{"id":199361,"date":"2026-03-20T16:23:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T16:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/199361\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T16:23:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T16:23:07","slug":"orlando-magic-skid-grows-as-lakers-travel-to-kia-center-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/199361\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic skid grows as Lakers travel to Kia Center next"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not only the fact that Jamahl Mosley<\/a> was ejected for the first time in his coaching career Thursday night at Charlotte<\/a>, but also that the Magic<\/a> lacked intensity, precision and poise in their third consecutive loss, the second of which in that stretch came against a Southeast Division opponent who sat behind them in the Eastern Conference standings.<\/p>\n

Through the first three quarters of Thursday\u2019s matchup between Orlando<\/a> and Charlotte \u2014 which is when the starters from both teams played until they sat out much of the fourth with the final outcome already decided \u2014 the Hornets<\/a> led by as many as 35 points, hit more than twice as many triples than the Magic (18 vs. 7) and outrebounded them 34-20 at Spectrum Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By the end of the contest, the Hornets had six scorers finish in double-figures, notched 27 points off 14 Orlando turnovers and won 130-111 on a night the franchise honored Dell Curry by retiring his No. 30 jersey in front of a sold-out crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s got to be our defensive mindset that\u2019s got to kick in,\u201d Mosley said after the 19-point loss. \u201cOur physicality\u2019s got to be there regardless of whether we\u2019re getting calls or not. Our defense has got to set the tone from the beginning of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowing (we\u2019re) going against a team like this, who is offensive minded \u2014 they can get out in the open court \u2014 we\u2019ve got to make sure we sit down, guard, keep the ball in front of us (and) rebound the basketball to not let them get easy baskets,\u201d he added. \u201cThat was a big key of it, but we\u2019ll continue to take a look at things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Magic failed to defend at a high level Thursday, when they fell to 1-5 while allowing at least 130 points and 10-15 giving up 120-plus points this season.<\/p>\n

Last year, Orlando allowed 120-plus points just nine times (it lost all nine) and didn\u2019t squander 130-plus points once. In 2023-24, the Magic were 3-14 when allowing at least 120 points and gave up at least 130 just twice (lost both).<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t only on the defensive end of the floor where the Magic couldn\u2019t impose their will.<\/p>\n

Lacking movement with and without the ball at times in the half-court, Orlando fell to 4-18 when recording fewer than 25 assists this season after they totaled just 24 against the Hornets.<\/p>\n

In comparison, the Magic are 34-13 when recording 25 or more assists. As simple as it sounds, ball movement goes a long way for the group that\u2019s striving to return to the playoffs for a third straight season.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s something Magic guard Desmond Bane<\/a> specifically mentioned post-game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had some conversations about it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe think we just need to play more together.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see a team like that, a team like Atlanta that we just ended up playing, OKC \u2014 all of those teams are sharing the ball, moving without the ball, and it\u2019s generating good things for the entire team,\u201d he added. \u201cSo, we need to lean into that a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, Orlando is nowhere near full health, which has limited what it can do on a nightly basis on both ends of the floor.<\/p>\n

At Charlotte (36-34), the Magic were without three of their top six scorers: Franz Wagner<\/a> (left high ankle sprain injury management), Anthony Black<\/a> (left lateral abdominal strain) and Wendell Carter Jr.<\/a> (left rib mild contusion).<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to mention veteran forward Jonathan Isaac<\/a> (left knee sprain) as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what comes with an NBA season,\u201d Bane said. \u201cYou\u2019re not always going to have your guys. The best teams in the league find a way to still make it happen, and we have to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Mosley: \u201cHopefully we start to get some guys back so you\u2019re not pressing so much on the guys in that starting lineup.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Magic also played more than half of the game without their head coach, who was ejected after picking up two technical fouls with 5:14 left in the second quarter Thursday.<\/p>\n

Assistant coach Joe Prunty led the group the rest of the night after Mosley took issue with how the game was being officiated.<\/p>\n

\u201cMose always goes to bat for us,\u201d Bane said. \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s ever a question, on whether or not he\u2019s got our back. So, definitely like the fire and it\u2019s on us to match that and display that on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orlando (38-31) will need some of that fire when they host the Lakers<\/a> (45-25) on Saturday at Kia Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles<\/a> received 60 points from five-time All-NBA guard Luka Doncic on the second night of a back-to-back at Miami<\/a> on Thursday (a Heat<\/a> loss that helped Orlando in the standings). Less than 24 hours earlier, Doncic scored 40 in a road win at Houston.<\/p>\n

The Magic took down the Lakers out west Feb. 24 but Los Angeles has since won 11 of its last 13 games, including eight straight. Doncic has averaged 40.9 points per night during the winning streak.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn front of our home fans, just to be able to scrap, to be able to continue to fight, play with that sense of intensity, urgency (and) joy for one another, together,\u201d Mosely said when asked what he wants to see from his team Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of those pieces are key, but it\u2019s got to be our defense that sets the tone and then our ability to keep moving and sharing the basketball, and that urgency that we need to continue to play with nightly is very important down this stretch.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic vs. Lakers<\/p>\n

When:\u00a07 p.m., Saturday, Kia Center<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0FanDuel Sports Network Florida\/NBA TV<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not only the fact that Jamahl Mosley was ejected for the first time in his coaching career…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,2295,139,141,1239,140,109,76046,110],"class_list":["post-199361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nba","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-magic","tag-orlando-news","tag-social","tag-social-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199361","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=199361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}