BREAKTHROUGH: Orlando Magic SNAP Four-Game Skid with DOMINANT Defensive Display

BREAKTHROUGH: Orlando Magic SNAP Four-Game Skid with DOMINANT Defensive Display

The Orlando Magic breaking their four-game losing streak was all about D. Get your mind out of the gutter. Defense, deflection, disruption, devastation, depth. It’s all 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 30th. It will be October 31st, 2025, my my girls and ghouls. Happy Halloween to my name is Phil Rossike. I’m the senior writer over at Orlando Magicaily.com. Credentialed member of the Orlando Magic media since the 2012 season. On today’s episode of Locked On Magic, the Orlando Magic get back to their basics. They get back to their identity. They finally look like the Orlando Magic. How the Magic got back to D to win and snap this losing streak. Get your mind out of the gutter again. We’ll get to that 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. 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Our last three episodes, last two games, this whole week has been spent ringing our hands, asking big questions because the Orlando Magic, even at this early stage of the season, even if we could tell you like, “Hey, be patient. It’s early. Things are weird right now. The Orlando Magic did not look like the Orlando Magic. Even in the win against the Miami Heat and and even though I argued like, look, the Magic still had a 108 defensive rating, which against this Miami Heat team right now looks pretty good. The Magic are the only team to have beaten the Heat pending tonight’s game against Spurs. The Magic did not look like the Orlando Magic. They’re fouling. They were late on rotations. They were not playing physically. They they were not kind of first to the ball. They were they’re on their back foot. They were not letting their defense dictate their game. And while I will continue to argue, even if the numbers don’t quite suggest it yet, I will continue to argue the Magic’s offense is better. The Magic are delivering what we want offensively for the most part. Still some lulls. We’ll talk about that in our last segment. It’s still going to come down to and it’s still going to be about the Orlando Magic getting down and defending. The whole project, the whole thing comes down to the Magic being one of the best defensive teams in the league. And again, against the Sixers against the Pistons earlier this week, the Magic had their worst had their worst defensive outings since 2022, since the Kyrie Irving 60point game. They’re the two worst back-to-back defensive outings since the Kyrie Irving 60point game and the Sadi Bay 51 point game. Memories that I’m sure most Magic fans have excised and don’t like to remember. I’m in I’m I’m I’m a sicko. I remember this stuff. I looked it up, saw that game. I was like, I remember that game. That game was not fun. And neither were the last two games for the Magic. And so, as I sat here about 24 hours ago recording this after the Magic lost to the Detroit Pistons, I said it is gut check time. It is time for the Magic to tell us and show us who they are. It is time for them to be the team we imagine they can be. They they don’t have to be perfect yet. It’s still so early in the season, but they got to show us they can lead with defense. And doing that on the backtoback against the Charlotte Hornets, one of the best offensive teams in the league so far this season, a team with a ton of offensive weapons. That was going to be a challenge. And then the Magic go out and turn one of pro probably their best defensive game of the season. The the advanced stats aren’t up as I’m recording. I’m g double check that real fast. Um uh the advanced stats are up. It was not statistically their best defensive game of the season and it wasn’t even up to the level that they were at last year to be perfectly honest. We we’ll dive into those numbers here in a minute. But the Magic looked like themselves. The Magic looked like that disruptive, devastating force. Their defense naturally slowed the game down, allowed the Magic to control tempo, to run when they wanted, to slow down when they wanted to play Orlando Magic basketball. For the first time all season, the Magic looked like themselves. The Magic looked like the devastating defensive force we know they can be. Adding in the offense that they have shown hints of but have not been able to play consistently because their defense hasn’t led the way. For the first time all season, the Magic’s defense did the job. Again, holding the Charlotte Hornets to 107 points is pretty darn good. The Magic will take that every single time against one of the best offensive teams in the entire league. The Magic end the game with 10 steals, seven blocks, 17 stops by far their most of the season. They get three steals from Tristan Dilva, three blocks from Jonathan Isaac, two steals, two blocks from Anthony Black, two steals from Paulo Bancer. Everybody is contributing and more importantly, everybody’s getting deflections. It doesn’t even count the non-steels the Magic. the little things that a