Magic’s GUT CHECK Time Arrives After EMBARRASSING Loss to Detroit | Can This Team Find Itself?

Magic’s GUT CHECK Time Arrives After EMBARRASSING Loss to Detroit | Can This Team Find Itself?

Five games into the season and it is already gut check time for the Orlando Magic. Who the heck is this team? Do they even know? Today on Locked on Magic, you are Locked on Magic, your daily Orlando Magic podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. And you are indeed locked on Magic. Today is October 29th. It will be October 30th, 2025. Good day for players only meeting perhaps. My name is Phil Rosike. I’m the senior writer over at Orlando Magicaily.com. Credential member of the Orlando Magic media since the 2012 season. On today’s episode of Locked On Magic, another disheartening, frustrating, and frankly embarrassing loss for the Orlando Magic. Credit to the Detroit Pistons. Why the Magic have to answer some critical truths right now on the plane that keep our friend Jason Bey’s up in in Detroit. keep him out of the locker room for a little bit, answer some questions. The Orlando Magic have a lot to figure out. It is gut check time five games into the freaking season. We’ll get to that coming up here in just a moment. 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 thing in the morning, whether it’s right when we upload, we truly appreciate you making lockdown magic part of your day every day. You can make lockdown magic even bigger part of your day by being one of our Orlando Magic dailies. That means you listen five days a week. you listen uh whenever we go up after games a on the weekends even you make us one of your in your rotation or your first listen of the day we truly appreciate all of the support it’s all part of Lockdown Podcast Network it’s your team every day I’ve got a lot of basic questions just just a lot of simple simple things to ask things that frankly shouldn’t need to be asked. Things that should be so embedded it doesn’t matter what else. This is who you are. Who is this team? Like who are they? What are they about? What is the thing they can rely on that they will rely on when they have a bad night? What is the thing they will rely on as they’re figuring out these new pieces and and going through, God forbid, when there’s finally an injury that’s going to happen that takes out one of their key players? What’s what’s this team going to rely on to get through to keep winning games, to keep building and growing and developing? Who is this team? For the last three years, last four years really, but for the last two years especially, we knew exactly who this Magic team was. You could criticize a lot of things. You could criticize the rotations from Jamal Mos. You could criticize how stagnant and ugly the offense was. You could criticize, well, Fran doesn’t assert himself enough or Paulo slows the game down too much and tries to ISO and takes these bad shots. You could criticize all of that stuff and that’s well and good and deserving of criticism, but at the end of the day, we knew exactly what the Magic were going to give us on their worst day, on their best day. We knew the Magic would sit down and defend. We knew the Magic would be tough physically and mentally. That no matter how bad their offense looked, the defense would give them a chance. If the offense was bad, the defense would make your offense bad. And the Magic rode that to back-to-back playoff appearances. The Magic rode that and set up their two key young players to be stars that could lead their team to victory. We’ll get to Jamal Mosley. I I we will not ignore Jamal Mosley, but they squeezed every inch and ounce of water from the stone to get where they were the last two years because their defense was a was an identity. The Boston Celtics, there’s been plenty of people who suggest both Boston writers and and maybe even people within the Celtics organization would admit the Magic weakened them in that first round. They did not want to see Orlando in the first round because they knew that was going to be a fight. Cleveland knew they were in a fight for seven games with that Orlando Magic team. And no matter what else happened, no matter how much the Magic changed their offense and they needed to change their offense, this was the identity. This was the toughness, the focus, the intensity, the physicality. This was Magic basketball. For better or for worse, when you played the Orlando Magic, when we watched the Orlando Magic night in and night out, we knew exactly what to expect. We knew exactly who this team was going to be and what they were going to about be about. We knew what the standard was. And if the Magic made shots and played great offensively, fantastic. That makes life so much easier. But the defense was the constant. Rarely had a bad night. Rarely. They never gave