POSTGAME REACTION: Orlando Magic at Washington Wizards, 3/6/24

POSTGAME REACTION: Orlando Magic at Washington Wizards, 3/6/24

You guys get the big win tonight 28 points for you how important was it for you to bounce back in this game to help your team offensively to get the win yeah really important obviously not not my best game last game but most importantly is we got the win it’s

Always tough on the back to back and uh especially coming back the the way we played in the first half um you know it shows character you guys now complete the Season site against the DC what was the key or what kept you guys in this

Game to really fight hard and get the job done I think just stick to our principal stay solid like I said I thought we made a lot of mistakes made a lot of mistakes in the first half and um especially defensively I think we picked it up in that second

Half all right I got to ask you you got you are usually considered fourth quarter fronts but your brother he’s giving you a run for your money tonight in this game how fun is it to play with them and the energy he brings to this team no it’s great um Mo’s always ready

To go and uh like you said he brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm to to the whole group so um really happy for him that that he was able to play with one today and before I let you go you guys have won 13 out of your last 16 games

What’s been the key to this success so far I think just sticking to our principles taking it one game at a time and uh you know we know that every game is important for us um know looking at the playoff picture so we want to make

Sure that we uh you know take advantage of every opportunity back toback win season sweep you think we should play the song for everybody back home sure let’s play the song thanks fun coach your team was down by as many as 21 points uh what happened and what changed from that point

On uh well I think we just we we we claimed our identity we we realized exactly who we need to be uh in order to come out and give ourselves a chance I think in that first half it was more about the offense and it was affecting our defense and

That second half we realize that we’ve got to buckle down sit down and guard and the offense will come and flow if you guard the right way when you reclaim your identity like that is it the result of something you said at halftime something one of your

Or two of your players said at halftime it’s it’s been the accountability of this group you know for for the year um being able to communicate with one another the things that we need to do the adjustments that we need to make uh and being more of who we are and and it

Is a tied together group that loves to defend that loves to cover for each other to play the right way play for one another and we’ve talked about that and that was the the conversation at halftime led by the players or or in this case you the players coach you know six largest

Comeback in in franchise history you know this group could could make excuses say second night of a backtack three games four nights you know all those lines the fact that you guys continue not to do that and just find ways you know what does that say about this group

I think it just goes back into this group’s identity you know being able to be resilient no matter what’s going on uh not looking at the circumstances as as things that you cannot control I mean the the league you know every other team has back Tob backs every team has back

Tob backs too you can’t use that as an excuse and this team will not every other team has guys in and out of lineups we can’t use that as excuse and this group has really taken a hold of that and made it who who we are had

Contributions you know up and down the roster but when when Pao and fron put their heads down like that just how much does that that will and and help the rest of the group I mean these these two young men I mean Paulo’s an Allstar I

Mean France is on his way to being an All-Star uh the way in which they play off each other and then it’s become selfless and it carries over to the rest of the group and it’s challenging them to be able to make the right play at the

Right time um for their teammates and that’s the trust that this group has for for one another and and it’s just it’s enjoyable to watch because you can see that belief that they have within each other and that they have in themselves describe how jayen sugs is

Really the point of attack for the defense Jaylen Suggs starts everything off for us there’s no other way to put it uh when he is defending the way he has been defending lately it’s it’s hard for other teams to do anything um because he’s so aggressive he knows how

To keep guys in front he plays the right way and I just think he sets the tone right away but I mean you got to give that group credit for each guy in that second half coming out wanting to defend the right way and just knowing it was about getting stops more than

Anything uh yeah I think you know we just came together in the locker room uh you know coach spoke some words of encouragement and uh we just took it upon ourselves to you know fight back and we wanted to start fast in the third

Quarter um you know we did a good job in the second I think of weather and the storm and getting the lead down to like N9 or 10 and then uh third quarter we wanted to you know come come out strong and um Take the Lead between coach and

And the players you know what what was the message in the locker room in at halftime um just that you know it’s one of those games that we’re going to have to fight back you know regardless of how we started or how we were playing um it

Was up to us whether we wanted to win this game or lose it you know so wasn’t really much to talk about scheme wise you know we you know we didn’t even really you know there was no really talk about you know any scheme at halftime it

Was just about our effort and our um attitude and how hard we wanted to play you you you and frons are obviously two big leaders on this team when you guys have the the second halfs that you guys did you know how much does that help everybody else along the way as you’re

Making that comeback yeah I mean you know that’s kind of our job is to um you know lead the charge and uh just play at a high level and you know I know at least I didn’t do that in the first half so I wanted to come out in the second

Half and you know switch it around and you know turn my energy up and um you know it’s hard sometimes playing the back to backs you know we haven’t been very good this year on back toback so that’s something that we also talked about and we just wanted to come out and

Respond when you look at Fran’s performance asking him he talked a little bit about how he was disappointed himself yesterday for him to have this bounce back and really contribute offensively what does that say to just his grit his fight and a back to back to help you guys get a win

Sorry uh no that just I mean that’s just who he is that’s what he does um you know you know France isn’t going to have you know too many bad games in a row he’s always going to respond um he holds himself to a very high standard so

Really doesn’t take anybody to speak any um you know fire into him you know he just kind of has that uh regardless so you know he he’s one of one of our key um key guys and you know he just you know just had another another day in the office for him

The Orlando Magic defeated the Washington Wizards on Wednesday by a score of 119-109. Hear from Franz Wagner, coach Mosley, and Paolo Banchero on the win!