{"id":224497,"date":"2026-04-09T07:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T07:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/224497\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T07:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T07:06:07","slug":"orlando-magic-finally-feel-whole-again-at-the-perfect-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/224497\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic finally feel whole again at the perfect time"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Orlando Magic led by 10 at the half and then did what they always seem to do, giving up a couple of three-pointers to cut the deficit down to four. It was three before the team knew it.<\/p>\n

This was the same old Magic. A team that had shown all of its potential, but often came out of the locker room slow and lost leads to throw away good halves quickly.<\/p>\n

To make matters worse, Franz Wagner checked out of the game after hyperextending his left knee, sending a chill through the Kia Center in the regular-season home finale.<\/p>\n

After finally getting their full complement of players back<\/a> on the court together for the first time since Dec. 7, it felt like the Magic would lose this good thing before it even started.<\/p>\n

The Magic have broken apart a lot this season. But not in this moment. Not with the postseason in sight and not with the confidence of a healthy roster.<\/p>\n

The Magic stayed intense, moving the ball with ease to find open players and locking down the depleted Minnesota Timberwolves.<\/p>\n

By the time Wagner returned — no worse for the wear — 7.5 minutes later, the Magic were up by 20 points. They had blown the game up, never losing their energy or precision.<\/p>\n

Wagner returning, just as his return last week has done, put the team into overdrive, expanding the lead to as much as 24 points in a 132-120 romp over the Timberwolves.<\/p>\n

For the first time in a long time, the Magic looked like they were whole. This looked like the Magic everyone imagined.<\/p>\n

“You want to be playing your best around this time,” Paolo Banchero said in the locker room after Wednesday’s win. “Getting some of our key guys back has helped the vibe of the team and everybody. It feels like we are at full strength again. That’s just a good feeling for everybody when you are getting ready for the game and see everybody as a whole. It gives you a lot of confidence out there.”<\/p>\n

It might be coming late — almost too late to change the team’s playoff fate — but Franz Wagner and Anthony Black’s return have provided some hope and opened things up. This team has the talent and hte ability to make noise.<\/p>\n

What has been missing is the confidence. And the return of these two key players has led to a change in that department.<\/p>\n

Orlando might be feasting on inferior teams. But the team is winning and are within shouting distance of avoiding the Play-In Tournament.<\/p>\n

The big returns<\/p>\n

This is not just about Franz Wagner and Anthony Black, of course.<\/p>\n

Both players are still on a minute restriction and working their way back into rhythm. Wagner played his fourth game since returning from a high ankle sprain, and Black played his second game back from a lateral abdominal strain.<\/p>\n

Wagner played merely 21:37 in the game, but he made a huge impact with 17 points on 7-for-13 shooting. The Magic were +20 in his minutes and posted a 137.3 offensive rating with Wagner on the floor in Wednesday’s game and a 100.0 defensive rating.<\/p>\n

Black played 16:04 and scored only seven point on 1-for-4 shooting, ading five rebounds and two blocks for good measure. Orlando went +7 in his minutes with a 134.3 offensive rating.<\/p>\n

Against the Minnesota Timberwolves, it was less about the counting stats and more about the confidence and freedom that having those two players brought.<\/p>\n

Quite simply, Wagner and Black are offensive players that opponents need to account for on and off the ball. And twisting the defense even that much opened up lanes for the Magic. They play with pace and force teams to react.<\/p>\n

Orlando scored 64 points in the paint and had 33 assists on 51 field goals. Nine players had at least one assist in the first quarter and 11 had at least one assist in the game. <\/p>\n

The Magic went 12 for 29 (41.4 percent) from three, signaling how much the ball was moving and popping around.<\/p>\n

“The ball has energy,” coach Jamahl Mosley said after Wednesday’s win. “When you are touching it and moving it and sharing it, touching the paint. When that ball hits the paint, now you find the right person and make the right decision. These guys have done a good job of that in the last four. That’s part of the process.”<\/p>\n

Everything flowed and worked together in a way that it has not often for this team.<\/p>\n

The Magic may not have been playing the strongest opponents during this recent stretch, but they are averaging 30.8 assists per game, shooting 38.6 percent from three and scoring 120.8 points per 100 possessions.<\/p>\n

A team that one week ago was as down as could be has suddenly found life. It is not all the return of these players, but it has not hurt.<\/p>\n

Realizing the dream?<\/p>\n

The Orlando Magic still know there is work to do. They are trying to salvage something from their season<\/a>, after all.<\/p>\n

They cannot take back the time missed due to injury or the frustrating losses that have them hoping for help to grab the 7-seed. This team still has some holes to fill on defense — and Wednesday’s game was not its finest defensive effort.<\/p>\n

The problem for the Magic all season has been their inability to put all the pieces together. Injuries played a role in this team not feeling whole.<\/p>\n

Orlando has not realized its potential as a group. Getting these players back is showing hints of that potential. The question is whether there is enough time to salvage the season.<\/p>\n

“I think we have great confidence in the roster that we have and the talent level,” Franz Wagner said after Wednesday’s game. “At the same time, I think it is time to put it together. I don’t think we have clicked as much as we should have all year. It’s time to do that right now.”<\/p>\n

Orlando is playing catch-up now. Not only in the standings, but on the court too trying to get everyone up to speed. This is still a team gaining rhythm and coming together.<\/p>\n

Even considering the opponents, it is impressive that the Magic have found their resolve and toughness after last week’s disappointments. <\/p>\n

Wagner’s potential injury could have broken them again. Instead, Orlando kept playing and kept fighting. The Magic kept control to score a critical win.<\/p>\n

“It was a really important game,” Goga Bitadze said after Wednesday’s win. “I think it shows our growth. We lost a couple of those game earlier in the season where you are supposed to win on paper. But those are trap games. Today we did a good job. There were some moments that it could have gone hte other way. I think we stayed together, trusted each other, made extra passes for teammates. We’ve just got to keep doing that.”<\/p>\n

The Magic know there is still a ways to go to get themselves all the way back. Their players are still working themselves into rhythm and into shape. The team is still coming togther.<\/p>\n

Maybe, then for a little bit, the Magic will get a glimpse of what it could have been. Maybe that will be enough to get the team into the Playoffs in a good position.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Orlando Magic led by 10 at the half and then did what they always seem to do,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,141,140],"class_list":{"0":"post-224497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-orlando","9":"tag-orlando-headlines","10":"tag-orlando-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224497","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=224497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}