{"id":227256,"date":"2026-04-11T05:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T05:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/227256\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T05:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T05:08:10","slug":"orlando-magic-win-5th-in-a-row-over-bulls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/227256\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic win 5th in a row over Bulls"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO \u2014 It took more than a half of action, but the Magic<\/a> eventually found their footing against the Bulls<\/a> on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Jalen Suggs<\/a> (12 points) knocked down four 3-pointers in the third quarter, Franz Wagner<\/a> scored 25 points in 23 minutes and Orlando<\/a> won its fifth game in a row 127-103 over Chicago<\/a> inside United Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Magic forward Paolo Banchero quietly neared a triple-double with 14 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in 27 minutes during the 24-point win.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we started to take care of the ball a little bit better, that was the best part of it,\u201d Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. \u201cI don\u2019t love that they had 54 points in the paint so we\u2019ve got to do a better job there.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut (it was) our guys\u2019 ability to continue to keep the lead, hold the lead and not let it go,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Neither side took care of the ball well. The Magic scored 31 points off 21 Chicago turnovers and the Bulls notched 13 points off 16 takeaways. The majority of both teams\u2019 starters didn\u2019t play in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

On the second night of a back-to-back, Chicago (31-50) shot the ball poorly from 3-point range, finishing 10-for-39 (25.6%) during its final home game of the regular season.<\/p>\n

With only one contest left ahead of the postseason and multiple spots in the East left to be determined, the Magic (45-36) wrap up the regular season at 6 p.m. Sunday at Boston.<\/p>\n

Slow start for the Magic<\/p>\n

After scoring the first six points of the night, the Magic lacked focus and precision on both ends of the floor the rest of the opening frame.<\/p>\n

Banchero, in particular, was responsible for four of Orlando\u2019s first seven turnovers despite posting a seven-point first quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had moments I thought we did some good things, but again, it was the turnovers,\u201d Mosley said about the opening quarter. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to get a gauge of things when you\u2019ve turned it seven times in that first quarter, and that gives them points.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can take care of the basketball and play the right way, we give ourselves a chance every single night,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

On the defensive end, the Magic sent Chicago to the free throw line 10 times, but the Bulls only made four of those attempts. The Magic only led 28-26 after the first quarter.<\/p>\n

Wagner\u2019s way to the foul line<\/p>\n

The German forward attacked the basket early and often and found himself at the free-throw line throughout the night.<\/p>\n

Wagner shot 6-for-9 at the line and hit twice from beyond the arc late in the second quarter. He added four assists and two rebounds.<\/p>\n

His 25 points were the most he\u2019s scored since returning from injury nine days ago and the most since Dec. 5 vs. Miami (the last game he played before suffering a left high ankle sprain that\u2019s forced him to miss 48 games this season).<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel pretty good,\u201d Wagner said after his fifth game back from injury. \u201cI\u2019m continuing to work my way back. It\u2019s not perfect, everything yet, but we\u2019ll get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bench boost for Orlando<\/p>\n

Jamal Cain led the charge off the bench with 12 first-half points that included a pair of 3-pointers from the right side of the court.<\/p>\n

Cain didn\u2019t slow down from there, notching a season-high 20 points. The performance marked the third time in his career he\u2019s scored 20-plus points in a game. He approached a double-double with eight rebounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust feeding off my teammates,\u201d said Cain when asked what was working for him on offense when he shot 9-for-11 from the floor. \u201cJust getting to the right spots, running the floor and feeding off Paolo, Desmond (Bane), Franz and Suggs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goga Bitadze followed suit off the bench by scoring seven points in the paint with four rebounds before the break. He recorded his second consecutive double-double \u2014 15 points and 11 rebounds in 17 minutes.<\/p>\n

Orlando\u2019s bench outscored Chicago\u2019s 63-33.<\/p>\n

Familiar face in Mac McClung<\/p>\n

Former Magic two-way guard Mac McClung notched seven points with one rebound and one assist in 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

Recently named the G League MVP for the second time in his career, McClung signed a two-way contract with Chicago in February after spending the 2024-25 season with Orlando.<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2014 It took more than a half of action, but the Magic eventually found their footing against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227257,"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-227256","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\/227256","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=227256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}