{"id":104525,"date":"2026-01-03T18:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T18:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/104525\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T18:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T18:39:09","slug":"orlando-magic-return-to-kia-center-after-1-2-road-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/104525\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic return to Kia Center after 1-2 road trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the first quarter of Friday\u2019s game between the Magic<\/a> and the Bulls<\/a> at United Center, Orlando<\/a> outscored Chicago<\/a> 33-22, shot 62.5% from 3-point range, held its opponent to 33.3% from beyond the arc and only allowed two free throws.<\/p>\n

The only problem?<\/p>\n

Jamahl Mosley<\/a>\u2018s squad was outscored 99-82 the rest of the night, when it shot 37.5% from distance in the final three quarters, let the Bulls shoot 34.4% from the perimeter and gave up 15 free throws.<\/p>\n

Those differences quickly added up to a 121-114 victory in favor of the Bulls, who were without starting guards Josh Giddey and Coby White at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of reasons,\u201d Mosley said when asked why his team came up short. \u201cIn that fourth quarter, we slowed down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mosley\u2019s not wrong in his assessment.<\/p>\n

After the Magic jumped ahead 97-91 less than a minute into the final frame of the game, the Bulls outscored them 22-9 from the 11:19 mark of the fourth to the 3:49 mark late to take control of the contest and not let loose.<\/p>\n

Prior to that point, there had been 19 lead changes in a game that was tied eight times.<\/p>\n

But in the fourth quarter specifically, Chicago outscored Orlando 30-19 when the Magic shot 1 for 11 from 3-point range and the Bulls went 10 for 11 at the free-throw line.<\/p>\n

By the end of the night, the Bulls had grabbed nine offensive rebounds, scored 14 second-chance points, and held a 54-55 advantage in the paint.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all back to the fundamentals,\u201d Mosley said about the rebounding problem. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to make sure you finish the possession out. A lot of those dagger 3s that came were because of the offensive rebounding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s not a coincidence the contest shifted largely in Chicago\u2019s favor after Magic guard Jalen Suggs<\/a> exited the game with 1:06 left in the third quarter and did not return because of a right knee strain.<\/p>\n

In just his second game back from missing seven due to a left hip bruise, Suggs scored 11 points in 20 minutes when he ended with the team\u2019s best plus-minus rating (plus-15) while adding three rebounds, four assists and a steal prior to leaving the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know how much Jalen loves the game,\u201d Magic guard Anthony Black<\/a> said. \u201cYou can see (that) by how hard he plays, how much passion he plays with. So, it\u2019s tough for him not being able to be out there, but we\u2019re trying to be there for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Orlando<\/p>\n

AP Photo\/David Banks<\/p>\n

Magic guard Jalen Suggs sits on the bench after suffering a right knee strain during the second half of Friday’s game in Chicago. (AP Photo\/David Banks)<\/p>\n

Even before Suggs got hurt, however, the Magic led by as many as 13 points prior to the Bulls fighting back, marking yet another game in which Orlando has surrendered a double-digit lead in a loss.<\/p>\n

And while basketball is often described as a \u201cgame of runs,\u201d the Magic are seemingly taking on more losses than they can afford almost halfway through the season.<\/p>\n

Orlando hasn\u2019t won consecutive games since Nov. 28-Dec. 1, and, since then, the team has gone 6-8 with none of their wins coming in double-digit fashion (something that hasn\u2019t happened itself since Nov. 25).<\/p>\n

The stretch has come at time when rising star forward Franz Wagner<\/a> has been unavailable the last 11 games because of a left high ankle sprain. Prior to Wagner\u2019s injury, the Magic were 14-10 and fifth in the East when he averaged 22.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists on 36% shooting from 3-point per night during the first 24 games.<\/p>\n

Entering Saturday\u2019s slate of games, Orlando (19-16) had fallen to eighth in the conference and was 5-6 without Wagner.<\/p>\n

Although an opportunity to bounce back presents itself for the Magic when 6-win Indiana comes to town Sunday, the Pacers<\/a> (6-29) pushed the group to its limits last Wednesday when Orlando needed a Paolo Banchero<\/a> layup with 7.5 seconds left at Gainbridge Fieldhouse to capture a 2-point win.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll five dudes on the court have got to make a decision that we want to play defense,\u201d Black said. \u201cThat\u2019s it. We\u2019ve got to make a decision that we want to guard, play harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indiana<\/a> lost its 11th straight game Friday night at home to the Spurs.<\/p>\n

And home is where Orlando is hoping to find some momentum before the team hits the road again for a back-to-back at Washington on Tuesday and at Brooklyn the next night.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur fans are the best and us getting back in front of them is going to be huge,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cOur biggest goal right now is just to find a way to shake this one off, learn from it and find a way to take care of Indiana on Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic vs. Pacers<\/p>\n

When:\u00a03 p.m., Sunday, Kia Center<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0FanDuel Sports Network Florida<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During the first quarter of Friday\u2019s game between the Magic and the Bulls at United Center, Orlando outscored…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,2295,139,141,1239,140,109,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-104525","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-orlando","11":"tag-orlando-headlines","12":"tag-orlando-magic","13":"tag-orlando-news","14":"tag-social","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}