Magic 'Doesn't Want to Make Excuses', Says Franz Wagner After Loss vs. Hawks

The Orlando Magic suffered a tough loss in its last game against the Atlanta Hawks, but nobody on the team wants to make excuses.
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The Orlando Magic suffered a 109-92 loss in its last game to the Atlanta Hawks without their star point guard Trae Young.

Paolo Banchero was also out for the Magic with an illness that he has been struggling with. With that being said, forward Franz Wagner says that he does not want that to be an excuse, and he talked more about that in his postgame interview.

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Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

"We don’t want to make excuses," Wagner said. "We didn’t reach our standard of how we wanted to play … We’ve got to learn from it and hopefully do better on Tuesday."

This is the first game of the season that Wagner has played without Banchero, and the team really missed the All-Star forward's presence as a scorer. The team's leading scorer was Wagner with 19, but he only shot 7-16 from the field and 2-6 from three.

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The Magic gave away 20 turnovers over the course of the game, as it was not able to take care of the ball. If the Magic wants to be able to make a push late in the season to rise in the Eastern Conference standings, then it will need to be able to perform without its best players. Because if the team is able to do that, it could have a major advantage come playoff time.

The Magic will be looking to bounce back in its next game on Tuesday against the Brooklyn Nets. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET from the Kia Center.


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