defense does that disrupts rhythm, the pressure, the switching, the communication, the challenging at the rim, the knocking the ball away, the the being in the right spot to just send that guy a little bit wider on that angle. Things that you can’t quantify statistically. This is the characteristic of the Magic defense. This is what made the Magic’s defense so tough over the last two years. It wasn’t just that they were big and and their size was a big part of it. It was that they threw defenders at you. They overwhelmed you with size. They were disciplined. They communicated. They rotated back. They challenged everything at the rim. They kept you from getting into the paint. Those were the elements that were missing. And in this game, the Magic still got outscored in the paint 60 to 54. They still had some silly fouls. The Hornets still got to the line a lot, but Orlando limited their turnovers, only 13 turnovers. They forced 21 turnovers, a big struggle. They’re bottom 10 in the league in forcing turnover and forced opponent turnover rate this season, got that got over that hump, and they made plays. Again, I want to stress this. The Charlotte Hornets are one of the best offensive teams in the league so far this season. Playing very, very well. This is not to say the Magic were perfect. Still gave up a ton of offensive rebounds. Still gave up a ton of second chance points. The Magic still had only a 111.5 defensive rating. Magic were what, 108 last year, 107 last year. But considering they were given up 130 and considering the offense was able to score 123 points and 128.1 points per 100 possessions, this was a strong defensive effort. This was a step in the right direction. There’s plenty to clean up. The Magic got loose at times. They got frustrated with some miss shots. They let the Hornets get out in transition. They were still fouling a little too much. certainly giving up way too many offensive rebounds. The port had ended with 12 offensive rebounds, including four by Musbate and three by Ryan Cochbr. The Magic still left a lot of opportunities on the board, but defense isn’t an exact science. It’s it’s about giving your offense the chance to score more points. It’s about allowing your offense to score more points than the other team. And despite whatever shortcomings the Magic might have had in this game, it was their defense that dictated tempo. It was their defense that dictated how this game was going to be played. And the Magic never let go of that rope like they did against Detroit, like they did against Philadelphia, like they did against Atlanta. When things got tough, when the Hornets inevitably made a push, cutting what was, I believe, a 20-point lead down to two in the third quarter, in the late third quarter, a the Magic got big shots from Tristan Dilva and got big shots from Paulo Benerro, but then their defense did the job to close that door, too. The Magic didn’t let this become a track meet. They didn’t let this become some back and forth affair. Their defense did the job and it was energetic plays from Jonathan Isaac, from Anthony Black into the starting lineup for Jaylen Suggs, from Noah Penda who continues to look more comfortable even as people wonder why he’s playing and he’s a rookie he’s making mistakes but from Noah Penda from Wendell Carter who had a huge block in the fourth quarter from Palan Carol making some big defensive plays from France Vager making huge defensive plays from Desmond Bane with seven assists making huge defensive plays a lot of these pieces started to come together and the Magic found the energy that they needed. If the Magic play like this and again clean some stuff up, but if the Magic play like this on both ends, their defense is going to feed their offense and they’re going to have a real chance to do something very special. Back on track and that brings us to the offense. How do the Magic get the most of this offense? It starts with games like this from Paulo Bancerero. What Paulo Bancerero did tonight and did on Wednesday that shows the path for the Orlando Magic. We’ll get to that coming up here in just a moment. But first, today’s episode of Locked Magic is brought to our friends over at Robin Hood. Your ambition just met its match. With Robin Hood, you play for the win, not just on game day, but every day. Locking in on every opening, beating your personal record. Beating it again. Channel that drive into your money. Robin Hood puts you in control of your money. Trade stocks and ETFs, options, futures, and crypto all on one platform. You can now build and execute your own trades from a desktop with Robin Hood Legends advanced tools. Four, take advantage of the new Robin Hood strategies with a tailored portfolio managed by a team of experts. You expect more from yourself, expect more from your money. Get started today at robinhood.com/yyoumoney. Again, that’s robinhood.com/yyoumoney, your money, your move. 