BREAKING: Franz Wagner OUT! Orlando Magic Face MAJOR Crisis— How they SURVIVE without their star

BREAKING: Franz Wagner OUT! Orlando Magic Face MAJOR Crisis— How they SURVIVE without their star

Just as the Orlando Magic felt like they were becoming whole, another major injury is prepared to test them all over again. How the Magic survive without Fran Vagner 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 December 7th. It will be December 8th, 2025. My name is Philip Rossman Reich. 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, a major injury potentially disrupting the entire Orlando Magic season once again. Why the injury to France Vagger is going to test the Magic in a major way and what the Magic lose in losing France Vager. We’re going to 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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Like we could feel it even Friday night and some of the frustrations that happened Friday night and some of the inconsistencies that happened in the win over the Heat on Friday. We could feel that this team was becoming whole. something that we just haven’t seen enough of over the last two years. Last year, Jaylen Suggs, Paulo Ben Carro, and Fron Vagger played a whopping total of 97 minutes together over six games. They dominated those lineups, by the way. Those lineups are crazy good that we never got to see the Magic at full tilt, at full at at its full power. And even though it was clear that Paulo Bancero wouldn’t need time to get himself into into rhythm and rotation, which we’ll talk about here in a minute, we could feel like this is the vision like that this team that had survived without Palo Bera for the last three weeks, for the last 10 games, that they were going to be fine and continue to elevate and grow as the season went on. It took only about seven and a half minutes for those dreams to to come crashing down. Quite literally come crashing down with the Magic up by four points in the first quarter at New York. Another huge game against a team the Magic have had a lot of success against and frankly seemed like the Magic were set to be in another really competitive game and have a chance to get another big win over one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. Another game that could continue coronating the Magic as one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. On a fast break, Anthony Black tried to lob the ball to Fran Vagner. Ariel Hakporti making a play on the ball doing exactly what you’re supposed to do not giving up on the play went up for the block collided with Fron and Fron fell awkwardly to the floor his left leg hyperflexing not not extending hyperflexing and getting trapped underneath him immediately Fron stayed on the floor you could see he was clearly in a lot of pain trainers rushed to him helped him get up but but he was helped back to the locker room by both Mo Vagner and and Noapenda without putting any weight on his left leg. As I am recording this here at 5:20 in the afternoon on Sunday, and I assume the Magic are in the air back to Orlando as I’m recording this, there’s no further word on the injury. We can speculate over what it is. I I don’t think that’s productive. I I’ve seen a you know there there are people they’re of course Twitter doctors and and and I’ve seen a few of them um speculating on what this could be from best case to worst case scenarios and again like best case scenario it’s probably just a strain some strained ligaments and a bone bruise which you know could be three three to six weeks or could be something much more serious and we’re we’re going to wait to dive into that part when it happens as I sit here talking to you, recording this. You are in the future. Maybe you know more than I do. As I sit here talking to you and recording this, we don’t know how long the Magic will be without Fran Valker. But they will be without Fran Valker. He is not playing in Tuesday’s game against the Miami Heat in the NBA Cup. Nor should he even in the best case scenario. Even if he wakes up tomorrow feeling super duper fantastic. if you feel super duper fantastic. But it is it is likely we are going to be without France Vagger for several weeks several weeks if not a month if not potentially several months which is extremely disappointing because we are officially six weeks away from the Magic’s trip to Europe and and those big and that big game that France Vagner certainly wants to be a part of. We will wait then to hear word on that. But what we do know is the Magic have to find a way to fill in again. We are back in this world of next man up. We are back in this world of trying to piece together how to play and how to succeed without one of the Magic’s best players. A player who may not be a top star all the time or may not like to be the top star all the time, but finds a way to fit in and make things happen. And certainly at this stage where Paulo Ben Carro is clearly still working his way back into shape and back into the rotation and back into rhythm, a humongous loss as his team tries to reconfigure itself again. The process is not going to be clean and and look, a lot’s going to be on Paulo Vanca and we’ll talk about that here in a minute. But this is once again a test. The reason you go out and get a guy like Desmond Bane is because he can fill in as your second score or your lead score as needed. The reason why you invest in