What Jamahl Mosley, Cole Anthony Said After Magic's 119-90 Loss at Portland

Orlando Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley and guard Cole Anthony met reporters on Thursday night after the team's 29-point loss at Portland.
Orlando Magic guard Cole Anthony (50) brings the ball up the court against the Portland Trail Blazers in the second half at Moda Center.
Orlando Magic guard Cole Anthony (50) brings the ball up the court against the Portland Trail Blazers in the second half at Moda Center. / Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images

The Orlando Magic suffered a 29-point loss at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night, 119-90.

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After the game, Magic coach Jamahl Mosley and guard Cole Anthony spoke with reporters about the loss.

Here's a partial transcript of what they said and the video of their availabilities:

Jamahl Mosley

On what changed after the first quarter...

“Their physicality, their aggression. They turned up the heat on us. We turned it over. We didn’t respond very well to their aggression. That was not an Orlando Magic-played basketball game. We were soft. We got punked, and it’s not who we are.”

On Orlando's defense and what's missing from earlier in the season...

"We just have to be the aggressor and not be the one that's reacting to everything happening on the court. Teams have been comfortable in these moments. And our ability to make them uncomfortable from the start of the game to the finish is what we have to look at and be better at."

Cole Anthony

On what changed following the strong first quarter...

"We saw a few possessions, whether it was offensively or defensively, not go our way and I think we just started being a little tentative, second-guessing ourselves, not being as aggressive [or] as sure with all of our movements. It looked like there was doubt, and we were just kind of hesitant on everything we wanted to do. It just turned into them punking us. That's what it felt like."

On what he tells teammates to not get discouraged...

“I think everyone on the team, and it starts from the top – from P (Paolo Banchero), Franz (Wagner), to the bottom. As a unit, we just gotta stay confident and trust our work. I think a lot of the times, myself included too, stuff starts going the wrong way and we’ll start trying to defer to Franz, defer to P, and obviously, yeah, they’re great players. They help us win a lot of games and will continue to do that, but we got to make it easier for them at times. I think that they carry so much of the weight, so much of the burden, that it becomes overwhelming for them sometimes. We’ve got to try to ease that burden for them as some of the supporting cast.

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