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And while not like out and out saying that he’s uncomfortable with it or he he qu out and out questioning the changes that the Magic are making, it’s been clear that he’s sort of feeling it out still. He made that comment after Monday’s game against the Sixers that we just we can’t just run for the sake of running. We need some structure and and we dissect and we’re at the point where we’re dissecting everything that he says. And obviously there’s a little soularching on that plane ride from Detroit to Charlotte um to figure out what the Magic needed to do. And I think there’s just a lot right now on Paulo Bancer to to sort of change the way that he plays. Not change who he is. not change his strengths, but change the way that he plays. And a game like this shows that as much as maybe he’s resisting or maybe he’s fighting against it, a game like this shows why this kind of an offense with more speed, more cutting, more movements, quicker decision- making is frankly tailorade for someone like Paulo Vancer. Every time I see this offense work, yes, Fran Vager is a big piece of it. And France Vagger is very, very public and very very open saying like, “This is good for us. Like, this stuff’s going to be good for us because his game fits a much more motion-based, space-based passing offense. He He doesn’t like to take guys off the dribble. He’s pretty good at it, but you’re you’re not you’re you’re not getting him to take the hero shots necessarily. He c he can, but that’s not his game. Paulo, you’re almost trying to stop him from taking the hero shots and get him to understand his gravity is what creates everything for this team. And again, a game like Thursday’s game against Charlotte and frankly the first half against Detroit show us exactly why Paulo is the perfect fit for this offense if he’s bought in and if he’s executing it well. Paulo Beno finished Thursday’s game, second night of a back-to-back, all those things with 20 points, nine rebounds, nine assists, one turnover. He shot eight for 12 from the floor. We’ll ignore the two for six from the foul line. Make your free throws, Paulo. But his lowest free throw game of the season. He still get still got there decently. I’m not complaining about his free throw shooting. I’m complaining about his free throw shooting. I’m not complaining about his free throw attempt so much. But he was most effective sort of as a gravity well, sort of as a player that demanded attention, that demanded everybody revolve around him, and then demanded that he move the ball quickly. This has been, frankly, the biggest adjustment that Palos had to make. And and and look, it was never going to be perfectly clean, but this is the next evolution in Paulo Banker is understanding I don’t have to beat double teams. I have shooters I can trust. I have players around me who will take advantage of the space I’m creating. I just have to make the right read and the right pass and the right play. and where early in the season he was either settling for mid-range jumpers, contested mid-range jumpers, settling for those step backs and those ISOs or failing to read where the double was coming from and making and trusting that pass at least in the first half against Detroit and throughout this game against Charlotte, he did it and he had his best game of the season. I know he scored 32 against Philadelphia, but this was his best game of the season because like Jamie Tart in in Ted Lasso, they stopped playing to him and started playing through him. I just thought of that. Uh I just thought I just thought of that analogy of that of that uh simile or metaphor whatever it was simile. Yeah. Um this is what the magic want for Pal Ben Carroll because they envision him. They envision France Vagner the same way as this sort of hub. The spokes of the wheel come out from him and it’s on him to make the right read, to make the right pass, to find the open man, and for the players around him to move and be available. When this Magic offense bogs down, and it’s still bogs down, do not get me wrong. I’m very I’m still very, very excited, very, very optimistic about the offense they’re building. It’s going to take a little bit of time and they got to find way to get um to get Desmond Payne more involved, but when it’s working, it’s because Paulo isn’t doing what he’s done for the last two, three years. You know what I’m talking about? the kind of hero ball ISO stuff where he’s just kind of standing at the top of the key, dribbling, dribbling, dribbling, making a move, back, not getting there, backing out, trying again, setting a pick, didn’t get separation, didn’t get the switch he wanted, trying it again. No. When he’s at his best, he’s either catching the ball in a spot near the paint where the defense has to start collapsing around him or he’s getting downhill putting pressure on the rim or kicking out as the defense collapses to him to an open shooter who guess what? The Magic are making shots. They shot 16 for 38 from three. They got the open looks they’ve been looking for. Tristan Dilva was probably the worst three-point shooter at three for seven. Jonathan Isaac missed four. Tus Jones was one for three, but all Desmond