Orlando, FL – After a devastating loss in Miami, the Magic looked to redeem themselves in Oklahoma City, but after a monstrous performance from the Thunder’s young core Orlando fell short in a 112-100 defeat.
Paolo Banchero started the game off slow, with one of his worst starts to a game all season long. He scored just five points in the first half and three of those came from the free-throw line, but he made up for his poor scoring display with some great playmaking and good defense.
On the flip side, OKC’s MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had an outstanding performance, scoring 30 points through three quarters and finishing with 37 points in just 36 minutes on 65% shooting from the field. The Magic’s defense crumbled under the pressure that Shai put on the rim, which forced the players to collapse in and it left the Thunder’s shooters wide open. Luckily, OKC shot just 22.2% from deep in the game, but despite their poor shooting Orlando simply didn’t have the intensity or rim protection to stop the home side from getting to the basket and drawing fouls.
The Magic played fast to try to catch the Thunder off guard and it paid off and kept them within arms reach for the duration of the game, with some proactive turnovers. Orlando was able to get 23 fast break points off of just nine OKC turnovers thanks to Banchero’s great outlet passes to the players down the court. Former G-League MVP Trevelin Queen set the tone for the Magic in a game where they needed to limit pressure on the rim defensively with a team-high three blocks and a huge slam to give the Magic some hope. Rookie Anthony Black and third-year man Cole Anthony played like one of the best bench guard duos in the association tonight with efficient scoring, good defense, good rebounding, and excellent ball movement from the pair, allowing Orlando to get ahead for just a moment when the Thunder’s bench unit was in the game.
After the two young teams dueled it out with both teams scoring above 30 points each in the third quarter, the Thunder tried to slow things down in the fourth and even though Banchero was starting to find his groove late in the half, it wasn’t enough to overcome the timely shots that OKC was hitting on the other end of the court. Orlando failed to gain any sort of momentum and with Cole Anthony getting a flagrant foul down just eight points with about 1:30 to go in and that just about packed things up in the game for the Magic despite this being the only quarter that Orlando bested OKC.
The Magic will continue their trip all over the country, this time traveling up to New York in a rematch over the Knicks to try to get themselves out of the rut they are currently in and improve their subpar road record thus far in the season.