{"id":400136,"date":"2026-01-11T00:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T00:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/400136\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T00:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T00:36:11","slug":"orlando-magic-aim-to-overcome-fourth-quarter-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/400136\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic aim to overcome fourth-quarter problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the fourth quarter of Friday\u2019s game between Orlando<\/a> and Philadelphia<\/a> at Kia Center<\/a>, the Magic<\/a> shot 4 for 19 from the field, 4 for 11 in the paint and 0 for 7 from 3-point range.<\/p>\n

Those shooting woes, combined with four turnovers, resulted in the 76ers<\/a> outscoring Jamahl Mosley<\/a>\u2018s squad 20-12 across the final 12 minutes of the game to secure a 103-91 victory.<\/p>\n

It was just the latest fourth quarter for Orlando that saw the group fail to find success on the offensive end, ultimately leading to its downfall.<\/p>\n

Across the last 12 games, during which the Magic have alternated between wins and losses, Orlando has won just five fourth quarters while being outscored in the other seven. In that stretch, the Magic averaged a league-low 21.3 points per fourth quarter while shooting a league-low 35.2% from the field in the final frame.<\/p>\n

Why does this continue to happen?<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing back and looking at the film, there\u2019s a few reasons,\u201d Mosley said when asked what he thinks is the reason behind the team\u2019s recent fourth-quarter struggles. \u201cTeams are turning up the heat defensively. So they\u2019re not allowing you to execute.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got downhill, but we\u2019ve got to come off the ball a little quicker,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s a big portion of it. Give credit [to the Sixers] for how they played physical, how they attacked the ball and how they got us to turn the ball over.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also hasn\u2019t helped the Magic that they\u2019ve been without forward Franz Wagner<\/a> (left high ankle sprain) and guard Jalen Suggs<\/a> (right knee MCL contusion) for a majority of that stretch. Orlando fell to 5-6 in games without them both this season.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to mention backup center Moe Wagner<\/a>, who continues to rehab his left knee more than a year removed from tearing his ACL.<\/p>\n

But the Magic aren\u2019t ones to make excuses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to be more organized in fourth quarters,\u201d big man Wendell Carter Jr.<\/a> told the Orlando Sentinel in the locker room Friday night. \u201cWe were playing pretty good basketball [on] both sides of the ball the first three quarters. We\u2019ve been playing really good defense, holding guys under their average in terms of as a team. You hold a team to 104, you give yourself a pretty good shot at winning that game. We\u2019ve just got to do a better job of just figuring it out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll go back to the drawing board, talk about it, talk some more about it,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd then, of course, getting guys back in the fold is going to help us a lot more too. \u2026 But at the end of the day, we\u2019ve got to figure it out as a team and we\u2019ve got to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those injuries disrupt lineups and rotations as rookie Noah Penda<\/a> learned in the hour leading up to tip-off against the Sixers. After second-year forward Tristan da Silva<\/a> was ruled out not long before the game due to back spasms, the French forward found himself making his first-career start just two days after turning 21 years old.<\/p>\n

Although Penda viewed it as a reward for the work he\u2019s put in to be able to be ready to start in that type of squeeze, the rookie also understands the impact injuries can have on a team, especially as they pile up.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody\u2019s going to be sorry for us, but there\u2019s some proof to that,\u201d Penda told the Sentinel. \u201cYou\u2019ve got rotations that are constantly changing. You\u2019ve got guys in, guys out. I know it\u2019s part of the game but you\u2019ve got to admit that sometimes it\u2019s quite difficult to find a good rhythm in this league.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we have to have that next-man up mentality,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd everybody has to keep that same mentality and be ready every time we step on the court. We have to maintain that same level of intensity and focus throughout the whole game and don\u2019t let those down moments that we have take us too much down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of the reasons that have to led Orlando\u2019s recent problems in the fourth quarter, all of it has contributed to frustration in the Magic locker room, according to Mosley.<\/p>\n

While the team has worked hard to remain afloat until it returns to full health, the roller-coaster of going back and forth between wins and losses for three weeks eventually takes a toll on Orlando\u2019s psyche.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody likes to lose,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cNobody\u2019s happy about taking an L and the way in which we did it, not playing our style of basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

But help could be on the way when the Pelicans<\/a> (9-31) make their lone trip of the season to Kia Center on Sunday. New Orleans<\/a> is 1-9 in its last 10 games but beat the Wizards in the nation\u2019s capital on Friday.<\/p>\n

While Franz Wagner and Suggs remain out for Sunday\u2019s contest, Moe Wagner is set to make his long-awaited return to the court. Da Silva is considered questionable.<\/p>\n

Magic upgrade status of center Moe Wagner more than year after injury<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

If the pattern continues, Orlando (21-18) could find a way to respond to its latest loss after it fell to eighth in the Eastern Conference entering Saturday\u2019s slate of games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis group always does a heck of a job of bouncing back,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cThe resiliency and that they understand exactly how we need to play from the beginning to the end, 48 of minutes of playing a certain style of basketball. And that\u2019s what we\u2019ve got to get to.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat consistency is going to help as well as soon as we start to get bodies back,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019ll help as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic vs. Pelicans<\/p>\n

When:\u00a03 p.m., Sunday, Kia Center<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0FanDuel Sports Network Florida<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During the fourth quarter of Friday\u2019s game between Orlando and Philadelphia at Kia Center, the Magic shot 4…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[2558,355,11950,5262,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-400136","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-orlando-magic","11":"tag-social","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}