up 130 points at all last season. Even on their worst night against the Boston Celtics. Even on their worst night against the Cleveland Cavaliers, they did not even give up 130 points. Where is the Magic team that we know and love? Because for the second straight night, Orlando gave up more than 130 points. For the second straight game, the Magic defense was the weak link. The Magic defense was late to everything, was pushed around, was put on their back foot, was knocked over to the ground, and for the second straight night, yes, an all-star guard. Kate Cunningham is an all-star. Tyresese Maxi is an all-star, but for the second straight night, the Magic did not put up any resistance. And while yes, they had a nice defensive game against Chicago, I would argue a nice defensive game against Miami, a good three quarters against Atlanta, this is not the standard the Magic have set for themselves. And so, yes, in a 135 1116 game where the Magic’s offense was working exactly how they imagined, helping the defense be almost exactly what we imagined, minus the fouling. It eventually collapsed because in fact, the Magic didn’t play good defense in the first half. They led by as much as 10. They gave that away because they fouled consistently. They got out muscled on the glass by Jaylen Duran. Look, Jaylen Duran’s really good, but the team didn’t gang a rebound the way we know they’re capable of gang rebounding. And because the Magic’s offense right now is so reliant on fast breaks, the Magic aren’t creating turnovers, which create fast breaks. They’re not getting rebounds that create fast breaks. They’re fouling, which slows the game down and puts teams on the line. They’re giving away the game because once again, like I’ll say this, Detroit won this game. I’m not taking anything away from Detroit. They were the better team, the more locked in team, the more together team, the more the team that understood its identity, understood its formula formula to win. The Magic don’t understand their formula to win. It’s clear what it is, too. That’s the that’s that’s the frustrating part. But we can’t even get to that conversation. We can’t even have that conversation right now because the magic don’t do the basic things. The moment they hit any adversity, the moment their shots stop falling, the moment that they make mistakes, they compound them. They look to the refs and ask, “Why wasn’t there a foul?” Their shoulders droop, their heads drop, they’re late getting back in transition. And then they’re reaching and slapping and not sitting down and guarding. It is gut check time for this entire team. From Jamal Mosley to Jet Howard to Noah Penda, whoever the whoever the last guy on the bench is, it’s Jace Richardson at this point. It is gut check time for this Orlando Magic team. They got to figure out who they are. They got to figure out what their identity is and emphasize it. because there is no achieving any of their goals. And and look, it’s they’re one and four. There is a lot of season left. We’re going to talk about bigger picture issues here because we can’t avoid them anymore. But they are one and four. They could easily win the next three games against a Charlotte Washington team that look they are playing better. They’re not easy wins. Charlotte on backtoback is going to be a rough one. It would be a really nice win to beat Charlotte on a back- to-back, but they can win these last three games. Charlotte’s beatable. Washington’s beatable. They’re both good. They could easily lose those games. Atlanta is probably going to be without Trey Young after his injury in in tonight’s game against Brooklyn, although they trounced Brooklyn anyway. They could come home four and four and we could still be feeling uneasy, but hardly the red alarms were we’re blaring right now. But these teams aren’t going to do it for the magic. They’re not going to do it for you. And so it’s gut check time. It’s time to figure out what this team’s identity is. And doing that is going to fall on every single player, but it’s also going to fall on their coach, Jamal Mosley. How did the Magic get out of this? And what the heck happened on Wednesday? We’ll get to that coming up here in just a moment. But first, today’s episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to my friends over at Pelaton. Pelaton is shaping the future of fitness with the brand new Pelaton crossraining tread plus powered by Pelaton IQ. It’s their most advanced equipment yet. Designed to give you real-time guidance and endless ways to move. Whether you’re running, lifting, or crossraining with your favorite instructors. This is training reimagined. Pelaton is built for breakthroughs with tools that help you plan, stay motivated, and reach peak performance. I love how the Pelaton IQ system offers real-time strength coaching. It