Friday night, the Orlando Magic found themselves matched up against another western conference juggernaut, the Phoenix Suns. The Orlando Magic were looking to add another win to their season after beating Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks Wednesday night.
Injury Bug
The Phoenix Suns came into town tonight with 4 inactive players including their star point guard, Chris Paul. As for the Magic, they were once again without the front runner for rookie of the year Paolo Banchero, as well as others who have remained inactive from the start of the season.
Fast Start
The Magic were off to the races as soon as this game tipped off. As a team, they were able to put together a 30 point quarter with Jalen Suggs leading the way with 8 points in the first. When the half winded down, Suggs had led both teams in the scoring column with 14 of his 16 points coming from those two quarters. The Magic were able to take advantage of the Suns sluggish start, holding them to 42% shooting with 8 turnovers to go along. As a result, the home team ended up winning the half with a score of 58-52, a true testament of what the outcome of this game would be.
Runaway Third
As the third quarter started, it was expected that the Suns would come out swinging with their main focal point of offense Devin Booker. However, that was not the case, as the Suns came out of the half looking exactly the same, if not worse. Booker had only scored 6 of his 17 points in this period, with the Suns scoring 22 points all together. This was another quarter that the Magic were able to win, as Chuma Okeke and Wendell Carter Jr. combined for 16 of the team’s 29 points in the third.
Two in a Row
The Orlando Magic were once again able to prevail against another contender out of the west without their star rookie, the final score being 114-97. Just like Lou Brown said in Major League II, “…if they win today that makes it two in a row, and if they win the next time out, now that’s a winning streak”.
Stifling Defense
It would be very remiss to not take note of how the Magic were able to close out these ball games against both the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns. The Magic in the past two games were able to hold their opponents below their scoring averages, as they allowed for Mavs to only score 87 points in comparison to their 109.9ppg, and the Suns to only score 94 to their 112.5ppg. Additionally, this Orlando team was able to contain each team’s prolific scorers, Luka Doncic and Devin Booker to 30% shooting and under their scoring averages of 33.6ppg and 26.7ppg.
What’s Next?
As the Magic get closer to wrapping up this 7 game home stand, they will face a familiar opponent in their divisional rival, the Charlotte Hornets. The Charlotte Hornets currently find themselves at the latter end of the conference with a record of 3-10, being 1-9 in their last 10 games. The Hornets are currently averaging 108.2 points per game while giving up 113.4ppg.
Highlights
For more News about the Orlando Magic visit www.orlandomagic.com
For more sports coverage from MLB, NBA, NFL, to NCAA contact Julian Ojeda at 786-501-9082 or via email: julianojeda@wepa.fm