POSTGAME REACTION: Orlando Magic at Cleveland Cavaliers, 2/22/24
Your group talked about coming out of the break you know setting the tone for the remainder of the 27 games you got to go you know how did you feel your group did in that regard to I think they did a great job I thought they came out ready
To compete uh defensively early on holding them you know 24 points in that first quarter uh again they they they stayed together during you know Cleveland’s runs and I just I thought our bench unit was fantastic as well you know coming in and and continuing to set
That tone and playing the right way with one another you Ong those lines Mo vogner you know with a great game tonight their bigs are really physical how do you feel he helped match their physicality tonight I thought he was great I thought he was not afraid of the
Moment I I thought he did a great job of getting to the basket our guys did an excellent job of finding him uh and he wasn’t afraid to attack the rim and I I really you know that’s that set the tone for us with his level of aggression his
Energy uh knowing the right play to make at the right time and you talked about the the bench unit a little bit this game isn’t you know an isolated incident they’ve been great all SE season what is it about that that second unit that stands out to you why they’re able to do
You know have games like this well I think there’s a there’s a high level of trust amongst each other they they communicate very well you know I think they they believe in what each person can do within that group uh you saw Cole got himself going and those guys just
Kept feeding him knowing what he was capable of doing he had a couple possessions down he scores twice then he hits J uh ji on a a baseline cut to for a basket so it’s their ability to make the right play at the right time for
Each other how’s Jaylen you know we saw took that shot to the Head yeah he took a shot to the Head from uh Wendell but he’s he’s okay he was able to come back but that that group was doing such a great job together you know that you got
To keep with that flow of the game can you speak of the defensive effort just overall and how they were able to keep the Cs from really establishing any type of momentum without their best player on the court well I I think our guys did a very good
Job of communicating you know the the emphasis was you know getting them off the three-point line you know they made 10 to night uh but again I think they were difficult and contested uh and that was you know the point of emphasis protect the paint first and get out to
Those three-point Shooters I thought our guys did a excellent job of chasing over screens uh communicating with one another where guys were coming off and covering for one another that’s got to be the staple of our defense and with Mo you know it seemed like he had a little
Bit extra amped energy uh coming in the first game after allar break um you know is that something you obviously want to see him bring every night as far as like just kind of being able to take it to to his on throughout the night I think what
We’ve asked him to do is you know continue to play the right way he brings a level of energy to this group um what however that looks whether it’s setting hard screens whether it’s offensive rebounds he brings an energy and intensity to us uh and he’s done a great
Job of doing it at the right time uh for what this group needs Jamal how much of a luxury is it to be able to bring Cole Anthony Off the Bench given his history in this league uh it’s such a luxury and and for him to be willing to accept what
It is he’s able to do and that you saw like that he runs those those points off because his teammates trust him uh and he’s learning and continues to grow and and making the right play and I think that’s what you’ve seen out of him uh
And and you know defensively is what I’m most proud of in that second half where he was able to chase over he was physical without fouling making the right plays and then he does a heck of a job rebounding the basketball as well you guys now split the season
Series with the Cavs um hard to gauge because of so many lineup deorations but how do you feel if it were to be maybe a Playoff round match up how do you feel you would match up against them stylist we’ll find out when that if that happens thanks coach thank you guys
Appreciate it yeah obviously it’s a mentality somewhat um the real teams start playing now you know um and I think as a young team that hasn’t really been there yet uh we need to embrace that and understand that the um the teams that want to go somewhere this is
The time they improve the most um and I think it’s a mentality that we got to bring in every day it’s easy to say now because we won but we got to bring that every day um and that’s part of winning in this league your bench unit had a strong
Performance tonight it’s not an isolated incident you guys played good games throughout the season what do you feel it is about second unit that allows you to have performances like tonight yeah obviously there’s a good chemistry um we really play all of each other I think we
Do a good job playing for each other um there’s not really a lot of agenda individually going on and it kind of It kind of clicks together um everybody knows their job and stays within themselves and again sometimes it’s always difficult to talk after wins because everything looks good and sounds
Good but sometimes it clicks sometimes it’s not that great um but I think what we’ve done a good job with our unit is stay consistent do our job and even if they take stuff away I think it takes the opposite team a lot of discipline
And energy uh to take away what we do well so um just that consistent approach I think is something that we’ve embraced they have some physical bigs on their end but you you matched their physicality tonight and took it to them at times uh you know what was your
Mindset going into this match up in that regard I just try to play hard wi and doubt go go through through the wall you know uh sometimes it’s easy as that um uh yeah I work on that I I want to get better at that and uh I hope uh I impact
Winning that way get to the free throw line and play hard and uh the rest hopefully takes care of itself Cole was able to get himself going offensively when when he’s inm how much does does that help you sa man he’s cold man he’s he’s a Hooper and I always tell him we
Need him because especially in the playoffs when you watch people don’t do complicated stuff they just like want to pick a roll get the match up and then you need a bucket getter so even if you have a bad couple games or a bad half you can’t put your head down because we
Need him um that’s a guy that can get you a bucket when nobody else can and um he’s such a good kid he works so hard um that uh I’m happy for him that he had a game like that and again uh he he deserves it and we really need him you
Guys what
The Orlando Magic defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday by a score of 116-109. Hear from coach Jamahl Mosley and Franz Wagner on the win!