actually tracks your reps, suggests the right weights, and corrects your form, making every rep safer and smarter. The Swivel Screen is a gamecher. You can go from running on the Tread Plus to strength training without missing a beat. And the personalized class recommendations keep you engaged. You get workouts tailored to your vibe and energy level each week. So, let yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Pelaton Crossraining Tread Plus today at onepelon.com. Again, that’s the new Pelaton Crossraining Tread Plus. Explore it today at oneplaton.com. Obviously, none of us imagined that the Magic would get off to a start like this. Like, I I’m not one to panic. I’m not I’m one to downplay problems and say like look let’s let some things figure out let’s let them play things out and figure things out like like if you listen to the show you know I am not one to blow off the handle and I feel like the last 10 minutes I was pretty steaming and hot. So, if if you if you know, I’m telling you that I I am I am not happy with what we’re seeing from the matchup because we all expect a lot more from this team that this team is is too talented. And honestly, the thing that frustrates me most is just how clear this whole thing can work. it. What’s most frustrating is that I see a team that doesn’t trust what they’re doing yet, but when they do, and when they execute it, it looks really good. The Magic dominated the first half of this game, really the first 18 minutes of this game. They dominated the Pistons. They took a 10-point lead, and yeah, there was some fouling that kept Detroit in the game. Orlando missed free throws again. Gave up some offensive rebounds. It hurt them a little bit, but not a ton. It felt like the game was always there for the taking for Orlando. And in any case, this game, even if the Magic kind of fell back into some bad habits, should have been one if they stuck to what they were doing in the first half, would be one where they would be competitive, that they could get to the end and give themselves a chance to win. To get run out of the gym the way the Magic got run out of the gym. Again, I I’m afraid to say it this way, but I can’t think of any other way to phrase it. The team quit. The team didn’t put in the focused effort that they need. And so, like the second half after the Magic played this brilliant first half, and and I I truly mean played this brilliant first half. They did everything exactly the way the the team has always wanted to play or exactly how this team wanted to play. They move the ball in and out from the inside to the outside. Paulo Benurro was racking up had like uh nine six and five or something like that. 9.6 rebounds, five assists. He was moving the ball inside out. He was drawing fouls. He was a hub in the middle of the lane getting downhill on the move. Detroit did not know what to do with them. Orlando was getting stops, getting out in transition. They weren’t getting a lot of fast break points, mind you, but they were they were getting exactly where they wanted to go and doing so many things they wanted to do. They created a lot of opportunities to get baskets. Fran Vager made three freaking three-pointers in the first half. He’s been amazing from three this season compared to where he was last year. Yes, the Magic left points on the board still, and we’ll get to that, but the vision was so clear of what this team is capable of doing. And so to see them come out of the locker room in that second half and play this bogged down, slow offensive system to settle on pick and rolls. And again, credit to Detroit’s defense. They blew up a lot of this stuff. They because the Magic weren’t getting stops. They were that they were slow to a crawl. they had to set up in in in their half court offense and and it’s been a slog this year. No doubt about it. But the Magic let go of the rope on what was successful. Jamal Mosley deserves a lot of criticism and Jamal Mosley said it after the game, too. It’s on me. I’ve got to communicate what we’re trying to do better to these guys. At the same time, all of these guys have played for Jamal Mosley for at least the last three years, minus Desmond Bane. They’ve all played for Jamal Mosley for the last three or four years. They know what’s expected of them on defense. They know what they’re supposed to do. So, why aren’t they executing it? Now, look, there were turnovers. There were missed shots that led to runouts. The magic, though, were not getting back in transition. And so again, it’s it’s it’s a gut check time. Are you willing to do the work that’s going to take to to to build this team? Is defense truly your identity? I’ll say I I agree with Jamal Mosley 100% on this. Pace is not the problem. The Magic’s issue is not that they’re playing too fast because guess what? This team