The Orlando Magic (23-23) lost to the Portland Trail Blazers (16-28) 101-79 on Thursday night at the Kia Center. The Magic have lost five in a row, with them being 1-6 since Paolo Banchero’s return from his torn oblique.
Edgewater High School alum Anfernee Simons led the game in scoring with 21 points for the Blazers, while Franz Wagner scored a team-high 20 in his return after missing the last 20 games with an oblique injury.
“It’s hard to catch a rhythm with guys being out,” Magic forward Tristan da Silva said. “We gotta stick together and figure something out. Having Franz back definitely helps and makes it easier, but we have to learn the lessons and move forward.”
Quarter by quarter flow:
Wagner did not wait to make an impact in his return, as he blocked a shot on the first possession of the game, which led to a fast break layup by Anthony Black. This marked the first action for Wagner since tearing his oblique against the 76ers in Philadelphia in December.
“It was really cool to play again,” Wagner said. “I was pretty nervous before the game, it was a long time to be out. I know it’s going to take me a little bit to hopefully get back into a rhythm, but it was fun to be back out there.”
Throughout the first quarter, the offense ran through Anthony Black as opposed to Banchero or Wagner. This led to only a combined six points from the star duo in the quarter.
On Brazil Night, da Silva, who is half Brazilian, made his presence known early, as he led the game in scoring with nine points in the quarter, getting it done from all spots on the court. He did this coming off the bench, returning to his role after the fellow German Wagner was put back in the starting lineup.
“I don’t really change my game based on the role I play,” da Silva said. “I am comfortable playing whatever role I am given and I try to stay aggressive.”
Near the end of the 1st, a pair of sloppy Wagner turnovers and one by Jonathan Isaac in the span of a minute allowed for three extra Portland possessions. In the quarter, the Magic gave up nine turnovers, but the Trail Blazers only scored six points off those opportunities.
Despite shooting eight less shots than the Blazers, Orlando outscored them by three in the first quarter. This was mainly due to the eight free throws the Magic made on 11 attempts compared to Portland’s one of three.
To start the second quarter, Wagner scored a tough layup for the first points of the quarter. Shortly after, Black scored one of his own. Black and Wagner led the Magic in scoring during the quarter with seven and six points respectively.
However, Simons, an Altamonte Springs native, led the game in scoring with 11 in the quarter, including two contested three pointers. While Portland’s leading scorer stayed on track, Orlando’s star Banchero only scored five points in the half in 18 minutes.
The Magic also turned the ball over another seven times in the quarter, making it 16 total in the first half. This was double the turnovers by Portland, and the nine points off turnovers in the 2nd allowed for the Blazers to take an eight point lead into half, the largest of the contest to that point.
Coming out of halftime, Wagner was on fire, scoring eight of the Magic’s nine points when he was on the court. However, once he hit the bench, the offense stalled for Orlando. The team only hit two more shots in the next seven minutes to end the 3rd quarter.
Orlando turned the ball over another six times in the period, making the total 22 in three quarters of play. This tied the season-high in turnovers by the Magic, joining a contest against the Nets in Brooklyn. This allowed the Blazers to win the quarter by seven points, with Shaedon Sharpe adding an exclamation point dunk to give Portland a 15 point lead going into the final 12 minutes.
“You do enough defensively to get the job done,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “22 points off of 22 turnovers and you have 31 free throws because you’re attacking the basket, you miss 10 of them; there’s your answer right there. You can’t give the ball back each time to allow them to get run up and easy baskets.”
The Magic then seemingly figured it out from distance to start the fourth, as Jett Howard, son of former Orlando star and Michigan coach Juwan Howard, hit back-to-back threes for the club. Da Silva then hit a deep two, which cut the Portland lead to 11. However, after that shot, the Magic were outscored 21-10 to end the game.
The offense was the Achilles heel for the Magic once again, as they have failed to score over 100 the past five games. Their 34.2% from the field and 24% from three was beat by Portland’s 48.8% from the field and 32.1% from three.
Banchero ended the night with eight points, his third-lowest point total in his young career and the lowest on the season. His 1/14 from the field was also the worst shooting percentage in his time with the Magic and in the NBA.
This loss dropped Orlando to .500 for the first time since Nov. 1. The loss of key contributors like Jalen Suggs and Goga Bitadze when Banchero and Wagner have returned has hurt the flow of the team’s offense and defense.
“As you bring guys back and guys are not on the lineup, it changes the dynamics of rhythm and roles,” Mosley said. “We said that there were gonna be bumps in the road. We were highly aware that there were gonna be bumps as we go through this and get guys back into the lineup. That is not an excuse for our spirit not being right from the beginning of the game. It cannot be based on shots going in or out, because lately, they have not been going in.”
Next up:
The Magic host the 6th-seeded Detroit Pistons on Saturday night. Orlando lost in Detroit to start 2025, but look to bounce back after this five game skid.
“We’ll watch this entire thing tomorrow to understand exactly what we need to improve,” Mosley said. “Communicate at a high level what needs to be done and how we can approach it better as we move forward to Detroit.”
Tip-off against the Pistons is at 7:00 PM on Jan. 25.