Injuries aren’t an excuse for the Orlando Magic, but they are their biggest problem

Injuries aren’t an excuse for the Orlando Magic, but they are their biggest problem

Injuries are never an excuse but they are the problem for the Orlando Magic right now another defeat and another disappointing weekend it’s time for locked on Magic you are locked on Magic your daily Orlando Magic podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your your team every Day and you are indeed locked on Magic today is January 14th 2024 my name is Philip Rosman Reich I’m the expert and sight editor over at orlandomagic.com course follow me on Twitter Philip rror on today’s episode of lock on Magic the Orlando Magic take another disheartening disappointing loss the

Oklahoma City Thunder why injuries are not an excuse but they are the problem for the Orlando Magic we’ll dive into that distinction coming up here in just a moment but first we want to thank you again for making lockdown magic part of your day every day no matter when you

Listen to us whether it’s first in the morning whether it’s right we upload we truly appreciate you making lock on Magic part of your day every day remember there’s a great lockon podcast covering every single team in the NBA to search for locked on and the team you’re

Looking for the lockon podcast Network it’s your team every day today’s episode of lock down magic is brought to you by Jace medical Empower yourself when you get a when you purchase a Jace case providing you with a personal supply of five antibiotics that treat 50 plus infections get yours today at JM

Medical.com and use code locked on to get $20 off your order that’s Jace J aed.com so last night uh in Miami or Friday night in Miami uh I asked Mo Vagner directly uh you know injury no one wants to use injuries as an excuse but are the

Absences and the way that players are having to step up is that in any way wearing on the team and you know mo in all his giddiness and and and optimism said you know honestly it’s not the problem uh you know if if you acknowledge that it’s a problem then it

Kind of becomes one what he is essentially trying to say and what what has just generally been the message through all the injuries the magic have dealt with over the past week and a half two weeks is that yes there are important players out of the lineup right

Now but this team still has plenty to win this team still has enough to get them over that hump to put them in a position to win basketball games and it’s look it is a general truism that injuries are not an excuse that you still have to go out

There and play the game as as Mo put it really well Friday night the Miami Heat are going through it too they were down three starters too what’s the excuse everyone’s doing it except the City Thunder and he and Jamal Bosley who pointed it out after Miami after the

Game against Miami as well as after Saturday’s 11200 loss of the Oklahom City Thunder it’s 100% true the Magic in these six games since fron vogner went out have had every opportunity to win they have put themselves except for the game against Minnesota in a spot to

Win they could have be beat Sacramento double overtime game they beat Denver they beat Atlanta in overtime they lost to Minnesota they had the lead with 30 seconds to go against Miami they were down six with two minutes to play against Oklahoma City and yes that is a

Frenzy comeback but the magic did not even give themselves the chance look to hold Oklahoma City right now to 112 points to hold Miami to 99 the magic are playing some pretty good defense right now for the most part you know some fouling issues aside the

Magic are doing a lot of things right now that should give them a chance to win that should mean we’re not talking about the injuries we’re talking about how this team is rallying and fighting together and look regardless of the results this team is fighting effort is

Not the issue this is not a team that’s quit this is a team that’s maybe a little frustrated it’s a team that certainly stretched thin but this is not a team that is capitulating or giving in to the injuries they’re fighting and they had their chance to

Win again down by six with two minutes to go though Orlando just made some really bad mistakes Jaylen Williams getting to the basket missing and getting his own rebound for a putback when there are there are two or three magic players around him that’s a problem the next possession Pao getting

Blitzed on a pick and roll and turning the ball over and really not even a full Blitz it was just they they just bull rushed him and not being able to react and make plays that’s a problem the magic had their opportunities they fought hard to get a

160-point lead down to six they they kept grinding and that’s all you can ask for but there are these little execution issues that cost this team and cost him a chance to beat Oklahoma City on the road Oklahoma City deserve the win don’t get me wrong the magic defended really

Well and Shay Gils Alexander still had 37 points but to that point though yes injuries are still a problem because at the end of the day what the NBA is what the regular season is special is is consistency what can you do every night and right now all the Orlando

Magic have right now all the Orlando Magic can seemingly lead on is poo ban Caro I I kind of hate to say it uh but everything right now is P or bust and that is directly because because of the injuries and that is the problem the magic of Pao B