works better when they play fast. the numbers would support this. Their slowest game was Chicago. That, you know, their fastest game, I think, was Miami. They That’s the game they won. You go look at like I I have access to synergy numbers now. The Magic are so significantly improved and getting more transition opportunities now. It’s the only thing they’re doing well on offense right now. And so, quite simply, like, it’s going to be hard to do this because the Mags are going to back toback in Charlotte tomorrow and it’s going to be rough. Like Charlotte wants to run too, so maybe that’ll help the Magic, maybe it won’t, but the Magic need to do whatever they need to do to get this defense right. I don’t care if the Magic play at 90 possessions on on Thursday. I do not care how many possessions they get. I don’t care if they slow the ball to a crawl on offense. I frankly, I don’t care if they don’t bother to score. Eat the ball for 24 seconds. Whatever you have to do to get this defense right, that’s all that matters right now. It’s it’s that’s all that matters. And look, there are tweaks that they can do. And but at the end of the day, it it’s not anything schematic from Jamal Mosley. And Jamal’s getting the blame, rightfully so. That’s it’s it it was always going to come to this. The Magic made these massive personnel changes. Their roster, this is their roster. They can’t really do anything to change the roster dramatically because of the salary cap rules. This is the group. And we’ll get to individual performances here in a minute. This is the group. Inevitably, if the Magic struggled at all this season, it was going to fall on Jamal Mosley. And you know, I will give Jamal Mosley credit. They understood the offense was the problem. He added two off he had an offensive coach in Joe Prunty. He tried to change the offense. We can debate the the speed at which this new offense was implemented. But he tried he tried to do something different. And if that costs the magic to defense then they need to revert and change back. And that’s a reflection on Mosley. And perhaps that means that yes, it is time that this is it. That this is the ceiling that they have reached with Jamal Mosley. And it’s time. I don’t think it’s happening anytime soon because they can still turn things around. Magic win Thursday, magic win Saturday, magic win Tuesday. You’re back to 500 and all this feels like unnecessary hand ringing. Now, I don’t think this goes away. I do think that there are some serious problems and serious things that this team has to get back. I’m not expecting them to win all three of these games. And frankly, I’m not expecting to win Thursday. Thursday is going to be Charlotte. Charlotte and Washington are be are much more improved. I am not confident right now and and no one should be um they have to prove the Magic have to prove that they can win these games because they’re doing so many things the way they should except the thing that’s supposed to be their identity. So again, it’s it’s that theme. Do the Magic know who they are? Do they know what they’re trying to do? And if they don’t know and if Jamal Mosley can’t get them to figure it out, then yeah, it’s time to have that conversation. I I still think it’s too early. I I’m mentioning it here. I am acknowledging it. It’s still too early. But these are serious serious problems the Magic have. Problems that aren’t tactical, problems that aren’t X’s and O’s. Like the Magic ran this ran that terrible offense they ran in the third quarter and the fourth quarter for much of the second half. They ran that terrible offense all last year and it stunk and it was terrible and we hated it. But they still got back and defended. They still got back and gave themselves a chance to to fight their way out. Frankly, Frankly, that is the disappointing part. Frankly, that’s what doesn’t make sense right now is this team used to be mentally tough. This team last year and the year before, they could score 90 points and they’d hold you to 88. They didn’t care. There’s pride on that end. And until that pride returns, this is going to be ugly. Unless like a new voice awakens the offense and the best offense in the league. That’s not going to happen. It’s gut check time for the Magic. Just plain and simple. It’s gut check time. They got to decide who are we. Like I I I have no other way to say it. I have no other way to define what’s happening. They’re either going to be the defensive team that we imagine they can be or or just better so that they can give their offense a chance to improve and and be the offense that we think it can be. Then then I believe it can be. I’m still very bullish on what they’re doing offensively. I think it’s the right call, but you can’t fix some You can’t fix a team that’s not confident. You can’t fix a team that’s not