Magic Coach Jamahl Mosley 'Proud' of Effort, Energy on Road Trip

The Orlando Magic finished with a losing record on the road trip. However, head coach Jamahl Mosley saw a lot of positive development from his young team.

Jeremy Brener | Jan 16, 2023

Magic Coach Jamahl Mosley 'Proud' of Effort, Energy on Road Trip /

The Orlando Magic may not be coming home with as many wins as it had hoped on its five-game west coast road trip, but there's a lot of value coming in.

After taking the Western Conference-leading Denver Nuggets to the wire, and losing on a buzzer beater from reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, the Magic fell back to 12 games under .500, but there's a lot of pride from head coach Jamahl Mosley.

"I wanna say how proud I am of this group," Mosley said. "Their effort, their energy, their will, to be on the back end of a five-game road trip and to give that intensity and that effort coming down the stretch where an MVP-type player made an MVP-type play."

It was a tough road trip for the young Magic squad. The team traveled on its longest road trip of the season, and apart from the blowout loss against the Sacramento Kings last Monday, Orlando was in every game and came out with victories against the Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers.

The wins were encouraging, but the losses also brought lessons that the team can take moving forward.

"I think if we can understand that if we have to play that hard each night, we have to defend that well in the second half each night, we have a chance," Mosley said.

The Magic still has playoff aspirations this season as the team sits just four games back of a play-in spot. While Orlando needs to play better and hope that teams ahead in the standings stumble, the Magic is growing and showing progress as a group.

"This is a great test for us and our guys to see what it really takes to get over the hump," Mosley said.

While the Magic may not be over the hump yet, games like the last two against the Utah Jazz and Nuggets show that the team can break through if the progress continues.

The Magic will get some much-needed rest this week before returning home to face the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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Published Jan 16, 2023

JEREMY BRENER

Jeremy Brener is an editor, writer and social media manager for several Fan Nation websites. His work has also been featured in 247 Sports and SB Nation as a writer and podcaster. Brener has been with Fan Nation since 2021. Brener grew up in Houston, going to Astros, Rockets and Texans games as a kid. He moved to Orlando in 2016 to go to college and pursue a degree. He hosts "The Dream Take" podcast covering the Rockets, which has produced over 350 episodes since March 2020. Brener graduated in May 2020 from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism minoring in Sport Business Management. While at UCF, Brener worked for the school's newspaper NSM.today and "Hitting the Field," a student-run sports talk show and network. He was the executive producer for "Hitting the Field" from 2019-20. During his professional career, Brener has covered a number of major sporting events including the Pro Bowl, March Madness and several NBA and NFL games. As a fan, Brener has been to the 2005 World Series, 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 NCAA National Championship between the Villanova Wildcats and North Carolina Tar Heels. Now, Brener still resides in the Central Florida area and enjoys writing, watching TV, hanging out with friends and going to the gym. Brener can be followed on Twitter @JeremyBrener. For more inquiries, please email jeremybrenerchs@gmail.com.