Caro and what else because Pao turned into another incredible game Let’s like like let’s have a Pao appreciation moment because this dude is fighting as hard as physically and humanly possible to deliver this team wins in his last six games including his 20.9 rebound eight assist effort against the Thunder

He’s averaging 28.8 points per game 7.2 rebounds per game and 6.2 assists per game he’s taking 23.7 field goal attempts per game he has a 35.3% usage rate for historical reference Tracy McGrady’s 2003 season his career-high usage rate was 35.2% Pao is carrying this team and what

All of us are asking for is for someone to step up and help and you know he’s gotten it to varying degrees Jaylen Suggs had that had a couple had a couple really nice games had a big game against Denver had a big game uh had a big game

Against uh against Atlanta he stepped up but you know he’s also very very sick right now he barely played against Miami didn’t play very much against Oklahoma City either even even with the defensive assignment on Chay um even with the fight against Shay um Caleb Houston is averaging 13.2

Points per game in the last six games games but he’s been a streaky three-point shooter Mo Vagner is averaging 13.3 and Cole Anthony’s averaging 10.8 but those are way down from where the magic were earlier in the game earlier in the season when the magic were winning the magic are trying to scramble

And piece together rotations and lineups to get through this moment and this moment will pass we’re going to get to that at the end of the show they’re trying to scramble and put put things together to survive this moment and they’re lacking consistency and that’s why Pao has to have the ball

So much and if you want to ask me where the magic lost this game the magic lost this game when they had to take Pao out of the game and they had no one who could attack the paint they had no one who could create for someone else they

Had no one who was just going to put a little pressure on the defense the magic three-point attempts are way up this year or this this over this six game stretch and a lot of that is because they’re doing one pass Jack you know not quite Jack them up shots but one pass

Jack them up shots that’s not who this team is and so well yes the magic have to find a way and they’re capable of finding a way and we shouldn’t excuse that they should be better but we could clearly see whatever defic deficiencies we know this roster

Has and we know there’s a lot of them whatever deficiencies we know this roster has the injuries have kicked them into overdrive the injuries have made them that much worse and at at the end of the day that’s the problem so no injuries are not an excuse

For why the magic are losing games are they’re two and four in their last six games so a lot of people are panicking magic are now I think three and a half games up on Chicago for eighth uh they’re two and a half games back of Indiana I believe for for fourth still

So still closer to Fourth than they are to eth I’m I am not concerned I I you know we’ll get to the box score in a minute and I’ll explain why in a minute but this this team’s going through a rough spot we know they could he playing

Better we know they can be better but obviously these injuries have just turned the Magic’s margin of error to none and that’s the part that’s hurting them the most we’re going to go through the box score I’ll explain why I actually do think the magic are okay I’m not

Concerned Panic butt Panic lights are not blaring we’re going to get to that coming up here in just a moment but first it’s time for quick word for our friends over at Jace medical look uh the magic are sick right now um we can all feel it we could all

See it um you know I I I was down in Miami with the team um it you know the people in The Traveling party we love y’all please stay healthy please stay safe on this road trip um it’s going through the team eventually it will pass through eventually it will be gone but

We don’t have a medical staff taking care of our every win and trying to make sure that we’re able to just kind of function in in in our high stress jobs sometimes we need that help too and that’s what the Jace case is according to the FDA pharmacies are running out of

Antibiotics like amoxicillin and right in the middle of the worst Fue season in over a decade everyone seems to be sick it’s not just the magic it was me last week everybody seems to be sick right now and so I can’t imagine more helpless feeling than thinking that that me my

Loved ones anyone couldn’t get the medicine that they need to function I know I hate being sick more than more than anything the J case is a pack of five different antibiotics to treat a long list of bacterial illnesses including UTI respiratory infections sinusitis skin infections among plenty

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Subscribe to the first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel today okay we’re going to go through the box scores the Orlando Magic fall to the Oklahoma City Thunder 112 to 100 I’m gonna explain why I am not so worried and there was you know honestly there

Was a lot to like in this game like I said in the previous segment the magic just had a game where they gave up 99 points to the Miami heaters first time that they lost all season giving up fewer than 100 uh and then they came

Back against one of the best offenses in the league the magic gave up only 112 to the Oklahoma City Thunder and and I you know honestly outside of the third quarter and outside some late rotations which I kind of chalk up to uh to to the