Bane was 0 for two, but the Magic got multi. The Magic had three guys make three threes. They had four guys make three threes. When was the last time we said that? Stat news at somebody. The Magic had four guys make three three-pointers in this game. They got the shooters. Maybe Anthony Black won’t be as consistent. Maybe Wendell Carter won’t be as consistent. Yes, the Magic need to get Desmond Bane more threes. And the Magic need to seek out Desmond Bane for more threes. But the Magic got their best player downhill making the right decision and moving the ball quickly. I don’t even know how many potential assists that Paulo may have had, but he got this team downhill. He got this team moving. He got this team open shots. Got this got the ball moving quickly. And that got the Magic’s offense working again. Maybe the defense wasn’t elite, but Orlando still got 14 offensive rebounds, so they’re still creating extra possessions. But Orlando still posted a 128, 12, you know, a high offensive rating, the kind of offensive rating that last year’s team would have killed for. And so, yes, it’s against Charlotte, not the best defensive team in the world. a young team, still prone to mistakes, playing better right now, but still still still the Charlotte Hornets, unfortunately. Sorry to my friends at Locked on Hornets, but this is how the Magic want to play and they got that feeling. And so hopefully this is a light bulb moment for everybody, not just defensively, but offensively, that this is the way we need to play. Let’s run through that final box where I’ve already hinted at a few of the numbers. We’ll get to that coming up here in just a moment. But first, today’s episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA is back and there is no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you missed the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a single game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team is making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Let’s run through the final box score as the Orlando Magic defeat the Charlotte Hornets 123 to 107. The Magic never trailed in this game. They led by as much as I believe it was 20 was the highest was the highest lead. Um again, just it wasn’t perfect start to finish. I want to make that very very clear. Like this game this was more about relieving some pressure. Um, this is this is this is a game where it’s just like everybody take a breath. The Magic can still win games. They can still get down and defend a little bit. They can still score. There’s still a lot of things that are under in progress and under works, but they could still beat teams very capably. Um, you know, hopefully I I I I I I remain an optimist. I had a lot of people hitting me up asking me about a lot of different things over the last few days and I kept saying like look I I still don’t think they’re very far. There are I would still agree there are some long-standing issues and there are some long-term issues that are going to be bubbling underneath the surface and questions that will last. The stuff that we’ve seen over the last two games specifically, but really over the last week, they’re not going away. Um, the Magic will do their best to to lessen them, to improve on them, but there are issues that that cause this slow start and the Magic will get better. They will improve. That’s natural over the course of a season, but there’s still a lot of work to do. So, we’re not sitting here raising a banner for beating the Charlotte Hornets, but the Magic desperately needed to have the feeling of winning. They need to get rid of some scarring, gain some confidence, just just feel a little bit more at ease. And I think a game like this where you lead wire towire where you take a big lead um you c you know you have kind some of the same things happen that happened on Wednesday. You have this great start. You have a slow finish in the first quarter that makes the game tighter than it should be. You answer the bell in the second quarter. You come out in the third. You take a big lead. You give a lot of it away. You answer that in the third to pull back out, you know, I guess six or seven points at the end of the fourth quarter. And then you start the fourth quarter and you put your foot down uh with lamel ball out of the game. You put your foot down and expand that lead out, force the other team to bring the starter back in and then and then you close the game. Um again like Paulo Vancerero 20 points, nine rebounds, nine assists. He he he had like five shots, six shots entering the fourth quarter. Paulo made some big shots. And again, it wasn’t a close game or anything, but it was like Charlotte got it down to 11. There’s a moment there where where like Paulo frankly wasn’t was was trying to gun for that triple double. He was hunting for that 10th assist and Magic had a couple bad turnovers. They had a miss shot somewhere. They had a shot that got blocked by Diabate. Charlotte goes out in transition. They they bang two threes and suddenly they’re down 11. Orlando comes