Magic Offense Fires Blanks Again in Fourth Straight Loss, 102-86 at OKC

The Orlando Magic lost their fourth consecutive game on this road trip — and third by double digits — as the offense continued its struggles without leading scorer Paolo Banchero.

Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs (4) shoots as Oklahoma City Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell (25) defends during the second quarter at Paycom Center. / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

In a matchup with Oklahoma City's NBA-best defense, a struggle to score perhaps was to be expected for the Orlando Magic.

Not in this fashion, though. Not to this degree.

For a second consecutive night, the Magic couldn't generate enough offense to compete with a good team. They shot 29-of-82 (35.4%) from the field and 5-34 (14.7%) from three in a wire-to-wire loss: Thunder 102, Magic 86.

After a fourth defeat in as many games on this road trip — the last three by double digits — the Magic are 3-5.

"There was one point we were 1-of-17 [from three], and you can't ask these guys to play any better in the right way," Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said postgame. "We had some phenomenal looks, not good looks. Phenomenal looks."

Orlando hunkered down after surrendering a 39-point first quarter due to some elite-level shotmaking from the Thunder. The Magic defense held the Thunder to 19 points in the second period, but the Magic offense scored only 17.

At some point, as the offense sputtered and stalled, the math equation became too much to surmount. For the third time in four games, Orlando didn't surpass 100 points.

"The effort that we put in that second quarter, along with the fourth, to try to make a comeback; that's the effort we have to continue to play with," Mosley said. "You cannot control if that ball goes in the basket. But you've gotta make sure you continue to get the right looks and step in with confidence."

Franz Wagner (22 points) was the leading scorer for the Magic. Jalen Suggs had 19 and Goga Bitadze had 11.

Bitadze returned to the Magic rotation after a four-game absence with a left foot tendon strain and started in place of Wendell Carter Jr. , who was ruled out hours before Monday's contest.

"[Bitadze] was fantastic," Mosley said, going on to praise his center's defensive presence, playmaking, and ability to come off of injury and immediately be inserted into the lineup. "I think he did a lot of great things. He's so valuable to what we do."

Tristian da Silva joined Bitadze and the usual first unit (Suggs, Wagner and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope) for his second career start — the Magic's fourth different starting lineup this year. da Silva totaled nine points in just under 34 minutes.

Gary Harris did not play Monday while Caleb Houstan got some rotational play early on before entering in garbage time late in the game. That shuffling is more experimentation with the Magic's rotations in search of production.

"[We'll] continue to look at different rotations, different lineups to see what works," Mosley said. "Giving different guys opportunities in that way. Because again, as time progresses, we have to see exactly what guys are capable of doing and how we can find our best lineups that can defend the right way as well as knock shots down."

Up Next

The Magic conclude their five-game road trip when they see the Indiana Pacers for the second time this season. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

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