Back to back a little bit when when you’re on the back to back you tend to see some some slow rotations and just being a step slow on everything um which is a reason why they lost this game um not an excuse but a reason um but I really I was really impressed

With how the man defended to be perfectly honest uh I I I really liked a lot of the things that I saw I like the intensity I I liked how they Challenge three pointers they made Oklahoma City work for a lot of things and yeah again

Like I said a little bit late to loose balls especially later in the game just just a step just maybe a half step or a full step slow and that’s that’s enough to get you beat in this league um but overall like the magic put themselves

Holding OKO City to 112 should be enough to win you a game just like holding Miami to 99 should be enough to win you a game the magic are doing a lot of really good things defensively they’re trying to get back to their defense and they’re not doing for 48 minutes quite

Yet it’s it’s you know maybe 40 42 minutes minutes right now uh and you know those 8 to six minutes make the difference especially with the margin for a The Magik have right now but if if they bring this intensity when they’re healthy when they have guys who could

Contribute on offense and set this offense up they’re gonna be fine uh you know again like I I’ve had some people ringing their hands about the Bulls being you know maybe making up some ground on them uh in the uh uh in the standings and like yeah I see it I know

Chicago is playing really well they beat San Antonio on Saturday night but a we know the magic have a very favorable schedule after the All-Star break so it’s you know we all knew this portion of the schedule December and January um we knew this was going to be hold the

Ship steady keep things kind of level you know if you fight to stay 500 fight to be around 500 they went six and8th December if they could find a way you know we just still want a two and 12 January because that’s what happened last time the magic were 1913 on New

Year’s Day um but if the magic can just kind of like have another six and eight Janu January sure 12 and six is a great you lose some ground you lose some ground for the for home court advantage in the playoffs but we know it’s going

To come back around we know and we know how good this team can be that they can take advantage of it and frankly I am still very confident that this team can scratch out wins especially as they get healthier so actually let’s save the box score for the next segment

Because let’s talk about what happens when this team gets healthy and the fact that this team is getting healthier again uh that illness whatever it is it from what I understand it started hitting the team when uh La started hitting the team in Sacramento that’s when it really started obviously we saw

That that couple players miss you know Goga Matan was sick in Denver Anthony black you know go missed that game in Denver Anthony black tried to play and couldn’t make it through um you know it’s it’s hit the team hard now for about a week I can’t imagine this team

Is still going to be dealing with it you know after this road trip so you know magic come home have very have a nice little time at home that’s G to be a time to kind of recoup reset yeah they play Philadelphia yeah they play Miami yeah they play Cleveland but it’s it’s

An opportunity to kind of reset themselves a little bit so I I I I am confident that this that we’re coming near the end of all this because not only do I think that illness is gonna slowly work it’s going to work its way out of the team you I’m like a

Weatherman I’m pointing here um if you’re watching on YouTube uh but the magic got Joe Engles back on Friday scored 14 points in that game looked really really good like such a relief to have him on back in the lineup just boosted those bench lineups so much he

Helped close that game just just a huge huge weapon everyone could feel his presence and and again that that’s 14 points in his first game back he sat out Saturday because it was the back toback because they’re still being a little cautious with him um it’s it it helped he

Helped Markel folz on Friday started to look a little bit more like himself for the first time since he came back I really liked in Friday’s game how he changed Pace how he how he uh was able to accelerate a little bit get downhill a little bit having even if even for

Whatever Marquel folz is right now and it’s certainly not the Marl folz we thought we were gonna get this year having him in this game having another player who could get downhill get in the paint and kick out that would have gone a long way to helping this team wi so

You know again that’s gonna help the magic got Jonathan Isaac back in this game and look Jonathan looked very Rusty um offensively didn’t provide a lot he got fouled on two threes that’s how he got his six points defensively maybe not the impact we fully expect from him but

He definitely made his presence felt on defense you know maybe a little jumpy magic were a little jumpy in general but him being back out there undoubtedly helped the team um you know didn’t help the team offensively which is where they needed actual help but the magic defended really really well and

And Isaac has to be a part of that just getting those rotation level players back is going to make this team better and it’s going to help this team and help others at the magic need to step up to get better then we have fron vogner I don’t know when fron vogner’s coming

Back but he’s back on the court he’s back doing workouts there there is every reason to believe knowing our history with with FR that give him one practice give him one shoot around give him whatever the magic need to see from him that he’s not too far away from being cleared

