Magic Stumbles in Portland

Portland, OR — The Orlando Magic couldn’t maintain their early momentum when the game was off to a promising start and Orlando fell short to the Portland Trail Blazers 119-90.
The Magic stumbled after that first quarter of the game and saw a drastic shift in performance. Portland saw their opportunity and shined through Orlando’s struggles to take this game away.

Injury Report Updates

The Magic were almost fully healthy, being only without guard Jalen Suggs (quad contusion) and Moe Wagner (torn ACL) Anthony Black started in Suggs’ place, marking yet another change to the starting lineup for the Magic this season.
On the Trail Blazers’ side, Matisse Thybulle (ankle) and Jeremi Grant (ankle) were held out of the game, but Portland had enough firepower and depth without them to secure the win.

Magic Start With Early Lead

Orlando started the game out well, outscoring Portland 35-28 in the first quarter, with Orlando having a well-rounded team approach and the offense seemed to be flowing. Portland didn’t play poorly, but the Magic were able to neutralize their offense and play through them on multiple possessions. This hot start to the game gave the Magic confidence in their game plan and they thought that they had finally cracked the code to this Trail Blazers’ team, so they continued on with their play.

Trail Blazers Take Control

After the first quarter, the Trail Blazers took over, outscoring Orlando in each of the remaining quarters by a landslide. Deandre Ayton was dominant inside the paint, scoring 22 points on an impressive 83.3% shooting, alongside 8 rebounds. Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe both contributed 23 points apiece, showcasing Portland’s offensive versatility.
There were multiple other Blazers who also played a significant role, with players like Dalano Banton, Deni Avdija, and Jabari Walker providing crucial scoring, leading to a balanced attack that Orlando’s team couldn’t match.

Orlando’s Defensive and Offensive Woes

Post-first quarter, the Magic’s defense faltered significantly and the Blazers were on fire. This combination led Portland to shoot 52.6% from the field and a blistering 48% from three.
Offensively, Orlando struggled to find any kind of rhythm after the first, with their field goal percentage dropping to 42.0% for the game and their three-point shooting was worse at 19.2%.
The Trail Blazers adjusted to the Magic after the first quarter, but it seems like Orlando had no answer to the changes made and struggled significantly to go back to their first-quarter form.

Magic Cooled Off Quick

Orlando’s early lead was built on a mix of Franz Wagner’s and Paolo Banchero’s scoring, where Wagner notched 24 points, while Banchero added 21, but it didn’t translate into sustained performance.
 The Magic were outscored 34-18 in the second quarter, where Paolo went up for a monster dunk at the end of the quarter to try and turn things around for Orlando, but Toumani Camara came up with an incredible block, effectively losing Orlando some steam heading into the third quarter. The Magic weren’t able to score for three minutes straight after that momentum killer.
This same poor performance continued in the third and fourth quarters, where the Blazers won the third quarter 29-20 and the fourth 28-17. A combination of their great defense and Orlando’s poor decision-making on offense led to this terrible outcome for the Magic as they closed out the game.

Four More Road Games Ahead

The loss in Portland hurts the Magic as they are now 0-2 on the season and have officially been swept in their regular season series against the Blazers, a bottom-half team in the Western Conference that has caught fire recently. The Magic are now 1-7 in their last eight games and are sitting below .500 and hold the 7th seed in the East, a big drop off from their form earlier in the season. The team is just now getting healthy, so this adjustment period is normal and it will take the team some time to mesh and get back to where they were, but today’s loss puts a stain on the work that Orlando has done to pick themselves back up.

The Magic will continue to travel on a relatively weak road schedule for four more games, the next of the bunch being against the Utah Jazz on Saturday evening. The Jazz are another bottom-half team out West and the Magic will look to learn from this loss and adjust going into Utah.