out of a against Detroit. Like that was kind of how that game turned was Magic made a couple lazy mistakes, you know, kind of got got too comfortable. They give up some some fast break points and suddenly the snowballs running down the hill and and we talked about this yesterday how the Magic just didn’t have a lot of mental toughness in that game. They let mistakes compound. The Magic come out of a timeout. They get those six points back like pretty much immediately and they close that game and they close the game down. And Paulo made at least two huge jumpers. He made a three-pointer in the fourth quarter. He made two huge jumpers. So, in a game where he was facilitating and again being that hub for the offense to to build and grow around, he came back in and like shut the door and was just like, “Nope, don’t even think about it. Game over. We’re done here.” Um, again, not the highest scoring game from Paulo. This was, I think, his best game of the season. Um, I really really love the way that he played and and the way he understood what his responsibility was. Limited some of the bad shots. He did take a few that I would be like I was I even think I tweeted said like we need to get rid of those shots from your diet Paulo just like I know you want to shoot those shots but they’re just not good shots right now especially with the way he’s shooting but he found a little bit of rhythm got himself going and and those tough shots will be there but he can work for better shots and the Magic’s offense is better for it. Fran Vagner who was questionable before the game with a uh heel contusion got kicked got kicked I guess somewhere at some point on Wednesday. He finished with 21 points, eight for 62 shooting, three for six from three, five rebounds, three assists. Really nice game from Fron. Um, again, like I think he had what 17 at the half or like 15 or 12 at the half, something like that. Maybe I’m overstating that. Um, keeping him involved is really, really key. Um, the ball was moving, the ball was finding guys, the Magic were making shots, so it wasn’t as big of a deal, but the Magic do need to make sure they keep Fron Vagger involved. Um, his defense was excellent for most of the night. He he got a lot of time on LaMelo Ball. Did a great job on him. Uh you know, LaMelo, you’re when you go against player like LaMelo Ball, who’s a very good offensive player. He’s gonna get his licks in. I thought that Fran did a very good job containing LaMelo Ball. And again, this has been a problem for the Magics, containing point guards like LaMelo Ball. They did a very good job surrounding him, making him feel pressure, making him take tough shots, and taking him out of the game and not making the passes that that can that can terrorize the match a little bit. So, really nice effort from him. really liked what I saw from France. And look, he made three of six three-pointers. He’s shooting better than 40% from three right now. Knock on wood. That’s that’s a big big sign for him. Really really great effort. Um Anthony Black got the start for Jaylen Suggs. Magic wanted to keep size on um the mellow ball. Mixed up the rotations a little bit. I want to I I do want to chat a little bit about that. But Anthony Black, Kim getting 20 points, making three three-pointers, three for six from three, eight for 13 from the floor, just being aggressive. And that was huge. And Black who struggled a lot defensively over the last two games. Played really well defensively. Two steals, two blocks, was super active. Had a couple steals on like entry passes to Ryan Kulk Brener to to initiate the offense. He was just really, really active, really, really energetic. Anthony Black is playing with a ton of confidence on offense. his shot has been there this season. Um, you know, again, just generally like at someone someone mentioned this to me that Anthony Black has taken more spot up threes than Desmond Bane. That is a problem. I’m not going to deny that’s a problem. But Anthony Black is making those threes. He’s shooting it confidently. I I really love the way Anthony Black is playing when he’s looking to score. The turnovers are still an issue. He had three turnovers in this game. His playmaking is still an issue. I think the Magic did do a good job ensuring that like Paulo was initiating plays. Fron was initiating plays. Even Desmond Bane was initiating plays. Um, and that was a big big piece of this this too. Desmond Bane continues to struggle a little bit offensively. Nine points. He shot four for 11 from the floor. 