bought in. And look, if every lever Jamal Mosley pushes and he’s going to get a a a chance here to to fix this, if they’re if they’ve truly tuned him out and it’s a problem where they they don’t they’re not responding to Mosley anymore, then yeah, it’s it’s time to change. Absolutely. We’re not there yet. I don’t think we are. Maybe we are, but but the Magic aren’t making a move yet. He’s going to get the end of the road trip unless a Doc River thing happens where they lose 10 in a row like he’s going to get an opportunity here. But we’ve reached that crossroads like we’ve reached that point where we have to discuss this where we have to acknowledge it and we’ve reached a crossroads where I have to ask the team and I have to demand from the team show some pride and tell us who you are. We haven’t talked a lot about the game itself, so let’s dive into the box. We’ll get to that coming up here in just a moment. But first, today’s episode of Lockdown Magic is brought by our friends over at Ripling. If you are a business owner, here’s the truth. SAS promised to make work easier, but now the average company is buried by hundreds of apps that slow down your teams and simply don’t work together. That’s not SAS. That’s sad. Software as a disservice. That’s why you need Ripling. Ripling is the unified platform for global HR, payroll, IT, and finance all in one place. They’ve helped millions of businesses replace a mess of disconnected tools with one system designed to give leaders clarity, speed, and control. 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Um, that’s the question for the next week until the end of this road trip. The Magic have to find themselves. Back-to-back games on the road where quite simply the defense did not exist. It was a seieve. Now, I thought Orlando played an excellent first half offensively at least they played an excellent first half and and I am as frustrated by the offensive slowdown as in in the second half as I am about the defense just kind of slowly collapsing. And again, I think for the first time since Jamal Mosley’s been here, certainly since the first time since Paulo Benro, really for the first time since the Magic started that run after the five and 20 start in 2023, um, this Magic team is letting their offense affect their defense. Again, is some of this maybe the Magic not knowing how to deal with these outsized expectations that they’re playing with? Is it a bit of everyone’s trying to do a little bit too much and playing a little bit too hard or pressing a little bit? Certainly, I think Desmond Bane is um because the Magic aren’t getting what they need from Desmond Bane. And you know, again, like there is definitely a problem here where this Magic offense is not designed right now to get the most out of Desmond Bay. Um I if if there is something that needs to change and this doesn’t need a Jamal Mosley firing to happen, Joe Prunty step in. You know, if you’re the if you’re if you’re truly the offensive coordinator, we don’t really know what the a specific role is, but if Joe Prunt is truly the offensive coordinator, get some plays in that get Desmond Bane shots where he wants them. At the end of day, it’s also on Desmond Bane to take said shots. The fact of the matter is the Magic are getting a lot of what they normally get from their star players. I have very little to complain about and I do have something to complain about but I have very little to complain about with Paulo Beno and Fran Vog. Paulo Ben Carro had an excellent game and was excellent especially in the first half. He was less excellent in the second half. Yeah, he scored 24 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, had four offensive rebounds. There is a stretch in that first half where it just simply looked like Paulo was not going to let this team lose this game tonight. And frankly, that’s the Paulo we need to see more of. I I I as as good as I think Paulo played for long stretches of this game, he deserves to be challenged. If he is a leader on this team, if he is someone that is truly all about winning, if he wants to put to rest all the arguments and criticisms that people have of him, and look, he is struggling to shoot jumpers right now. But he doesn’t need to shoot jumpers. He can yianis a lot of people and a lot of teams by just putting pressure on the rim, getting to the foul line, and driving to the basket or just being a hub and a threat as an offensive player, demanding double and triple teams and kicking out and trusting shooters. That’s what he did so well in the first half. That’s what defined his first half and why I am still so high on him as a player. It’s about him understanding, hey, you got to trust your teammates because the ball is going to find his way back to you. In fact, that happened several times in this game where