Tristan Thompson After Loss to Orlando Magic: 'They Keep Chipping Away'

After the Orlando Magic beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, Tristian Thompson recalled a rival from earlier in his career.

On Monday night, the Orlando Magic beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 104-94 and returned to their winning ways. The young Magic hold second place in the Eastern Conference, without the star power of players like Joel Embidd, Giannis Antetokounmpo, or Tyrese Haliburton.

Instead, Orlando is winning due to focused, physical, and gritty play. While they have young stars in the making, they are without a top-10 player and are still ahead of everyone but the Celtics in the standings. 

Jalen Suggs dives for a loose ball / Mike Watters-USA Today Sports

After the victory on Monday, longtime NBA veteran and champion Tristan Thompson had some praise for the Magic. “They got a lot of second-chance points and shots to the rim. Coach Mosley does a good job with them playing hard for 48 minutes," Thompson said. "They remind me a lot of how Dwane Casey was with those Raptors teams where even if they were down by 10 points or 15 points, they keep chipping away and that is what they did and got the lead and extended it.”

It's worth noting that the Dwane Casey Raptors never made an NBA Finals, but that was largely due to the LeBron James-led Cavaliers, who made four straight Finals. However, those Toronto teams were quite good, and it's a good comparison. 

The shots at the rim are thanks to the rejection of conventional NBA thinking: the Magic does not take nearly as many three-point shots as other teams, and settles for high-percentage two-pointers. 

Against Cleveland, Orlando boasted 12 offensive rebounds, which is one more than the NBA's average of 11. Cleveland was able to snag 18 offensive boards, but their playstyle involves kicking the ball out to guards, so their second-chance points were not as instant. 

As the NBA starts to realize that not every shooter can be as good as Steph Curry--who moves off-ball--looming forces like Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, and new arrivals Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren are taking the league by storm. Sure, they can shoot, but most of their points come in the paint.

Jalen Suggs After Magic's Win Over Cavaliers: 'We're Not A Doormat Anymore'

The Magic don't have a looming threat like those All-NBA caliber players, but by building in the frontcourt with Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero, the Magic are playing a part in rewriting how the NBA builds successful teams.