your bench and believe in some of the guys coming off your bench like Anthony Black, like Ogatad, like uh like Taius Jones, like the reason you believe in these guys like Tristan Dilva, like Jaylen Suggs because you believe that they could step up. The same mantra that carried the Magic to a 7 and3 record in the 10 games that Paulo Benro missed is the same mantra that exists now with with Fron Vagner potentially out for an extended period of time again. It’s not about trying to be France. No one no one can be Fran Vagner. It’s about doing your role better. And again, that perhaps understandably, I do think the Magic were a little shell shocked. This this this feels like a major injury. I am I’m an optimist. You guys know, you listen to me. I I’m an optimist. I will believe the best is possible until I’m told otherwise. And again, I’m recording this at 5:30 in the afternoon here on Sunday on Sunday afternoon. Perhaps you know more than I do at this point. I’m hopeful that it is just the bone bruise and it is just uh some strained ligaments because those aren’t structural things. Those are just sit sit down, rest, get better and we’ll see you when we see them. I’m hopeful that is the case. We don’t know. And it feels pretty bleak. It c it can feel pretty bleak. But let me be clear about this too. This magic team is plenty capable of winning games. This magic team is plenty capable of still accomplishing their goals. This Magic team is plenty capable of doing more than just holding the ship steady, but thriving and succeeding. Anyone thinking the Magic are about to drop out of the playoff chase is silly. Anyone thinking the Magic can’t compete for the homecourt advantage anymore is silly. this team is good enough. I have said that a million times. Maybe the margin for error is a little smaller. Maybe the Magic can’t be title contenders and and I I will agree with that. That the best version of them is all of these players playing together, but the Magic are about to be tested again. Their culture, their identity, their players, their togetherness, all of it is going to be tested here in the next several weeks with Franlocker. The question is, how do you fill in for him? How do you make up that absence? And the Magic’s 106100 loss to the New York Knicks on Sunday gives us a hint of the process the team will need to be successful. Let’s not dwell in the past then. Let’s not dwell in what we don’t know. Let’s talk about what we do know. How the magic move forward. We’re going to get to that coming up here in just a moment. But first, today’s episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to our friends over at Robin Hood. Nobody knows your money goals better than you. Robin Hood puts you in control of your money with tools that work as hard as you do. 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. Or 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/youoney. Again, that’s robinhood.com/youmoney. Your money, your move. 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We we we’ve seen the magic succeed and thrive without Paulo Vancero. And you know, maybe some of the analytics people think that that it’s easier to survive without Palo Vancerero because France Vagner fits more into a scheme and and more into a group. And you know, maybe he’s better at playing up than Paulo’s playing down and integrating into a team. I don’t buy any of that. This team has two all-star players and they’re both very capable of leading this team and being successful. And if the Magic want to win in a championship team, they’re going to need both. So Paulo Ben Carro is very, very capable of guiding and leading this team with Fron out. And we didn’t get to see that a lot last year. And obviously they both came back about a week apart from each others last year. So Paulo wasn’t even up to speed yet. But for however long that Fran Vagger is out, this is going to be the Paulo Banero show and it’s going to be the whole team show in exactly the way it was for the last month, for the last three weeks without Paulo. So this should not be unfamiliar to this team. Again, if if you think that if you have faith that the Magic can succeed without Paulo and France in there, there is no reason to think the other way can’t work. But it’s gonna take the team really committing to their identity. It’s going to take the Magic really being attentive to detail. The margin for error is smaller. It’s going to take some guys stepping up who stepped up during the last three weeks that are fading around a little bit right now. And it’s going to take some hard lessons that the Magic did not apply well in the loss to the Knicks on Sunday. Because at the end of the day, what matters right now is the Magic B themselves. Their formula to winning is very, very simple. And it was the same deal with with Fron in the lineup as with the Fron in and Paulo out. The Magic’s offense is based on getting downhill to the paint, living in the paint. It’s about using their defense to create their offense, about being strong on the defensive end. Something this team’s gotten a lot better at over the last three weeks. They’re back in the top 10 in offensive rating. You know, you look at the off, you look at the the the numbers in this game and the Magic posted a 110.4 defensive rating that’s below their average for the season. They only scored 104.2 points per 100 sessions, which is part of the problem. Um, we’ll get to some of those numbers here in a sec. The Magic are going to have to find that kind of flow again. And again, in this game, the Magic just just didn’t. And and again, some of it is understandable. In the seven and a half minutes that Fron Vagner played, first seven and a half minutes of the game, 717, even seven and a half, 717 of the game, the Magic had a 104, 146.7 offensive rating. 