchero and Trae Young. The absence of these star players set the stage for role players on both teams to fill in the massive gaps they leave behind.
Someone who seems to never shy away from this matchup is Dejounte Murray, who was the maestro of the Hawks offense in place of Trae. Murray was flirting with a triple-double as he attacked Orlando’s defense relentlessly, both for his own gain and to help his teammates out. The Magic’s defensive structure was weak tonight, especially after the Minister of Defense Jonathan Isaac picked up a knee injury just two minutes into the game and was unable to return.
Coupled with their lackluster defense was a challenging night in terms of shooting efficiency for Orlando. The team was only able to convert 41.7% of their field goals and 36.8% of their three-pointers. Without Banchero to shoulder the offensive load, the responsibility fell onto the others, many of whom looked uncomfortable on the court in the game taking the extra shots and simply weren’t ready for the challenge of scoring on Atlanta’s well-rounded defense. Banchero’s playmaking was also largely missed and Orlando’s offense was a lot more unorganized than usual and allowed the Hawks to take 10 steals from the Magic and forced them to commit a whopping 18 turnovers.
The Hawks were ready to fill in for Trae, with two players scoring over 20 points and four players getting more than 15 points in the game, whereas not a single Magic player was able to crack 20 points. The game was on the tail end of a back-to-back, so the Magic were understandably tired on the court, but the effects on each player’s performance were very noticeable, especially with all the fouls being committed and the lack of protection for the ball.
The Magic will travel back home to play the Brooklyn Nets and bounce back from this loss to the Hawks away from home. This game made Orlando slip back down to the 8th seed and they are now down two prominent players whose statuses are currently unknown for Tuesday’s game. This last stretch of the season is proving to be as competitive as it was meant to be for this young Magic team.