Although the Magic forced 10 turnovers in the first half of Monday’s game at Kia Center against the Bucks, the team had only scored six points off those takeaways.
Orlando actually trailed by three points at the halfway mark, 54-51, largely due to its lack of shotmaking. Milwaukee had made 40% of their 3-point attempts before the break and held the Magic to just 19% from distance.
Then came the third quarter.
Jamahl Mosley‘s squad notched 10 points off five Milwaukee turnovers, shot 54.5% from beyond the arc and outscored the Bucks 36-20 in the 12-minute stretch to take control and capture a 118-99 victory in front of a national TV audience on Peacock, NBC’s streaming service.
“There was a point in the game where we just kind of turned it on,” Magic forward Jonathan Isaac told the Orlando Sentinel in the locker room after the 19-point victory. “We were playing solid defense throughout but that third quarter, seemed like we were able to just put couple (stops) together and then fuel our offense.
“Once your defense starts fueling your offense, it’s kind of just wraps from there,” he added.
Bucks coach Doc Rivers described Orlando as the more physical team after the loss and, while the third quarter was when the Magic took over, the team believed it was just a matter of time for the dams to break defensively.
“It was a good defensive game overall,” Magic forward Paolo Banchero said. “(The Bucks) have been a pretty high-scoring team. They’ve been shooting the ball really well, especially without Giannis (Antetokounmpo).
“We just did a good job of running them off the line and forcing them to take tough shots,” he added.
In the three games before facing Orlando, the Bucks had scored 130-plus points twice, averaging 125.7 in that stretch. For the Magic, Monday’s game marked the second in its past three holding an opponent to fewer than 100 points.
It was also Orlando’s third straight win, something the team hadn’t accomplished since Nov. 25-Dec. 1. Although they’ve won five of their last seven, they’re still not pleased.
“I mean, honestly, I would contribute that to them being lesser teams,” Banchero said when asked what’s changed defensively as of late. “Not that good, you know? I think Utah took their starters out, Brooklyn not being very good. Milwaukee, they’re alright.
“So, I think we’ve just got to lock in and continue to just be who we are defensively and hopefully it translates to when we see some better teams down the road,” he added.
Getting Franz Wagner back helped, too. In his first game back from a nine-game absence managing the extended rehab of a left high ankle sprain, the Magic forward racked up 14 points, five assists and two rebounds in just 17 restricted minutes.
The contest served as just the 18th regular-season game since the start of the 2024-25 season in which Wagner, Banchero and Jalen Suggs shared the floor out of 134 possible games in that stretch.
In 12 games together this season, the Magic trio has recorded a net-rating of plus-15.2 when on the court, according to NBA.com. Of the 48 three-man lineups that have played at least 140 minutes together for Orlando this season, that net rating leads the team.
“Obviously still working my way back and obviously got to find a rhythm out there … But pleased with how I played and hopefully could help the group win,” Wagner said.
After starting his previous 317 NBA games played with the Magic, as well as 55 college games played in two season at Michigan, Wagner came off the bench for the first time since his youth days with Alba Berlin in Germany. That allowed Mosley to better control his minutes as he works back to form from injury.
“It’s definitely different,” Wagner said. “But I came off the bench before in my life so just trying to find other ways to obviously get ready and be ready once you get subbed in. Sometimes it’s fun to have a change of routine like that.”
Banchero appeared to avoid a major injury himself when Isaac blocked a Kevin Porter Jr. layup late in the third quarter and the ball ricocheted off Banchero’s right hand.
Banchero said it was his right index finger that got hit and it felt “a little stiff” after the game, but he didn’t undergo an X-ray on Monday night.
“It’s all right,” he said. “Hopefully it doesn’t bother me too much. … It’s probably just a jammed finger, just jammed it pretty good.”
The Magic host the Bucks again on Wednesday in their final game before the NBA All-Star break.
Although Orlando has won three games in a row four different times this season, it has yet to win four consecutive contests.
“It’s important,” Isaac said about the last game before the break. “I think we definitely sent a message (Monday night) and I don’t feel any reservations about next game. We’ll be fine.”
Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com
Up next …
Magic vs. Bucks
When: 7 p.m., Wednesday, Kia Center
TV: FanDuel Sports Network Florida