0 for two from three. Still very active. Still doing some good things. He had seven assists in this game. So, the attention like the threes aren’t going down right now, but everybody in the league is still scared of Desmond Bane. Now, how long is that going to last? I don’t know. At some point, Desmond Bane is going to need a five for9 game. He’s going to need to shoot threes and the Magic have to do a much better job getting him three-pointers. I think Desmond Bane has a little bit of a problem defensively where he wanders off his man too much. He digs in at the ball and look, if he gets steals, that’s fine, but it makes closing out a little bit harder. He had four turnovers. Two of them were offensive fouls. You know, he’s looking for contact. He’s looking to be physical, which I think the Magic want. Um, this just need to reel that back a little bit. But Desmond Maid has done good at the other things. The Magic need him to make threes at some point. He has to shoot threes at some point. Uh Tristan Dil Silva off the bench at 19 points. He continues his stellar start to the season. Three for seven from three, five for 11 overall, six for six from the foul line. So very, very active there. Wendell Carter, he struggled a lot with Ryan Cochr Brener. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. You know, the Magic were doing a better job containing the ball, but a lot of attention on LaMelo Ball. Caulk Brener is 72, big, big dude. Carter really struggled with his size and his length on the glass. um just a little bit too active and and it took Carter a little while to get going. But he ends the game with 18 points. He has eight rebounds, five offensive rebounds. We need to get those offensive re those defensive rebounds up a little bit. Paulo helped a lot on that with eight defensive rebounds, but 18 points, six for nine shooting, three for five from three. A lot of good stuff from Wendell Carter. Um this was his best offensive game. He looked more like the player that he looked like in the preseason where he’s just kind of sitting in pockets where Paulo could find him. Desmond Bane had a couple really nice assists to him on pick and rolls. He didn’t settle for threes, but he was available for threes, willing to shoot them, and he made them in this game. So, a really I thought a really nice game from Wendell Carter in the end. Play made some big plays down the stretch. There wasn’t a lot of other scoring to report, but the Magic do have 29 assists on 45 field goals. So, very high assist game. If Magic, the Magic get to 30 assists, they’re going to win almost every game they get to 30 assists because again, the ball was flowing, the ball was moving, guys were playing with a lot of energy. the defense gave that ball energy. This is exactly how the Magic want to play. And that gets us to some of the rotation questions that the Magic have. Like Jamal Mosley’s rotations have deserved some criticism. I have criticized it. I usually don’t do that. I I don’t I don’t always feel comfortable doing that, but I said I want consistency. I these guys need to know who they’re playing with. And frankly, you know, the NBA shortened the preseason by about a week. Um it was like five, six years ago now. Used to play like six, seven games in the preseason. Everybody did. Now, the Magic only play four, and it felt like the Magic used essentially the first week of the season, if not the first two weeks of the season to kind of continue the preseason and experiment with some lineups, and there were some weird lineups. Um, Jonathan Isaac kind of got lost in the shuffle in that process. Let’s be clear, Jonathan Isaac was a huge factor in this game and the way Jonathan Isaac played in this game shows exactly why you you just have to be willing to throw him in there and take what you get from him. Um he came in in the second quarter and just made plays. He had three of the Magic Seven blocks. He had a steal. He was just challenging shots all over the place. Just just kind not swinging wildly, but he is just such a bundle of energy. and when he is rotating well, he makes these defensive plays but doesn’t take himself out of the play. Um, this is why I, you know, fans were right to call for Isaac. I think Noah Penda is going to be a good player. Um, I think he did really good things in this game. Um, and and I think he’s played now three straight games or four straight games. Uh, he’s gotten better and more comfortable on the floor in each game. And that’s why you do need a set rotation. That’s why you need to give guys consistent minutes. They need to know where their minutes are coming from, who they’re playing with. That helps them get better. And Noah Penda has gotten better. Noah Penda finished this game 17 minutes, three points, two rebounds. Um added added an assist. I thought he played good defense. He he definitely got ooked a few times. LaMela Ball kind of rocked him to sleep one time. There’s still rookie growing pains and right now I don’t think he can afford rookie growing pains. Like he just you just need to get some something settled. And we know what Jonathan I is going to give us. But Jonathan Isaac just makes big plays and just makes impactful energy plays and that’s reason enough to give him the chance and continue to play him. And he played 15 minutes in this game was really good, really impactful. And I would hope that this means he’s going to play a little bit more. Right now, the Magic need defensive energy. They need guys are going to make defensive plays. They need to get back to that defensive feeling. And when Jonathan Isaac in that second quarter stint was just flying around disrupting everything, that was when this game turned. And that’s when the Magic were able to really pull away and take and and take full control over this game and say like, “No, Charlotte is not doing anything tonight. We are dialed in defensively.” And it’s because, you know, you have a player like Jonathan Isaac who’s going to lift your team’s energy and make those plays. So, really, really strong game from Jonathan Isaac. The Atlanta Magic again have a great offensive game. They shoot 51.7% from the floor. 