Orlando, FL – Orlando played in Memphis against a depleted Grizzlies team and they were not able to capitalize, in yet another heartbreaking loss.
As the Magic continue to develop chemistry with the “old” starting five of Banchero, Wagner, Fultz, Suggs, and Carter Jr., something goes wrong once more with Suggs going down with a knee injury just four minutes into the game and getting replaced by Cole Anthony, who took most his minutes for the night since Suggs could not return to the game.
In the game, there were six players in double figures for the Magic, proving to be a well-rounded game for the most part. The one time the team really struggled was in that second quarter when Memphis put up nearly 40 points thanks in large to Jackson Jr., who had an excellent scoring night, ending up with 30 points in the game. He had some great help from the young Memphis team, who have been showing some of that grit and grind thanks to their G-Leaguers and young players stepping up in place of all their injured stars and making an impact on the court and their culture.
Orlando struggled to get any shooting going tonight, with only Paolo and Franz putting up any sort of volume from deep and the rest of the team lacking big-time with their shots, leaving the team with an abysmal 9-34 shooting from three-point range in the game. The reason the game was as close as it was despite the poor shooting was the free throw game. The Magic went 21-29 from the line thanks to Paolo’s bull rush into the paint that nobody in the league can stop as opposed to the Grizzlies’ 8-13 shooting from the stripe.
The game went down to the wire and in spite of the excellent defense being played by Orlando in the Paolo tried his best to get the Magic the win, but ultimately a missed three point shot by Ingles would seal the game and give the Grizzlies a one-point win. The Magic will play against the red-hot Suns in the their next game to try to cool them off and mesh the team together once again.