Paulo made a great pass and a great play to an open shooter. They missed it and he ended up with the offensive rebound anyway and got a basket because of it or got an and one because of it. Frankly, like the difference in the two halves between these between for this team, the advanced stats aren’t up, so so I’ll update this later, but the difference in the two halves between the for the Magic were in the first half, Paulo was looking to make plays and passes, was absorbing double teams, took his chances when they were there, but didn’t settle. Got to the foul line, move the ball, and that got the offense moving, got them open shots, got them in rhythm. It sped everything up. The team was playing quick. The defense had its head on a swivel and eventually they’d have to single cover some of these shooters because they were making so many shots. Orlando shot 12 for 31 from three. We will take you the Magic need more three-point shots, but they will take that. But in the second half, everything slowed to a crawl. In the second half, Paulo was running these pick and rolls. He couldn’t couldn’t get separation. Couldn’t get the switch he wanted. couldn’t get the double he wanted was just dribbling at the top of the key and the ball wasn’t moving. He was just dribbling at the top of the key waiting for Desmond Bane especially to reset the screen so he could try again. That kind of offense isn’t going to work anymore. That’s that’s the old offense. That’s the offense that stinks and that’s where the game really bogged down for this team. On top of this, yes, the Magic left points on the board once again. Paulo Banchero shot 10 for 17 from the foul line. Getting to the line 17 times, we will take that every single time. But missing seven free throws is unacceptable. If you’re going to get to the line 17 times, you need to make 15. I’ll give you two. I’ll let you miss two. You can’t be shooting 58.8%. You can’t be shooting sub 60% if you’re going to get to line that much. Unless you’re Shaq. Paulo Vancero ain’t Shaq. I think I think I’m pretty safe to say that. But Paulo wasn’t alone. France Vagner also missed four free throws. This usually reliable free throw shooter is an 80% free throw shooter. He’s traded his three-point shooting for his free throw shooting. Now he shot seven for 11. So again, like Paulo, Fron is doing everything that we could ask of him too. 22 points, six for 14 shooting. Struggled a little bit with those floaters. He was due for a bad shooting game after shooting what 55% through the first four games. Three for four from three. We will take that. That means he was three for 10 inside the paint. Missed some layups, missed some bunnies. He has these games. But seven for 11 from the foul line. Those are four points left on the board. And 11 of the Magic’s 12 missed free throws coming from their two stars. In a game you lose by 16, in a game where you’re trailing by seven, eight points for most of that second half, you miss 12 free throws. Once again, you get to the line 40 times and make fewer free throws than your opponent. Detroit went 30 for 34 because the Magic are still fouling like crazy, especially Jaylen Duran who went 11 for 12 from the foul line. Detroit made 30 of 34 free throws and that enabled them to settle in and get going. And then once the Magic offense slowed to a crawl and the Magic could not get movement or motion, that’s when Detroit got out on the run. That’s when Detroit got easy baskets. That’s when they started hitting threes. That’s when they started playing with confidence. The Magic could easily close the door on those runs at any moment. But I do credit Detroit’s defense. They played a lot more physically, but the MA like the Magic just weren’t dictating any terms on defense. This was an abysmal abysmal defensive effort for Orlando. And it was fed again by an offense that didn’t seem super interested in executing or playing well. just a a disgusting effort from Orlando and and frankly something we know can and should be a lot better. Now, they weren’t alone like like although the Magic I thought played very well offensively in the first half, they ultimately needed Desmond Bane to give them something. And Desmond Bane finished with 12 points, five rebounds, two assists on four for 15 shooting. He shot only one for four from three as he continues to struggle to get three-point attempts. He had a three. It was a great space spaced out three where he hit the side of the backboard. And honestly, like I don’t care. Take the three. He had at least two or three threes that he needed to take. Even if he’s one for seven, I’d rather him be one for seven and take seven threes than take four. Desmond Bane was trying to attack the basket. I give him that much credit. He saw the threes weren’t there. He’s attacking. That’s been his biggest