{"id":26003,"date":"2025-10-30T02:07:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T02:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/26003\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T02:07:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T02:07:10","slug":"orlando-magic-drop-4th-game-at-detroit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/26003\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic drop 4th game at Detroit"},"content":{"rendered":"

DETROIT \u2014 The Magic<\/a> believe they\u2019re close to cracking the code of pushing the pace on offense and still playing high-quality defense on the other end.<\/p>\n

The right combination, as well as Orlando<\/a>\u2018s second win of the year, will have to wait at least another night after the Pistons<\/a> handed Jamahl Mosley<\/a>\u2018s squad its fourth straight loss, 135-116, Wednesday at Little Caesars Arena.<\/p>\n

Despite Paolo Banchero<\/a> (24 points) and Franz Wagner<\/a> (22) combining for 46 points, the Magic allowed Detroit to run all over them in the second half when Cade Cunningham, a Montverde Academy product, led all scorers with 30 points and 10 assists.<\/p>\n

Mosley had stressed a fast start in the games leading up to Wednesday and the Magic found that when they jumped out to an early double-digit lead. The Pistons (3-2), however, took complete control in the second half, outscoring Orlando 70-52 in the final two frames.<\/p>\n

The Magic (1-4) have a quick turnaround as they travel to Charlotte for a Thursday-night matchup with the Hornets.<\/p>\n

Starting 5<\/p>\n

Banchero and Wagner were joined Wendell Carter Jr., Desmond Bane and Jalen Suggs (8 points) as the first five on the court against the Pistons.<\/p>\n

Wagner hit his first three attempts from beyond the arc when he posted 14 points in the first half.<\/p>\n

Banchero missed all three of his long-range tries but forced his way to the free throw line early. He dished out 7 assists, 5 of which came in the first quarter, which underscores how difficult it was for the Magic to move the ball the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

In fact, Orlando notched 14 of its 22 assists in the first half before its offense faltered.<\/p>\n

Bane continued to struggle from distance as he made only 1 of his 3 attempts. He shot 3 for 13 from the field for just 10 points.<\/p>\n

Carter picked up his third foul with 3:25 left in the second quarter and fouled out at the 8:30 mark of the fourth.<\/p>\n

Bench bounces back<\/p>\n

After scoring just 24 points Monday at Philadelphia, Orlando\u2019s reserves responded with 25 in the first half against the Pistons.<\/p>\n

That included Tristan da Silva (15 points) sinking his first pair of triples and Goga Bitadze having success early around the rim (4 for 4 with 8 points at the break).<\/p>\n

They were joined by Anthony Black, Tyus Jones, Jonathan Isaac, Jett Howard and rookies Noah Penda and Jase Richardson off the bench.<\/p>\n

Black struggled from distance, shooting 1 for 6 beyond the arc. He finished with 10 points in 24 minutes.<\/p>\n

Jones, who was a key free-agent signing over the summer, played just 9 minutes and hit one triple.<\/p>\n

Free points<\/p>\n

Although a point of emphasis from Mosley for multiple seasons has been to defend without fouling, the Magic failed to do that against Detroit.<\/p>\n

The Pistons shot 16 for 18 from the charity stripe in the first half alone. Detroit ended at 30 for 34.<\/p>\n

Orlando also had success getting to the line but failed to capitalize on its trips. The Magic missed 6 free throws (12 for 18) before the break and wound up 28 of 40.<\/p>\n

Banchero missed 7 free throws and Wagner 4.<\/p>\n

In a 19-point loss, the Magic missed 14 free throws.<\/p>\n

Rookie watch<\/p>\n

Magic second-round pick Noah Penda saw the court in the first quarter for the second straight game.<\/p>\n

The French forward played just three minutes in the opening frame but later returned in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

Penda was a non-factor when he ended with 4 points in 12 minutes. First-round draft picked Jase Richardson checked into the game with 3:41 left and the final result determined.<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014 The Magic believe they\u2019re close to cracking the code of pushing the pace on offense and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,2295,139,141,1239,140,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-26003","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-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26003","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=26003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}