146.7 against a 120 defensive rating. Magic were up by four. Very small sample. Don’t read too much of that. But the Magic offense was flowing and working really, really well. And obviously, it decreased from there to get to 104.2 two and the Magic have had really bad offensive showings now in their last four games. There’s reason they’re no longer in the top 10 in offensive rating and we expected them to come back down to earth. We’ll talk about some reasons here in a minute, but a big key for this Magic team is getting in the paint and that needs to continue to be the focus because that frankly wasn’t a big enough focus in this game. Orlando entered Sunday’s game fourth in the league with 54.7 points in the paint per game. Fran Vagner, for the record, scored 52% of his 23.4 points per game. Again, entering Sunday’s game. I’m not including Sunday’s game in the stats. In the paint, more than half his points came in the paint, according to NBA.com. He he and Paul Powell Vancero, by the way, you know, I I don’t have Powell’s numbers up, but but I’m sure they’re very similar. They are demons at getting downhill. And again, like you look at some of these numbers, too. The Magic could have been worse with Fron Vagner offensively overall. Like just taking a look at the overall numbers here. The Magic currently have a 113.9 offensive rating with Fron in the lineup. That’s one they’re 115.7 overall. Paulo’s at 114.8. So both guys have struggled a little bit finding the right offensive lineups. And again, you’re going to be searching for offensive lineups here in a minute. Lineups here for a while. The Magic in this game scored only 42 points in the paint. They were 21 for 43 shooting in the paint. Again, you’re shooting worse than 50% in the paint. That’s a problem. That’s been now two out. They did that against San Antonio as well where they’re just a little too fast, a little too sped up, like not taking their time to finish at the rim. They’re not getting to the line as much either, which is a huge factor. Getting downhill, getting to the paint, forcing contact, getting to the rim. That’s the Magic offense and that’s the part the Magic need to double down on. That’s the part the Magic need to be better at because their 42 points in the paint were the second fewest points in the paint the team has scored this season. Believe the only fewer was against Brooklyn. The win against Brooklyn which was again kind of a disaster game that did not go the way the match wanted to and they were bailed out by their three-point shooting in that game. Well, guess what? They went 12 for 42. They shot 28% from three in this game. 42 is the most three-point attempts they’ve taken in a game this season. Yes, the Magic are a better three-point shooting team. Yes, the Magic need to make and take more threes, but this should not be a heavy three-point shooting team. They really should be capped at like 35 three-point attempts. And so to survive this era, to survive this stretch, to survive what’s going to come in the next few weeks, the Magic need to double down on their identity. The Magic showed their fight. Let’s make that clear. They’re they weren’t sharp. You could kind of tell they were not sleepwalking, but you could tell they were in a days a little bit. You could tell they were just a little frantic. There’s a lot of frustration. You know, we could talk about Desmond Bane spiking the ball off OG and Nobi and you know, again, we know Dez is a talker. We know he’s gonna be a little little like that. He’s gonna be a little little gruff like that. And we don’t mind it, but like that was that was just hilarious. That was just that was just silly. I don’t buy for a second that he was falling out of bounds. He had plenty of room to get that rebound. He wound up and spiked the ball off of OG Anobi. And so on behalf of Orlando Magic fans, OG Anobi, and all Knicks fans, we’re sorry about that. Dez, Dez is Dez. We look forward to the playoffs. Keep booing him. Magic don’t mind being villains. Um, but yeah, that’s but that’s that was like the mindset of this game is like there was just a lot of frustration. And so again, like the game matters. The Magic still had a chance to win. They were up one at the half. They fought back to get up one at the half. They gave up the first 13 points in the in the second half in the second half fought their way back into the game and and again just couldn’t muster the offense because they couldn’t get downhill enough. Certainly some of that is Paulo still looks rough like he still looks rough around the edges. had his 16 points that was four for 11 from the floor. Just really three of his four makes field goals were threes. Like p five of six from the line. Like Paulo isn’t at full speed yet. And and that’s the bigger concern right now about the injury is that in order for this whole thing to work, in order for the Magic to find success with their best players out, Paulo needs to be Paulo. Not coming back from injury Paulo, not trying to fit in Paulo. They need him to