strength for this team so far. But Bane got a lot of shots blocked in the end. While Orlando had five blocks, Orlando is a pretty good block shot blocking team. Orlando had eight shots blocked and and all of those shots led to imbalanced floors because it was the guards, it was Palo, it was Fron attacking the rim and led to runouts and transition. Again, like the Magic or just it it wasn’t necessarily turnovers this game. Orlando had 16 turnovers. Detroit scored on a lot of them. Um Detroit I don’t have the the points off turnovers. I can actually get them. So, give me a sec to switch pages here. Orlando score or Detroit scored uh 26 points off 16 turnovers. Again, not ideal. That’s the game. That’s giving away the game. But turnovers weren’t as big of an issue as the as as just the imbalance floor. Now, the Magic had some silly turnovers. There’s still a little bit of a mess. There’s still a little bit, you know, you don’t mind aggressive turnovers, but by the second half, Orlando was just kind of throwing the ball away. Just just plain simple, just throwing the ball away. And that cannot happen. Paulo had four. He was as guilty of it as anyone. Wendell Carter had two. Wendell Carter fouled out pretty quickly. He had he ended up with eight points, three for three shooting. I thought Wendell Carter was going to be due for a pretty decent game offensively, but he struggled just dealing with Jaylen Durren. Um just the fouling on Jaylen Duran. He, you know, he was hugging him. He was late on rotations because he was so scared of Jaylen Duran. again, like that’s that’s like that that’s as much of a statement as anything. Like the Magic’s defense was scared of a player who wasn’t like a star player. That’s not this Magic defense. This Magic defense is like, “No, we’re going to we’re going to guard our we’re going to guard our yard.” Magic weren’t doing that. And and and it started started there. Um Jaylen Suggs, he’s still working his way back from the injury. Eight points, five assists, one for four shooting, one for three for three, five for five from the foul line. Um look, he’s he’s doing better. He’s not all the way back. It’s kind of clear that he is not like he’s probably like 75 80 85%. He’s not 100%. He had I think we’ll know he’s 100% when he when he was able to dunk the ball. He had a dunk blocked. It was a huge sequence in the game. Um but you know, Suggs is still working his way back in the match. Need others to fill in. Anthony Black continues to score a lot of points. 10 points, three for 10 shooting, one for six, but do so inefficiently and still making some key mistakes. He had two turnovers. Magic were minus 28 with him on the floor. Um, AB is, look, AB is a better player, but there’s still a lot of work to do with him. Tristan Dev had a nice bounceback game. 15 points, six for nine shooting, three for six from three. Again, more the ball moves, more he’s involved, the better that is for everybody. Goatz, I thought, had his best game of the season. 10 points, six rebounds, four offensive rebounds, five for five from the floor. So, really nice game from him. But Noah Penda continues to get minutes. Um, we were all yelling about Noah Penda being in the game in the first half, but uh, and especially in the second half, but he made some nice plays. He was an energetic player. Like, it’s not his fault, but he is still making rookie mistakes that I think right now this team cannot afford. This team cannot cover for rookie mistakes. I’d rather see Jonathan Isaac out there. We know what you know what you’re going to get from Jonathan Isaac. He’s not going to make the same kind of critical errors. But, frankly, I I don’t think the Magic know how to use Jonathan Isaac anymore. I don’t think they know how to use half of these players optimally anymore. May maybe that is a statement as much as anything. Uh the Orlando Magic who shot better than 50% in the first half uh made eight threes in the first half. I think they were eight for eight for 17 I think or eight for n 20 or something like that. They shot they shot pretty well in the first half. They ended up shooting only 45.8% from the floor. 