POSTGAME REACTION: Orlando Magic vs. Miami Heat, 1/21/24

POSTGAME REACTION: Orlando Magic vs. Miami Heat, 1/21/24

Marel Foltz was Sensational here tonight great to have you Marquel you had in my opinion a little bounce in your step here you had a little extra spring here tonight we just saw your reverse Up and Under layup what how were you feeling tell us about your performance tonight

Uh I felt great you know every time I get a chance to go out there and play with my brothers and get an opportunity to go out there and compete with them uh I’m super excited you know and uh I’m super thankful so uh again I’m I’m glad

To have uh uh our guys back have the gang back together and have a chance to go out and compete tonight r seen uh you in the starting lineup since November 9th in this group since October 30th think about that keal how was it to just to get everybody back together again it

Was fun man I think you’ve seen it tonight you know how how well we can defend and that leads to us getting easy stuff on offense you know and and playing for each other so again we proud ourselves on the defense end we think we can uh that travels with us every night

You know so we want to continue to do that continue to help each other on that end of the floor and then offensively just playing for each other continue to move the ball continue to hit the guy when it’s open and everyone has confidence to step in and knock it down

So yeah what you saying defense Mar this B Outlaw of course you know hey my man so what you talking about defense I want to know how what was the the focus on your guys coach ask you at halftime how important would you say continue that defensive effort in the second half it

Was huge I think we gave up a few too many threes you know that we we got lacks we lost Shooters um in that first half and that’s what we TR really try to lock in on on the second half it just taking away those threes cuz that was

Going to help them get back in the game so um again we really proud of oursel on defense uh something that we we think we can be the best at and we got to continue to do it each and every night well you showed it tonight 87 points the

Fewest you’ve allowed was 86 so you guys were right there here tonight 54 points in the paint Kell you lead the charge you live in the paint just kind of tell us about your mindset how you were able to get there tonight and what you saw man just creating man just just getting

Into the gaps trying to find open gaps being able to one look for myself and also make plays for others and I everyone knows on this team that I’m going to find you if you’re open and it’s contagious when you play like that so again it’s something that we all try

To embrace is just playing the right way getting into the paint finding open guys finding open Shooters and and guys crashing so we did a great job at that and we got to continue to do it so with y’all with you being back I know you’re

The point guard and then when you’re not playing as you notice how Paulo has the ball so much I think it’s important for you when you’re on the court that you have the ball cuz you can get Pao with a live dribble do you think it’s important

For you to have the ball so you can see all your guys that are scores just have a live dribble uh absolutely I think it’s you know we’re we’re very interchangeable you know I think that’s the the strength of this team we have multiple guys that can handle the ball

But I think I do a great job of making it easy for p you know especially when guys are trying to double him and get him you know to pass it I think for him to be able to catch the ball closer and be able to have somebody create for him

It’s always going to make it better him to do the same thing for everyone else he’s a great playmaker so there’s times where he needs to have the ball in his hands as well and other people as well so again that’s what we like about this team everyone knows that you know any

Given night it can be anybody with the balls in their hand and and being able to create but I’m always ready for that roll and ready to you know get Guys open shots yeah well you exceled in that again tonight again last thing another guy that is comfortable with the ball in

His hands fron Vagner how good to have him back and what was your Vantage Point from fron tonight man unbelievable man it’s just always good to have him back he’s such a good defensive player all-around player you know being able to score being able to play make um he’s a

Big part of this team man a young Superstar going up in his league and uh I’m just glad I got an opportunity to be on the court with him you guys forced like five or six shot clock violations what the heck was that all about hey man everywhere defens effort effort and we

All got each other’s back I think that’s big you know being able to get into the ball and know that you have someone to have your back uh makes it a lot easier you know to go for all out and be able to rotate and have each other’s back

Well it’s fun for Bo to see Miami lose he was part of that rivalry fun for all of us great job tonight marel enjoy this one quick turnaround you got another one here tomorrow all right a lot of areas in which your group excelled tonight but

To hold them to 87 points I believe their lowest point total this season just just how pleased were you with your team’s defensive intensity tonight I’m extremely pleased with how they played uh we challenged them the last time we played them and we held them to 99 uh

And then tonight was even more of a challenge to cuz we know what we’re capable of doing and these guys understand that we are going to continue to hang our hat on the defensive end of the floor and they all took the challenge on one one one individual at a

Time this was a great game coach um what is your mindset what do you tell the team to for them to kind of be more consistent you know uh all the great teams are consistent with the dubs with the good teamwork with the good play how

Can um what do you tell the team what’s your thought process on getting them to to rack up wins just like this hang our head on the defensive end of the floor that’s it you your defense travels you can guard whether you’re making shots or missing shots you sit down and guard and

You play together and for each other which is what this group does this is the fifth game of that opening night starting lineup being together again just is this the team that you expected before the season and and how what did you make of the whole starting five coming back for the first

Time it’s it was great to have him out there I mean just those guys and their chemistry um cuz you never know how how it’s going to go because not having practice time bodies being down different guys different lineups but what it does it just goes to it goes to

Show the credit of our coaches keeping these guys prepared uh the chemistry that in which these guys have their communication was fantastic and on a high level from the beginning of the game to the end and regardless who’s out there these guys sat down and guarded

The entire night there a plan for FR to play tomorrow night or how we handle back to back we’re going to see how he how he how he comes up after tonight also retake relating to FR we were surprised to see how much time he

Had him out on the floor but it looked like the more time he got out the more confidence he had did you guys had a plan for minute restrictions or you just going by how he felt well we were looking at it a little bit but that’s

Why you see the early hits the early Subs communicating with him how he felt uh that was a big portion of it um and seeing how he responds of not being out there for quite some time you know missing eight games uh being able to see

How how his wind was you know how his body felt after not playing when you have so many healthy bodies back um that obviously is going to give you guys more depth and give the guys out on the floor some more energy and allow them to be

More intense what do you kind of see in that regard of the energy levels that they played with because of the bodies you had tonight well we continue to say it by committee you know and so that’s what this group has shown and and and it sounds cliche but these guys really do

Continue to pull for each other guys that play you know they’re pulling for the guys that are that are you know not in the game and vice versa so I think it’s it’s what this group has is built on um together keeping themselves together communicating at a high level

And every man knows that whether their numbers called or not they’re going to be ready hey coach U Fran’s offensive contributions were more apparent to us maybe but was he part of that defensive uh upgrade too absolutely I mean the guys understand where they’re supposed to be on the floor the help the

Communication like I said from the beginning of the game to the end these guys had a high level of communication with one another what was going on throughout the game and that’s what we’ve continued to ask them um to do uh that’s and they’re taking ownership of

That goo was a DMP tonight even when the bench is uh emptied at the end of the game is there any small injury Nick that he picked up no and quick thoughts on Cleveland for tomorrow uh we’ll talk about him tomorrow coach it’s hard to make drastic

Lineup changes when you when you don’t have a you know practice to go in there the fact that they came out as defensively efficient and offensively as they were does that just speak to that group’s basketball IQ and some of the past history they’ve had together

Absolutely and that each one of them you know they they they’re selfless in the way they want to share the basketball but then defensively they know what they’ve been asked to do and that’s again I think our coaches do a tremendous tremendous job of giving the game plan uh but then individually

Getting these guys ready to see what they’re going to expect each on each each every night

The Orlando Magic defeated the Miami Heat on Sunday. Hear from Markelle Fultz and coach Jamahl Mosley on the win!

0:00 – Markelle Fultz
3:41 – Jamahl Mosley

#NBA #OrlandoMagic #BallySportsFlorida