be Paulo. So ultimately, again, it’s it’s what Jamal Mosley said when Paulo first went out. for the Magic to succeed without their star player. It’s not that they don’t have enough. They have enough. Jaylen Suggs can pop off for 20. Desmond Bane can pop off for 20. Anthony Black can pop off for 20. Paulo is going to be consistently scoring 20 points per game once his minute restrictions off and he’s comfortable and in rhythm. They’ll they’ll be fine. They have the scoring. They have the attacking. They have enough. Don’t don’t don’t anyone claim the season’s over and they don’t have enough. they have enough if they play up to their potential. But it’s going to be about everyone doing their roles and performing their roles better. Not doing it differently, not trying to be France. No one needs to be France Vagner as good as he is as fitting into gaps and and cutting, which is going to be the biggest thing they’re going to miss. They just need to be able to attack and get downhill. And if the Magic can live in the paint, everything else will open up. And they have the players to get in the paint. Dez Dez is struggling in the paint right now. like he’s just he scored 10 of his 16 points in the third quarter. Helped the Magic get back in the game. Again, like give Dez all the credit, helped the Magic get back in the game, but he was still sort of overcooking layups. He was still going too fast when he got to the rim. Still just felt very hurried up. So, the Magic right now need to and again, I’m not blaming anyone for that. Like this game with the emotion attached to it. These are human beings. Their brother, their friend, their teammate went down with what looked like a major injury. You have to think a little bit about your mortality at that point as a player and as an athlete. I’m not blaming guys for being a little rattled. And then look, they played a little rattled. I I’m I’m not going to pretend otherwise. It stinks. It It’s It’s the brakes, but I’m not I’m I’m I’m going to excuse a little bit of it. That can’t happen moving forward. Now you have to find your resolve, find your steel, find find what you need to push forward. Because while Fran Vagger is one of the best drivers on the team and one of the best guys at forcing action around the basket and just getting downhill, that’s what the Magic need is just guys who could get downhill. They still need more guys who can get downhill. They have enough to survive. They have enough to be competitive. They have enough to keep winning. Now, obviously, the margin for error is smaller now. You’re not going to be able to play like you did against Chicago and win. You’re not going to be able to play like you did against Miami and win. You can’t rely on Desmond Bane or Paulo Beno to rescue you the way that that you have over the last few weeks. You’re going to have to be consistent. And that’s what you lose when you lose your best players is you lose consistency. You lose a security blanket. But again, this isn’t anything the Magic haven’t done before. And so, commit to your identity. Commit to who you are. and you’re going to find success moving forward. Let’s fill in the gaps then on this game. Talk a little bit more about where the magic went wrong, how individuals played. We’ll get to that coming up here in just a moment. But first, today’s episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to our friends over at FanDuel. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play and suddenly everything feels different. That’s what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You’re not just watching the game. You’re reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you can place bets as the action unfolds. Every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. Live betting is best when the games start to shift. Like when Paulo Ben Carro gets cooking or Desmond Bane hits a couple threes in a row, the momentum flips and FanDuel lets you jump into that moment. Not just for football, but for basketball as well. Live spreads and money lines adjust instantly. Player props update as guys heat up. could bet next touchdown scores, drive results, totals, and more. Keeps you locked in on every snap, every drive, and every possibility. Obviously, we are now on the precipice of the humongous, humongous NBA Cup game. Obviously, now played without Fran Vagner, most likely without Fran Vagner. We’re looking ahead to Tuesday’s game against the Miami Heat. The Magic have gone from five and a half point favorites to two and a half point favorites over the Heat in the NBA Cup game. the Knicks favored by three and a half over the Toronto Raptors. So, there’s a good chance the the the betting odds are that the Magic will face the Knicks in Vegas in the Eastern in the semi-finals of the NBA Cup. If you’re looking to see who will win the NBA Cup, the Magic have now fallen actually below the Miami Heat at plus 1,200 to win the cup. Even though they’re favored to beat the Heat, their odds are now below the Heat to win the cup. Go, go figure. You can go get that and plenty more at FanDuel. So, if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com and place your NFL and NBA live bets all season long. FanDuel, the game moves fast and so can you. All right, this is Philip Rossman Reich, the host of Lockdown Magic once again coming to you after a 106 to 100 loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. If