{"id":71394,"date":"2025-12-04T18:40:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T18:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/71394\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T18:40:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T18:40:07","slug":"orlando-magic-seek-stronger-start-when-hosting-miami-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/71394\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic seek stronger start when hosting Miami Heat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although the Magic<\/a> were able to complete a double-digit second-half comeback against the Bulls<\/a> on Monday night, Orlando<\/a> was unable to replicate such a result against the Spurs<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Jamahl Mosley<\/a>\u2018s squad trailed by 15 points in the third quarter of both contests inside Kia Center<\/a>, but could only split the pair of games to see a three-game winning streak come to an end.<\/p>\n

While Orlando had San Antonio<\/a> on the fritz when it outscored the Western Conference opponent 13-7 in the final three minutes, the Spurs had control of the game throughout much of the night and outlasted the Magic, 114-112, in the closing moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ll say is that we need to take a look and understand exactly what we\u2019re trying to accomplish in these games that we can\u2019t turn it on and off,\u201d Mosley said after the two-point loss. \u201cIt\u2019s not a light switch. You\u2019ve got to come out and play for 48 [minutes].<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played about 8 good minutes of basketball,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The other 40 included plenty of missed shots near the rim, a failure to take advantage of San Antonio\u2019s turnovers and a difficult time cracking the Spurs\u2019 zone defense.<\/p>\n

Yes, the Magic scored 21 fastbreak points, but they shot 8 for 18 (or 44.4%) in those instances. They also racked up 64 points in the paint, but only ended 32 for 65 (or 49.2%) in that area of the floor.<\/p>\n

And yes, the Magic even forced 19 turnovers \u2014 they were previously 9-2 when coming up with at least 17 \u2014 but they only turned those takeaways into 23 points.<\/p>\n

During a second quarter that saw the Spurs take a 9-point lead into the break playing on the second night of a back-to-back, Orlando was limited to 20 points when it shot\u00a09 for 25 from the floor, 2 for 9 from distance and was outrebounded 15-9 in the frame.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an intentionality to come out with energy and purpose,\u201d Magic guard Jalen Suggs<\/a> said. \u201cWe allowed them to take the lead early and hold the lead for awhile until it was time to come back instead of delivering that first blow, really making them match our pace and then allowing the game to flow from that point, kind of waiting for our time to strike. Which we did in the fourth.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you can be better coming out, you can be better in certain stretches so that run we make isn\u2019t to tie it up \u2014 it\u2019s to go up four, six, eight (points) and be in control of the game,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

One large reason the Magic were even able to make a run late was the performance of rookie Jase Richardson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The No. 25 pick played the final four minutes of the third quarter and all but eight seconds in the fourth when he posted 8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal in 16 minutes of second-half action.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially in a close game like that, you want to try to come out and try to be as competitive as you can,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cSo, [I was] just trying to come and make an impact \u2026 I was thankful for coach, honestly, for putting me in the fourth quarter, especially in a close game like this, so [I was] just trying to make the most of my time.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the rookie\u2019s spark wasn\u2019t enough to overcome the mistakes made earlier against the Spurs (15-6).<\/p>\n

And while the Magic were able to find a way to beat the Bulls earlier in the week, Orlando is aware it needs to play better to avoid falling behind in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re better than that,\u201d said Jonathan Isaac,<\/a>\u00a0who sent San Antonio\u2019s De\u2019Aaron Fox to the line for a pair of go-ahead of free throws. \u201cI\u2019ve got to be better. I made a terrible, crucial mistake at the end of the game there fouling. But we\u2019ve just got to be better as a group. We\u2019ve got two games of not playing our standard of basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to win against Chicago but this one bit us in the butt so we\u2019re going to raise our level of play, get back to who we are and our standard and be ready for Friday,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Friday brings a challenging matchup against the Heat (14-8), who are one spot above the No. 5 Magic (13-9) in the East. The sides also meet next Tuesday in an NBA Cup quarterfinal matchup at Kia Center.<\/p>\n

Orlando continues to closely monitor the health of All-Star forward Paolo Banchero<\/a>, who missed his 10th game in a row Wednesday with a left groin strain.<\/p>\n

Without looking too far ahead to next week, the Magic know they\u2019ll have their hands full against Miami on Friday and can\u2019t dig themselves in a hole early.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy that it works out that way but it\u2019s going to be fun,\u201d Isaac said. \u201cThese two games are going to be real battles. The Heat want to win, we want to win and they\u2019re playing well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to come out ready to hoop.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic vs. Heat<\/p>\n

When:\u00a07, Friday, Kia Center<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0FanDuel Sports Network Florida<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although the Magic were able to complete a double-digit second-half comeback against the Bulls on Monday night, Orlando…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,2295,139,141,1239,140,109,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-71394","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-social","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71394","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=71394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}