Orlando, FL – The Orlando Magic went on an extensive road trip this past week on the West Coast battling out the Blazers, Lakers, Clippers, and Jazz. In this stretch of games, the Magic were able to manage a 2-2 record, with wins over both the Blazers and Jazz. 

The first game of this road trip came in Portland where the Magic were able to get a 102-97 victory over the Trail Blazers, behind a 23-point effort from Franz Wagner, who was able to make nine trips to the free throw line behind his aggressive game. The team played as a great cohesive unit this game, showing tenacity both on and off the ball. Overall, Orlando played a well-rounded game, having five players in double-digit scoring and shooting a respectable 32.1% from 3-point land and 45.6% from the field. Although the team had a sound offensive night, as Coach Mosley put it, the defensive effort is what put the team out in front, collecting a whopping 10 steals and 5 blocks as a unit, led by Jalen Suggs’ immense work with his own 4 blocks and 2 steals. Coach Mosley was unimpressed with the team’s free throw shooting and turnovers, with the Magic, outside of Franz Wagner struggling, shooting a subpar 65.6% from the stripe and collecting 14 turnovers throughout the contest. Although the game wasn’t perfect, Orlando carried over the energy from the season opener over to Portland and played their hearts out. 

Next up, the Magic had back-to-back games in LA, battling first with the Lakers. In this game the Magic came out strong in the opening quarters, getting out in front with a 58-54 lead at the half.  Franz, Harris, and Suggs all had a great first half, with Suggs having superb shooting strokes, Harris shooting perfectly from the field, and Franz making an all-around impact on the game and stuffing the stat sheet. Again, the name of the game was defense, with the team getting 7 of their 10 total steals in the first half. Coach Mosley again commented on the intensity of this young Magic team and how he’s impressed by how the team carried themselves. The team began to collapse late in the fourth a bit, and despite a 40% shooting from the 3-point line, the team ended up missing two potential game-tying shots in the dying seconds of the game off of a missed 3 from both Franz and Suggs, which resulted in the team losing to LA 106-103.

The very next night against the Clippers, Orlando was a little more visibly tired as the team got a pretty hefty 118-102 loss to the other LA team. This was the second night of a back-to-back in Los Angeles and it was hard for the young Magic team to keep their intensity for the whole game. The Magic had a hard-fought first half, going into the locker room with a 3-point lead, grasping onto a 50-47 lead, and holding LA’s stars Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and Russell Westbrook to a combined 3 of 23 shooting from the field at the half, which gave fans hope for the game. Coming out of the half, the Magic offense seemed to come to a bit of a standstill, producing just 10 assists throughout the whole half, while the Clippers racked up 21 assists through some good ball movement and taking advantage of the sloppy Magic defense, namely in that third quarter where the Clippers were able to get any shot they wanted and it was noticeable that the Magic were going to let this one slip away due to their fatigue. Coach Mosley said about the game that “…the ball movement was good tonight, but shots didn’t fall.”. 

The final game of the road trip had the group take a stop in Utah, where they were able to scrape by with a nail-biting two-point victory in a 115-113 Magic win over the Jazz. Although the score may give you a different idea, the Magic were showing some flashes of excellence in this game, with stars Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero showing out big time, chipping in 21 and 30 points respectively, and filling up the rest of the stat sheet as well. Yet another game where the Magic dominated on the defensive end, where, as Coach Mosley said, the Magic went above and beyond in defending the opposition, racking up an impressive 16 steals and 9 blocks as a team. The Magic shot respectably from the field as well, with 46.4% from inside the arc and 35.7% from beyond it. Rookie Anthony Black made a huge impact on both sides of the ball, shooting a perfect 4 for 4 on offense, which included an emphatic and-1 reverse layup in the 4th quarter, and forcing multiple turnovers, which resulted in 2 steals of his own, leading to his best game of the season thus far. Markelle Fultz sat this game out due to some swelling in his left knee, but he should be returning to action soon. In the dying seconds of the game Wendell Carter Jr. went up for a rebound to seal the game and came down hard, leading to a fracture in his left hand. It’s been reported that WCJ can miss anywhere between 4 to 8 weeks from this injury.

The Magic will be back at home and are going to look to improve their 3-2 season record in their rematch against the Lakers on Saturday by continuing their defensive excellence this season. 

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