you I don’t know why you joined late. uh I guess if you’re watching live on YouTube, but the big story was obviously Fran Vagner uh going down with the leg injury. It is currently 5:41 p.m. Uh and I am still seeing no updates on my end about what Fran Vagner’s injury might be. So, we’re all waiting with baited breath and hopefully it’s good news. Hopefully, it is it’s going to be a major injury. He’s going to miss time. He’s probably going to miss about a month. I would hope that the goal is he’ll be back for the Berlin trip if it’s if it’s not too serious, but we don’t know. We don’t know uh what the extent of the injury is. So, we will wait to hear about that and have more for you on that on tomorrow’s episode of Lockdown Magic as we preview the game against the Miami Heat uh on on on Mon on our next episode of Lockdown Match. But let’s as we always do go through the box score as your Orlando Magic fall to the New York Knicks 106 to 100. Um, again, Fran Vager is a huge loss. In 717, he scored seven points on three for four shooting. Was one for one from three, three rebounds, plus four. The Magic were up four at the time of his injury, just weaving through the through the lane, getting out in transition, scoring around the basket, like doing Fron things. Fron, I want to say Fron has been like super duper amazing. Like I I I I’ve seen a lot of early all-star game ballots. Um, and a lot of people are leaving Fran Vager off their All-Star game ballots. There’s a lot of good international players, but you’re still voting east, west first, and then they’ll fill in the international players. Um, I would agree that Fron hasn’t always been all-star level, but he’s been very, very good, very, very consistent, and that’s the number one thing you want from a star. And look, he’s had his big games. I’m not going to pretend otherwise, but Fran was due for another big game. He loves playing the Knicks. He’s tortured the Knicks all season, and it looked like he was on his way doing so again. And and that was a huge turning point in the game that the Magic lost Fron Vagner in that moment. It was a struggle for anyone else to fill in the gaps. Just just frankly, no one else was able to fill in the gaps for the Magic. Jaylen Suggs finished with 17 points on six for 16 shooting. He was one for six from three, four for five from the foul line, four assists, two turnovers. Magic were fine with turnovers. 12 turnovers for 11 points. They’ve been pretty good about turnovers over the last month. So, not, you know, turnover problems were were bad early. They’ve been a lot better lately. So, I’m not super concerned with turnovers. Um, Andy Black had four. That was the big one. He had four of the 12. We’ll get to Anthony Black in a sec. Um, but Jaylen Sug shooting six for 16, one for six from three. Um, again, too many threes. Magic shot 42 threes. That is a season high. They’re not going to win a lot of games shooting 42 threes unless they’re making a ton of them. So, you make 12 of 42, that’s 28.6%. Not so good. Now, again, they made more than the Knicks. So, on a math basis, the Magic made the shots and made more threes and and did all those things. Um, and so that is surprising. Um, but again, the Magic aren’t a three-point shooting team. They missed a lot of shots. They missed a lot of shots in the paint. They didn’t score enough in the paint. And again, maybe maybe some of those threes were open and they just missed them. Noon game noon game I don’t really want to buy the noon game. Excuse Magic made their shots early. The Magic just aren’t a consistent three-point shooting team. So, are we at the bottom of the trough and they’re about to swing back up and have a couple good shooting games or is are they going to kind of settle in as a low 33-point shooting team rather than being like 33 34% which is where I think they probably need to be too many threes either way. Uh Suggs was one for six, Desmond Bane was two for four. If Bane is two for six, I’m better with it. And Sug is going to take a lot of threes. So, maybe it’s just a bad three-point shooting game for Suggs. Maybe he shoots better on Tuesday and all is forgiven. Again, shooters shoot. That’s all it is. Suggs. Suggs led the team in scoring. Was able to get downhill a little bit, but I wouldn’t say it was a particularly effective game. Really not effective game for anybody outside of Desmond Bay in the third quarter. Desmond Bane had 16 points on seven for 15 shooting, two for four from three. He started the game off two for seven. So he made five of his last eight and 10 of his points came in the third quarter as the Magic erased the 13-point def or 12-point deficit after they gave up the first 13 points of the second quarter. Again, the Magic at times felt like they were in a days. Like they just they like against Miami when they gave up runs, they stayed within it. Like even San Antonio, like they’d have these like little pockets where they give up four, five, six point runs, but then that would be it and they’d bounce back and they get back in the game and climb back in. This game the Magic gave up some extended runs. And again, some of that might be they’re on the road. Magic aren’t a great road team yet. They’re five and six on the road. Um which would make them nine and four at home. um they were just giving up these kind of longer stretches of scoring where their defense just couldn’t quite reel them