On Star Wars Night in the Amway Center Orlando showed rebel spirit against Miami. A makeshift Magic team fought all game losing by 115-105.
A seventh Magic starting lineup for the season was a very different one:
Franz Wagner (PG), Gary Harris (SG), Chuma Okeke (F), Wendell Carter Jr (F), Robin Lopez (C)
From the bench came Mychal Mulder, Aleem Ford, Hassani Gravett, BJ Johnson and Admiral Schofield.
Wendell Carter Jr went down in the second quarter after banging knees, requiring a wheelchair to get back to the locker room. By the final buzzer Okeke, Harris and Wagner had played big minutes.
The four Lakeland signings all contributed from the bench, playing their third game in four nights.
Magic Top Performers
In adversity there comes opportunities.
Franz Wagner shone as Orlando’s point guard, recording 27 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and committing just one turnover!
Chuma Okeke had his best game of the season, recording a double-double of 18 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block and 6 steals.
Gary Harris added 20 points.
Robin Lopez hit 18 points and 7 rebounds.
Moving On After Orlando Showed Rebel Spirit Against Miami In Loss
Up next for Orlando is the second night of this back-to-back, which sees Orlando travel to face the Brooklyn Nets tonight. The tip is shown as being 12:30am.
Brooklyn played last on Thursday night, registering a home win over the Philadelphia 76ers by 105-114. Kevin Durant led all scorers with a 34 point and 11 rebound double-double. He also added 8 assists. Blake Griffin and Nicolas Claxton both had 17 points, whilst Patty Mills contributed 14 points.
The Brooklyn team we face tonight will be very different to what we would expect through injury and COVID. There will be no Durant, James Harden or Kyrie Irving who are all part of their 12 player injury report.
Orlando’s record is now 5 wins and 25 losses. The Magic stay 14th in the Eastern Conference. Of the last 10 games played the Magic have won just the 1, whilst being on a 7 game losing streak. Orlando have now a terrible 14 losses in 15 games. The home record stands at 2 wins of 12 games played, whilst on the road it is 3 wins in 18 played. In points per game the Magic score 101.4 whilst conceding 111.9. In offensive rankings Orlando remain at 28th, but defensively have now dropped to 29th.
The Brooklyn Nets have a record of 21 wins and 8 losses. The Nets are top of the Eastern Conference by 3 games. Of the last 10 games played Brooklyn have won 7, being on a 4 game winning run. The Nets home record stands at 10 wins of 15 games played. In points per game the Nets score 110.3 whilst conceding 106.5. In offensive rankings Brooklyn are 8th and 5th for defensive statistics.
Josh Cohen’s review of the Miami loss is available here on the Orlando Magic website.
