Osceola Falls Short

Kissimmee, FL—With an opportunity to win the G League Finals in front of the home crowd, the Osceola Magic fell to the Stockton Kings 118-110 as they secured their first championship in franchise history. 

The Magic had every chance and opportunity to beat the Kings yesterday evening but ultimately fell just short of capturing what would’ve been their second title in franchise history.  

Osceola’s home crowd was electric all evening long as the Magic were in control of this game for the first 36 minutes. The Magic led by as much as 15 points in that first half of play but caved in that fourth quarter. 

Osceola led 82-73 going into the final period of play before the Kings opened up on a 12-0 run to take their first lead (85-82) at the 9:07 mark. Stockton would continue to maintain the lead as they were up 98-95 with 4:12 left in the contest, and Osceola ultimately couldn’t regain the lead after the Kings had stolen the momentum.

Final Numbers/Box Score

The Kings would close out the quarter on a 20-15 run and celebrate their championship on the road. Kings forward Dexter Dennis led the second unit with 23 points and six rebounds. Forward Terry Taylor recorded 22 points and 12 rebounds, while forward Isaac Jones added 21 points and 13 rebounds while on assignment from the Sacramento Kings. 

For Osceola, Ethan Thompson led all scorers with 28 points and connected on four shots from behind the arch. Forward Myron Gardner recorded 20 points and 14 rebounds, while guard Javonte Smart scored 20 points off the bench.

Mac McClung’s Performance

Osceola’s guard Mac McClung was by far the biggest catalyst for the team’s successful regular and deep postseason run. Before last night’s decisive game-three matchup, in the four games in the playoffs, Mac was on a heater as he was averaging 36.0 points, 6.8 assists, and 3.3 rebounds while shooting a blistering 52.1 percent from the floor and 44.1 percent from behind the arch. 

McClung finished last night’s game with 11 points as he shot 4 of 21 (19.0%) from the floor and 0 of 5 (0%) from distance. In the biggest game of his career, Mac in his words had a “nightmarish” performance and said that his lackluster performance will continue to motivate him.

“It was like one of those nightmare days where like, I feel like I was in a rhythm, this whole playoff series and then this happened,” McClung stated. “And my teammates, man, they had my back the whole time and just to let ’em down like that it’s sickening.”

McClung added: “It’s a sick feeling — I felt like this whole year I’ve come up in the big moments and the biggest games, and then this year was the worst game of my life — It’s on me man. It’s something I’ll have trouble kind of forgetting or forgiving myself for this performance.”

McClung Reflects

During Osceola’s media day back in November, Mac McClung talked about how this organization has helped him grow both as a player and individually. 

“They’ve been just really honest with you,” McClung said. “I feel like being in different organizations you see how much they do care here, they do watch, they do pay attention.”

Mac reiterated a very similar sentiment after last night’s loss about how much the organization and his teammates mean to him:

“Everything. You know, like I said, this was like the closest G League experience I’ve ever had and it just feels like the outcome was what was destined to happen,” McClung said. “So man, it’s sickening. That’s really all I got.”

Osceola Has a Bright Future

Although this season wasn’t encapsulated with a championship, Osceola has a ton of positive things to take away from this season and this is just the beginning for them. Dylan Murphy is one of the rising coaches in the G League, Mac McClung continues to be one of the best players in the league, and they’ve developed a ton of promising players from Javonte Smart, Alex Morales, Ethan Thompson, etc. 

The future is incredibly bright for the Osceola Magic organization.