Minus Their Two Stars, Spirited Magic Ride Balanced Attack to Win over Suns

The Orlando Magic, playing their first game this season without both Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, beat the Phoenix Suns 115-110 to remain unbeaten (10-0) at home.

Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs (4) dribbles the ball against Phoenix Suns guard Tyus Jones (21) in the second quarter at Kia Center. / Jeremy Reper-Imagn Images

ORLANDO, Fla. — The lingering question before the Orlando Magic's game Sunday night was this: How would they fill the void left by their two injured leading scorers?

For one night anyway, the answer is with all 10 players, led by Jalen Suggs and Goga Bitadze, making contributions. The Magic beat the Phoenix Suns 115-110 to extend their perfect home record to 10-0.

"I'm extremely pleased," Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said of his team's effort to come together. "I think it was by committee. Each person that played stepped up [and] stepped in, played their minutes the right way, and just gave to the group."

When All-Star forward Paolo Banchero went down five weeks ago with a torn oblique muscle, the Magic lost four consecutive games before finding a winning rhythm.

On Sunday, here again were the Magic – now without Franz Wagner, who also is out indefinitely with the same injury as Banchero. This time around, expressing a desire pregame to play quicker without their two stars, Mosley turned his players loose.

A spirited Orlando team rode the wave of a balanced attack to its 17th win of the season.

"When your two best players go out — two players who are involved so much, especially in our offense, shots [and] shot creation, all of those things — it's really hard to replicate that with one person," Suggs said postgame. "We spoke about it earlier today, about coming together [and] about this being a group effort ... that we can all fill in and help out to cover the gap that those two left behind.

"Really just proud of how everybody came in with the right intensity [and] the right mindset to come and win a game. Not to come, you know, have the ball in their hands and have the opportunity to do anything out of the ordinary, but just to come win the basketball game and that's what we did tonight — top to bottom. I don't have anything more to say because I love these dudes and I'm proud of them."

The Magic kept pace with the hot-shooting Suns in the first half, then their defensive grip tightened to force 13 second-half turnovers. Overall, the Magic scored 23 points off the Suns' 21 turnovers.

Suggs had 26 points, 22 in the second half when the Magic overcame an 11-point deficit.

In the fourth quarter, Suggs scored 14 and matched up defensively with Devin Booker and Tyus Jones — a duo that shot a combined 2-for-9 in the final quarter.

"I think he did a great job, and he knows how special he is defensively, we know how special he is defensively," Mosley said. "And again, when it comes to the ability and talking about pressure, you know, I think he embraces all of that when it comes to being and doing the right thing for the team. That's who he is. I mean, he made big shots, but he also got big stops down the stretch."

Bitadze added a season-high 21 points and a career-high 16 rebounds. Cole Anthony (14 points) and Moe Wagner (10) also each reached double figures.

All 10 Magic players finished with at least six points. Eight players had eight or more points.

Besides Banchero and Wagner, the Magic were also without Jonathan Isaac and Gary Harris — each player dealing with hamstring issues.

Up Next

The Magic head back out on the road for a date with the Milwaukee Bucks in Tuesday's NBA Cup quarterfinal. Tipoff is 7 p.m. ET from the Fiserv Forum.

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