Wednesday night, the (13-22) Orlando Magic were forced to fly out to Detroit for a match with the Pistons. After a tough loss to the Lakers, the Magic were going up against the worst team in the league with the Pistons (8-28) having lost nine of their last 10 games prior to their matchup. For the Magic, they are the polar opposite as they have won eight of their last ten games and were seeking to avoid dropping two games in a row, a feat which they have avoided since the very beginning of December.
The injury report for the Magic remained the same as it did for Tuesday’s night game against the Lakers with Jalen Suggs (knee), Johnathan Isaac (knee), and Chuma Okeke (knee). As for the Pistons, they were without their star player Cade Cunningham who underwent a season ending surgery for his leg, Isaiah Livers (shoulder), and Marvin Bagley (illness).
From the opening tip, the Magic were off to the races as they jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first few minutes. The Pistons responded with a 15-5 scoring run late into the quarter giving them the lead 27-23. Having expanded on their scoring run the Pistons had outscored the Magic 39-24 in the second quarter with a lead as large as 19 (66-47) to close out the half. During the second quarter of play, the Magic were shooting an abysmal 37% from the field and 20% from three while the Pistons were flourishing (52% from the field and 50% from three).
The second quarter was also responsible for hosting an incident that was very reminiscent of another one that occurred nearly twenty years ago, ‘The Malice at the Palace’. On a loose ball possession, Moritz Wagner had shoved Killian Hayes which had sent him into the Pistons bench. Once Killian Hayes was able to himself back up he lashed out and punched Wagner in the back of the head proceeding to knock him out. The scuffle between both teams resulted in multiple players being ejected out of the game: Wagner, Hayes, and Hamidou Diallo. Surely with such an incident occurring there will be a multitude of suspensions that will soon follow.
The second half of play was a highly anticipated one as it was intriguing to see how both teams would respond. However, the Magic’s response came up short as the Pistons had once again outscored them 57-54. As a result, the Pistons cruised their way to their 9th victory on the season winning 121-101. The Magic finished the game shooting an inefficient 41% from the field and 22% from three. Another deciding factor in this outing is the fact that the Magic were able to convert on only 5 of their 22 threes while the Pistons were shooting 42% from three with 18 in total. The most interesting stat in this game is the fact that the Pistons bench outscored their starters 76-45 which is very unusual for a team to do.
Franz Wagner led the way for the Magic scoring 19 points while receiving help from Wendell Carter Jr. with 16 points, Paolo Banchero with 15 points, and Moritz Wagner with 11 points before his ejection.
The Pistons had their leading scorers off the bench with Alec Burks paving the way to the win scoring 32 points and Saddiq Bey adding 28 points and 8 rebounds. The Pistons also had Bojan Bogdanović with 14 points, Isaiah Stewart with 11 points, and Diallo with 11 points before his ejection as well.
What’s Next?
The Orlando Magic (13-23) will return back home for a 3 game homestand starting Friday night with a southeast division rival, the (15-21) Washington Wizards. The Wizards will be fresh off a dominant win against the Phoenix Suns 127-102 without their main star Bradley Beal. Beal will be questionable for Friday night’s matchup as he is listed as day-to-day. The Wizards on the season are averaging 111.8 points per game while allowing 113.3. Friday’s matchup will certainly be an important one as the Magic are now 3 games shy of the 10th seed (final play-in spot) with the Wizards (12th seed) currently in front with a two game lead.
For more News about the Orlando Magic visit www.orlandomagic.com
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