Having lost the night before against the Miami Heat, the Magic (19-30) were given an opportunity against the Chicago Bulls (23-26) to close the gap for the final play-in spot.
Prior to tonight’s matchup, the Magic mostly had a healthy squad as there was only one player sidelined with an injury (Chuma Okeke;knee) while the others were on G-League assignment: R.J. Hampton, Kevon Harris and Caleb Houstan. As for the Bulls, they had remained without their star point guard Lonzo Ball who has been sidelined with a left knee injury for over a year. The other Bulls that were featured on the inactive list included: Javonte Green (right knee surgery), Marko Simonović (right cervical strain), and Malcom Hill who is currently fulfilling his G-League assignment.
From the opening tip, it seemed as if tonight’s matchup would be a tight contest despite the fact that Zach Lavine and Nikola Vucevic had already combined for a total of 18 of the team’s 25 points in the first. Meanwhile, the Magic had only scored 19 points while struggling to find a groove in their offense as they were shooting 32% from the field while defensively they allowed the Bulls to shoot 45% from the field. In the second quarter, the Magic had turned it up a notch as their offense found some of their rhythm as they scored 28 points while shooting 52.4% from the field and 40% from three. However, defensively the Magic were unable to contain the scorching hot Bulls as they allowed for a 17-10 run late into the quarter resulting in a 13 point deficit at the half. Furthermore, the Bulls second quarter was quite profound as the team put up a total of 35 points stemming from a remarkable field goal percentage (68.2%). With the first half concluded, the Magic were being led by Markelle Fultz and Moritz Wagner with 7 points each while the Bulls big three flourished with Vucevic leading the way with 17 points and 8 rebounds, LaVine with 15 points, and DeMar DeRozan with 12 points.
With a new half tipping off, the Magic not only needed to continue upon their offensive success in the second quarter but they needed to gather multiple stops in effort to squander the large lead. Unfortunately, the Magic were only able to succeed on the offensive side of the ball as their defense allowed for another 35 point quarter. During the third quarter, the Bulls had erupted for a 26-15 scoring run which extended their lead to as large as 25 points (89-64). The Magic made sure to put the Bulls at unease heading into the final quarter as they closed out the third with a 17-6 scoring run squandering the lead to 95-81 as M.Wagner had a heroic outburst scoring 11 points within the final two minutes. Starting off the fourth quarter, the Magic had capitalized on their newfound momentum as best as they possibly could with a 23-16 run which allowed them to bring the 25 point lead that once was, to a 5 point lead with just over 4 minutes left on the clock. It was not until then that the Bulls and more specifically DeRozan and LaVine decided to lay to rest the Magic’s late game rally, closing out the game with a 19-3 run to win the game 128-109 with the two being responsible for 14 of those points.
The Magic were led by Moritz Wagner who had a stellar performance with 27 points which was followed along by Cole Anthony with 21 points, 6 rebounds & assists, and Wendell Carter Jr. with 11 points and 5 rebounds.
As for the Bulls, their big three had an impressive showing as DeRozan and LaVine had 32 points a piece with Vucevic shortly behind while having 26 points and 13 rebounds.
Highlights
Gallery
What’s Next?
The Orlando Magic (19-31) will look to snap their two game losing streak in the city of brotherly love with a matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers (32-16), Monday night. The last time these two clubs met, the 76ers swept the Magic’s homestand series in a dominating fashion without James Harden and potential MVP frontrunner Joel Embiid. On the season, the 76ers are currently averaging 114.8 points per game while defensively they are ranked as 4th across the league holding opponents to 110.9 points per game.
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