12 for 31 for three. Again, 28 for 40 from the foul line. While Orlando still had 15 offensive rebounds, their second chance points were no match for Detroit with 14 offensive rebounds. Second chance points in this game. Sorry, I have to split between pages. Um, second chance points in this game are not listed on this team page and I don’t have access to the game book yet. Or do I? Nope. Game book is not loading. So, I don’t know how many second chance points that the Magic had, but it really felt like the the Pistons won that battle. Well, the Pistons won the battle in the paint 64 to 48. That says a lot, especially since the Magic are just not a heavy jump shooting team. So, the Magic aren’t getting those shots that that you want them to get. Um, Detroit ends up shooting 49 and a half% from the floor, 40.6% from three, 13 for 32, 30 for 34 from the foul line. Again, Orlando shoots 40 free throws and the Pistons made more free throws than the Magic. That is unacceptable. Orlando’s going to get to the line and and and if there is a gleaming bit of hope for the game on Thursday against Charlotte, Charlotte doesn’t have a lot of centers. They’re they’re not a very tall team. Um which could be good, could be bad. So, I don’t think they’ll the Magic have to worry about the shot blocking as much as they did in this game. Um they’re not going to have maybe have to worry about the rebounding as much, but they got to be on their toes defensively. And right now it right now the issues on defense. Um, you know, maybe maybe I downplayed that issue a week ago. It’s the issue now. Like again, the Magic got to get back to being who they are defensively. I I I don’t care if the offense slows to crawl in the process. I don’t care if the Magic have to abandon a lot of offensive ideas that I really really like. Again, I am still really high on what this team can do offensively. I see the vision. I I agree with what Jamal Mosley is trying to do. It’s on the players to execute it, but they got to get their defense back before they do anything. And that’s what cost them in this game. They put their defense in bad spots to begin with and their defense wasn’t there when they needed it. And that’s what lost them in Philadelphia. That’s what lost them against Atlanta. That’s ultimately what lost them against Chicago. All four of their losses. I just named all four of their losses. It all came down to their defense not getting the job done. And this team’s not going to win games until they do. So, got check time on Thursday in Charlotte. But that’s going to do it for me today. Hey, I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of Locked on Magic. Of course, find me on Twitter, philipr_omd, and on blue sky, philip r. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcast. You’re tuning in, Google Play, Spotify, Odyssey, and all the film download podcast to your podcast enabled listening device. You can find me on you can find us as well on YouTube. Just search for locked on magic. For the latest on the Orlando Magic, be sure to check out Orlando Magic.com. You can find us on Twitter, omagically. And for even more Orlando Magic content, be sure to check out my Patreon page, Orlando Magicub, at patreon.com/orland Magic Cub. Going to write an article for my newsletter on Jamal Mosley, where he stands, why it’s not time to jump ship yet, but why the questions are viable. I’ll get to that on my Patreon page. You can find that at patreon.com/orlandomichub. As always, thank you for your support. Now that you’re done making Lockdown Magic your first listen of the day, go listen to Lockdown Fantasy Basketball. Josh Lloyd hosts the number one fantasy basketball podcast giving you daily tips and helping you win your league all while making you a smarter NBA fan. Find Locked on Fantasy Basketball on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. All part of Lockdown Podcast Network. It’s your team every day. That’s going to do it for me today. I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of Lockdown Magic. Sorry for going a little bit long. A lot to say, a lot to get to, lot to talk about, a lot to ruminate on, lot to be angry about, but we get to do it all again tomorrow. We’ll be back tomorrow with a recap of the Magics game against Charlotte Hornets. Perhaps more calls for change, more calls for more angry emails, or maybe a little bit of calm. We’ll find out together tomorrow. But until then, for Orlando Magic Daily and Lockdown Magic, this has been Philip Rosman Reich. We’ll see you all again next time for another episode of Locked On Magic.

The Orlando Magic have a lot of questions to ask themselves again as their defense collapsed in a crushing and embarrassing 135-116 loss to the Detroit Pistons.

Once again, the Magic struggled to keep up their defensive intensity, parading the Pistons to the line all while their offense floundered in the second half after a strong showing in the first half.

It is time for some serious soul-searching for Jamahl Mosley and his team as the Magic faltered again and let go of the rope, forsaking the identity that built the team into a juggernaut.

How do the Magic get themselves out of this?

0:00 Intro
3:45 Defense Was the Magic’s Identity
8:21 Gut Check Time for Orlando
11:54 Magic Dominated First Half Then Collapsed
18:32 Is It Time for Coaching Change?
25:46 Box Score Breakdown Begins
30:20 Free Throw Shooting Disaster
37:29 Pistons Dominate Paint and Free Throws

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