The Orlando Magic fell to the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night, in a game where they seemed overmatched. The Magic are now 8-11 heading into Friday’s matchup with the Clippers. Along with that, they’ll also be dealing with Terrence Ross trade rumors. On the other hand, the Kings won their 2nd straight.
Overview
Sacramento outmatched the Magic, as Orlando was down for almost the entire game. Buddy Hield came out hot for the Kings and finished with 29 points on 7 3-pointers made. The Magic defense couldn’t contain the Kings offense, as every member of the Kings starting lineup finished with 15+ points. In addition to Hield’s 29 points, Barnes had 21, Holmes had 20, Fox had 16, and Bagley had 16. The Magic tried to comeback even going on a little run on their own, but it wasn’t enough.
Nikola Vucevic and Evan Fournier led the way for the Magic in scoring with 26 and 25 respectively. Terrence Ross added 16 off the bench as well. The Magic struggled gathering defensive rebounds. Marvin Bagley III had 8 offensive rebounds, Richaun Holmes had 5, and Hassan Whiteside had 5. While the Kings gathered many offensive rebounds, Khem Birch had a surprise 14 rebounds for Orlando.
Cole Anthony Cools Down for the Magic
After coming off a new career-high in points (21), rookie guard Cole Anthony struggled on Wednesday night. After Markelle Fultz tore his ACL, Cole Anthony has had to step up big time for the Magic. Averaging 11 points in his first season, he’s helped add some scoring to the team. One area where he can improve is his efficiency. Anthony’s shooting only 36.9% from the floor, which happened at UNC too. In Wednesday’s game, Anthony only mustered 7 points on 22% shooting. While it’s expected for a rookie to have some slumps or a bad game, Anthony already has a huge role in his rookie season.
Vucevic Records his 7th Straight 20+ Point Game
Nikola Vucevic has been on point for the Orlando Magic this year averaging 23.5 Points and 11.1 Rebounds. He’s also done it while shooting 48.7% from the field and 43.5% from 3. Vucevic’s been terrific for the Magic and continued that trend with a 26 point and 9 rebound performance. Along with that, he has the 14th highest PER, and 2.4 Win Shares. He clearly seems like an All Star for this year, and with voting starting Thursday at Noon, we’ll see how he starts in fan voting.