16 for 38 for three. That’s 42.1%. Another good three-point shooting game. Another good offensive game. They still miss six free throws. 17 for 23 from the foul line. Again, Paulo was two for six. Got to clean that up. They do end up with 14 offensive rebounds, which was more than Charlotte, but Charlotte was able to score a lot score a lot on offensive rebounds, 12 offensive rebounds. Um, if you give me a sec to click to the right page here, I can get you your second chance points. Um, which they don’t list where I need them to be listed, so we don’t know that. Um, Orlando led by as much as 20. They get 21 fast break points off of Charlotte’s 21 turnovers. Charlotte scores uh sorry um Orlando scores 29 points off 21 Charlotte turnovers. Charlotte to 16 points off 13 turnovers. Again, Orlando controls this game. They don’t turn the ball over. They don’t make a lot of those silly mistakes they’ve been making over the last really last five games throughout the season. And that’s a big reason why the Magic were able to get their base established defensively. They weren’t caught in transition. They weren’t they were able to get their defense set, dictate the terms of the game. They they were able to get out in transition themselves. This is the formula. Again, I I mentioned this yesterday. We need to know what the formula for winning is for this Magic team. And we saw that play out in this game. The formula for winning is force turnovers, get out in transition, use Paulo Ben Carro as a hub, make your shots obviously, um don’t make these turnovers that put your defense in a bad spot. So, the Magic I think did a lot of that. And what do you know? They come out with a win 123 to 107. Atlanta Magic, of course, back in action as the road trip continues against the Washington Wizard. Chance to get to two and two on the road trip. Back to three and four can with with Trey Young possibly maybe out for Tuesday’s game. Um with his with his uh knee knee strain, knee sprain. Um definitely a chance for the Magic to be four and four heading back home for the NBA Cup game. So, a lot still to work on, lot still to improve, but we can finally breathe. The Magic have won a basketball game. But 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. You could you can of course find me on Twitter, Philip RR_OMD and on Blue Sky, Philip RR. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcast your tune Google Play Odyssey and all the download podcast to your podcast enabled listening device for the latest on you can also check us out on YouTube to search for locked on magic for the latest on the Orlando Magic. Be sure to check out Orlando Magicaily.com. You can find us on Twitter, omagic Daily. And for even more Orlando Magic content, be sure to check out my newsletter, the Orlando Magic Hub, at patreon.com/orlandomagicub. As always, thank you for your support. Now that you’re done making Lockdown Magic, your first listen of the day, go make your second listen. The Locked On Fantasy Basketball Podcast. 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 Locked On podcast network. It’s your team every day. That’s going to do it for me today though. I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of Lockdown Magic. Have a very happy Halloween. Get lots of candy. Bring some for me. I’m I’m in a candy deficit right now. I shouldn’t be eating candy, but it’s Halloween. There’s no calories for candy on Halloween. It’s science. That’s not true. Don’t flag me, YouTube. Please don’t flag me. Um, but have a great weekend. We will be back here Saturday after the Orlando Magic’s game against the Washington Wizards. Until then, for Orlando Magic Daily and Locked on Magic, this has been Philip Rossman. We’ll see you again next time for another episode of Locked On Magic.

The Orlando Magic snapped their four-game skid with a dominant 123-107 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.

At long last, they returned to their disruptive defensive identity to slow down the Hornets and control the game’s tempo. That enabled the Magic to set up their offense and get everyone involved as the offense overpowered the Hornets.

Paolo Banchero was key to all of this as the hub of activity. He nearly poured in a triple-double and facilitated the movement throughout the offense before closing the door in the fourth quarter.

The Magic are certainly back on the right track.

0:00 Intro
2:10 Defense returns to form against Hornets
10:49 Paolo Banchero’s offensive evolution

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