Orlando<\/a>\u2018s franchise-record 52-point loss at Toronto roughly two weeks ago, Magic coach Jamahl Mosley pointed toward his team not playing with a sense of urgency from the jump against the Raptors.<\/p>\nGo back a week prior to that loss and Mosley again mentioned the team needing a sense of urgency in the third quarter of Orlando\u2019s two-point loss to the then-16-win Pacers at Kia Center.<\/p>\n
Even after Orlando\u2019s 17-point loss to the Grizzlies in London on Jan. 18, Mosley said his team needed to understand it had come out with a sense of urgency early against Memphis.<\/p>\n
Time and time again, the Magic have failed to accomplish that goal and it has cost them. And on Sunday, it cost them the chance to host a matchup that will determine the No. 7 seed in the first round of the East playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely didn\u2019t play my best basketball,\u201d Banchero said. \u201cI think collectively, we just have to have more urgency. We can\u2019t expect to win just because guys are out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201cguys\u201d who were out for Boston represented the team\u2019s top seven scorers and a variety of key rotational players, including Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Neemias Queta and Sam Hauser. Because of their absences related to minor injuries and the Celtics already locked into the No. 2 spot in the East, Boston only had eight players available.<\/p>\n
Four of them recorded career-high scoring performances: Baylor Scheierman notched 30 points, Ron Harper Jr. and Luka Garza both finished with 27 and John Tonje racked on 13 more.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey hit a ton of shots, we turned it over, gave them a couple extra opportunities and that was a big portion of the ballgame,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cBut you\u2019ve got to give Boston a hell of a ton of credit for the way they came out with those 7-8 guys and played their tails off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boston shot 19 for 50 (38%) from 3-point range, scored 23 points off 19 Orlando turnovers and used a 42-20 third quarter to take control of the contest.<\/p>\n
The Magic fell behind by as many as 11 points after leading by as many as 16 earlier in the game. Orlando was able to tie the game at 108 with 36.4 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, but Boston scored the final five points of the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe run in the third quarter was tough,\u201d Magic guard Jalen Suggs said. \u201cI think we just dug a hole. I\u2019m always gonna look inward. \u2026 I think if I don\u2019t turn the ball over that much in the first half and we\u2019re able to push that lead from nine to 15-16, I think we\u2019re looking at something a little different.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think playing with a bit more energy, with a bit more effort, you can always say that looking back on it, but yeah, we can\u2019t drop that one and we know it,\u201d he added. \u201cSo, you put that on everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
If the No. 8 (45-37) Magic win Wednesday at No. 7 Philadelphia (45-37), they\u2019d face off against the Celtics again in the first round.<\/p>\n
Of course, Boston will be at full strength when its first round playoff series opens Sunday at 1 p.m. on ABC. The Celtics eliminated the Magic in just five games during last year\u2019s best-of-seven first-round series.<\/p>\n
The team that falls Wednesday at Philadelphia will host the winner of the Nos. 9-10 game (Miami and Charlotte) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. on Amazon\u2019s Prime Network in a do-or-die game for the No. 8 seed in the playoffs. The No. 10 Heat travel to the No. 9 Hornets on Tuesday night to determine who will get a shot at reaching the first round.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not like everything is bad,\u201d Magic forward Franz Wagner said in the locker room. \u201cWe lost the game (Sunday) that we should\u2019ve won and that\u2019s part of it, too, sometimes. (We\u2019ve) got to go in there with the right mindset and play better basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wagner continued to play under a minutes restriction Sunday in just his sixth game back from the extended rehab of a left high ankle sprain that\u2019s forced him to miss a total of 48 games this season.<\/p>\n
Often with his left leg wrapped when sitting on the bench, the German forward totaled 20 points and four rebounds in 26 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to push through and get as much time out there as I can,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel all right.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor sure, it\u2019s frustrating but there\u2019s only one way to get past that and that\u2019s to push through it and do it in a smart way,\u201d he later added about the minutes restriction. \u201cBut to go to that point consistently, and that\u2019s all I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Magic will need each and every minute from Wagner on Wednesday against the Sixers. While all 10 No. 7 seeds have advanced to the first round of the playoff via the play-in since 2021, only seven of the 11 No. 8 seeds have advanced in that span.<\/p>\n
And much like Sunday at Boston, there\u2019s no reason the Magic shouldn\u2019t play with heightened focus and energy at Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust to come out with urgency,\u201d Banchero said when asked what\u2019s key to win Wednesday. \u201cThat\u2019s the biggest thing. We can\u2019t be relaxed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe season\u2019s on the line at this point and we\u2019re just making it harder and harder on ourselves so hopefully we\u2019ll respond.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\nUp next \u2026<\/p>\n
Magic at 76ers, play-in tournament<\/p>\n
When: 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Xfinity Mobile Arena<\/p>\n
TV:\u00a0Prime Video<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON \u2014 Maybe it happened because of a lack of effort. Or a lack of energy. Or even…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230041,"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-230040","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\/230040","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=230040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}