Either so you know we know that Les and folz are going to play Monday this was just about sitting them on a back toback magic don’t want to push them too hard coming on the back toback um bronze can’t be that far away and look I don’t

Know where wend Carter’s at and what the deal is with his KN tendonitis we saw how long that knocked fols out um but you know Carter’s been questionable and so that feels like a day-to-day issue he was never questionable for Saturday’s games um but that feels like a

Day-to-day issue with him this magic team is going to get healthy again soon and then once everyone kind of gets themselves back Pao exhales a little bit and is able to get some help and these bench lineups are able to kind of get their groove back that you know will the

Team win nine games in a row again probably not but this team is going to get back to where they were it’s not going to take very much and you know they’re already doing some good things like I said they just need the offensive boost that comes from the players they

Have and so right now health is the thing everyone understands that this team is fighting they’re still playing hard they’re still doing a lot of things right but they’re missing best players that you know Pao is just having to carry too much of a burden they’re missing a lot right

Now and they are very close to getting a lot of it back and and you know we look at this twoe period as something that maybe costs us the four seed maybe cost maybe pushes us down in the playin tournament that’s part of life but it does feel like we’re getting to

The end of it and and and I think we’ll all be happy to not talk about injuries for a little while we’ll go through the final box score talk a little bit about what we saw in this game against the Thunder we’ll get to that coming up here in just a

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Orlando Magic follow the Oklahoma City Thunder 112 to 100 again the issue in this game was really offense um you know Orlando still shoots 46.4% from Florida they outshoot uh Oklahoma City at were 45.7% uh free throws were a little bit of an issue the magic missed nine free

Throws that’s more self-inflicted wounds for them 15 for 24 they have 16 turnovers for 23 points Oklahoma City just nine turnovers that’s really your difference in the game again like Jamal Mosley’s right A lot of these issues are self-inflicted but I will say this um The Magic The Magic offense was really

Just not good um the magic really struggled to get themselves moving offensively and a lot of this is just Paulo is the only guy on the floor right right now that can get downhill and get to the basket can force the defense to collapse on him and yeah he’s and he’s

Seen double and triple teams really anytime he touches the ball like again Pao appreciation time this dude is carrying this team right now and there there is not much more he can humanly do like maybe some smarter decisions with this three-pointer he was 0 for four

From three was eight for 19 for the game 20 points nine rebounds eight assists two turnovers at two blocks like he is doing so much for this team um and it’s hard to ask for much more I mean really we’re asking for someone else to step up

For him uh you know Caleb Houston second on the team and scoring with 14 points five for 13 shooting four for2 from Deep like you know Houston’s got just got the green light right now um For Better or For Worse he’s got the green light and

You know he’s willing to shoot and the magic need guys were willing to shoot right now it’s just you know right now and and we’ve had seen him have big games you had the big game against Atlanta that that you know really helped that team win um right now you know the

Magic are just waiting for him to have like a good game and like look first half two for nine from three so if he’s two for nine from three that means he was two for three in the second half like the magic don’t need very much uh

And so it’s just about picking and choosing the right spots for him being confident to shoot keep shooting um keep being a threat but you know he just hasn’t quite he has a you know this is the Magic’s General problem they have guys who are shooting really well but

Everyone still wants P to shoot over for four everyone still wants Jaylen Suggs to shoot nine points four for eight shooting one for three in 1941 um no one’s too concerned about Caleb houst CH oen four for2 for Houston one for five for Oken the M the magic have decent Shooters but

They’re not treated like decent Shooters and so part of the issue right now is yeah the magic shot 7 for 35 from three they struggled teams are okay with the magic shooting threes they’re not okay with poo Bano putting up 40 on them which they they know now they now know he can

Do this is the heart of the issue for the magic because right now struggling to get that secondary player like what the magic really needed in this stretch is for Jaylen Suggs to to not maybe not match what frons was doing and look he’s still averaging 16 points

Per game but they needed Jaylen Suggs to be a consistent 15 a night guy right now uh to be flirting with 20 every night to support Pao and look jaylen’s sick he didn’t he didn’t even hit 20 minutes in this game nine points four for eight

Shooting like he was on track to do that but his mids are just being pinched right now because he is really really really sick like he’s really under the weather right now um the magic just couldn’t find scoring anywhere else Cole Anthony 14.6 for 11 shooting Off the

Bench was okay really got himself going in in the second half that’s a big reason why the magic got back into the game cole really kept the team afloat uh in a way that he did in the second quarter um so just gave the magic a chance and again that’s all the magic

We’re looking for Anthony black I thought had a really nice game 13 points five for eight shooting three for six from the foul line that’s the only really blemish for him four rebounds uh as well uh just really looks more confident with his shot like he’s his

Shots come a long long way um but again like he has this game with FR with fron a getting his normal 20 the Magic win like that’s literally what the magic are missing is a second guy who can attack fron being back in the lineup is going to immeasurably help this team

Even if he’s not quite 100% even if he’s not quite fronze but you know the magic lean very heavily on their two stars to help them take care of their business and those two stars those two stars are missing right now just just plain and simple those two

Stars are missing right now they got Pao pao’s great he’s been amazing but again you just look at the you look at the usual indicators for the magic to to win games Oklahoma City outscores Orlando 62 to 48 in the paint Orlando only gets 35 field goal attempts

They’re 24 for 35 in the paint the magic were good in the paint they just didn’t get there enough on top of this the Thunder you know the magic at 24 free throws they they they win the free throw battle 24-21 but the match need to be at 30

They they’re 30.2 I think their free throw rate undering the game was 30.2% they got to be at third around 30 free throws per game you got to be at more than 25 that’s for sure and then the magic like to force turnovers only nine turnovers now they did get out on

The break they had 23 fast break points which is really good for Orlando um they did a good job slowing the Thunder down this game was played at the Magic’s Pace to give them a chance to win but these usual IND you know these usual indicators of whether the magic

Are successful or not they’ve kind of been flipped on their head since the fron Vagner injury and just frankly like the biggest issue the magic have had during this last six games stretch is they don’t know what their identity is that defense is their identity and they’re doing okay with that but they

Don’t know what their offensive identity is when fron was in there they knew their offensive identity they knew their roles they they they really played to that effect and like again this injuries are an excuse but they’re the problem the problem right now is offensively the magic don’t know their roles or don’t

Know their identity other than Pao do everything and poo do everything is fun we’re seeing him expand his games in really exciting and fun ways but it’s not sustainable it’s not going to help you win games over the long run and look we’re in the playoff race we’re thinking about April this

Isn’t the team we’re going to have in April so it this right now is literally about keeping the boat steady surviving we’re literally in survival mode and look look the Magic Guard take it on water a little bit right now um hopefully they could plug these holes hopefully fr’s coming back will help

Balance balance things and get things back on the right track like that that’s all they can hope for right now the Oklahoma City Thunder defeat the Orlando Magic 112 to 100 Orlando is still on the road back in action on Monday for Martin Luther King Day game

Against the New York Knicks but that’s going to do it for me today I want to thank you yall again for listening to today’s episode of lock on Magic course find me on Twitter Philip romd subscribe to the podcast and apple podcast it’s your in him Google Spotify Odyssey and

All podcast to your podcast enable listening device for lat on the Orlando Magic be sure to check out orlandomagic.com you can follow us there on Twitter om Magic daily and also be sure to check out my patreon page the Orin magic upub you can find that at patreon.com Orlando Magic Hub you can

See my current Allstar picks and pro projections coming up Sunday afternoon for our next episode of lock on Magic We’re not gonna have an episode on Monday uh until after the game against the Knicks so we will see you a I will see you after Monday’s game

Against the New York Knicks this week’s going to be a little bit light on episodes just to be just to warn you I am on the road this week um so I will see you in New York I will see you in Atlanta and then I’ll see you when I get

Back to Orlando Thursday night as well uh so still get to get your five episodes of lockdown magic this week just schedule’s going to be a little bit jumbled up only postgame episodes for the early part of the week so you have that to look forward to so we will see

You Monday afternoon at Madison Square Garden as your L of magic take on the New York Knicks until then for Orlando Magic daily lock on Magic this has been Philip Ross and Reich we’ll see you again next time for another episode of Locked on Magic

The Orlando Magic fell again to the Oklahoma City Thunder behind another stellar showing from Paolo Banchero. They will not and cannot use injuries as an excuse as they found themselves in range late in the game. But injuries are still at the heart of every issue the Magic face and why the hill feels so tall to climb.

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