in. Again, you shoot 38.3% from the floor. It’s going to be hard to win any game um any game anywhere. And and they were 16 for 24 from the foul line. They missed eight free throws in this game. Some of them you expect like Noenda missed two free throws late in the game. Um Paulo missed a free throw, Carter missed a free throw, Jaylen missed a free throw. So they, you know, Jonathan Isaac missed two. Just little things that add up. But if you’re taking 30 free throws and you’re making 23 24 of them, that’s one thing. And again, the Magic made took more free throws than than the Knicks. The Knicks got 12 of their Jaylen Brooks at 12 of their 20 free throws. So this fouling wasn’t the issue. But again, Orlando, like Orlando’s formula for success is get downhill, get to the paint, get fouled. And you know, maybe some of the paint problems lately are the Magic are not getting the benefit of the whistle they were getting two, three weeks ago or a week ago even. Um, and so that’s an adjustment they have to make and it’s adjustment that they’re perhaps perhaps just struggling to make. So something something to consider there. Uh, we’re at 30 minutes. So let’s talk Palan Carol. Palan Carroll played 24-28. So blew past whatever minute restriction he was in. And you know, I’m sure his minute restriction seemed to be 20 on Friday. I would doubt that he was approved for 24 and a half minutes. the Magic kind of turned to him to just kind of give them a chance and keep them afloat as they were trying to get back in the game in the fourth quarter. This game really ended um you know so the Magic were down by eight entering the fourth quarter. They sat Jaylen Brunson to start the quarter and New York scored the first seven points of the quarter to go up by 15 and it was just like well if the Magic can’t score and the Magic can’t eliminate this deficit with Brunson on the bench and force Brunson back in it’s going to be really really hard. And again, credit to Magic. I think they got it down to six at one point or got it down to three at one point um before New York ascended back out and then the bench group got it down to six and and made it a little frisky and and got Mike Brown to put Brunson back in for the last like 15 seconds um which was silly. Um the Magic just could not really sustain much and and look some of that is just Paulo Banker. He looks like he is been out for a while like he just he just doesn’t look like he has his stamina on his wind yet. um his his desire to attack. He’s attacking quickly. I want to give him credit for this. 16 points, four for 11 shooting, three for six from three, five for six from the foul line, two assists, one turnover. They’re there. The shooting is a little offensive, but a lot of them are jumpers and and I think he was settling a little bit. I think his desire to attack and kind of test things out is a little bit off, frankly. Um I think that I think that he is trying to attack quicker. Like honestly like I think I think he generally is trying to fit in and trying to be a facilitator more and if something’s not there to move it quicker and yeah there’ll be some stints where he’s looking to get his own shot and I think the Magic are specifically trying to get him his own shot in those moments but I think generally Paulo is trying to do the right things but as I mentioned like now that Fran is out though we’re fitting in for Paulo Paulo’s got to be the dude. Paulo’s got to be the guy. And so much like I think Paulo being out helped Desmond kind of flip his mindset and flip how he attacks things. And again, Desmond Bane is trying. He might be a little reckless at time, but he’s trying. Um, I think to some extent, Fron’s injury is going to help Paulo a lot and and and get him up to speed quicker. Now, again, I would say this, Paulo looked gassed at the end of this game. Um, his defensive rotations were terrible. He was very very late recognizing some some his lowman responsibilities and sliding over to stop shots at the rim. Um, there’s there’s work to do and and again, some of this most of Paulo’s problems to me are about he just needs to play more. And look, it’s hard. You know, Jeff Turner mentioned this on the on the FanDuel Sports Network uh uh broadcast. It’s really hard to build a rhythm in just these five minute spurts because it feels like every time Powell is about to build a rhythm and start to find his groove, he comes out of the game and has to kind of restart from scratch. So, like I said, you don’t want guys to get hurt. I do think this injury will help speed up the process of getting Paulo back into the swing of things. Hopefully hopefully he’s able to play a lot more and able to do a lot more. So, we will see like like we will see. Another really difficult game for Wendell Carter. He had eight points, two for eight shooting, one for five from three. So, three-point shooting started to cool off a little bit with Wendell. Um, he’s struggling around the basket. He does not look as explosive as he did early in the season, which, you know, again, you you kind of expect. Um, seven rebounds, but he got demolished on the glass by Mitchell Robinson. And I don’t think it was all his fault, but Mitchell Robinson had eight offensive rebounds for 13 total rebounds. New York had 15 offensive rebounds. Now, Orlando had 17. So, it’s not like Orlando is not getting offensive rebounds. The Magic beat the Knicks 16 to 12 on offensive rebounds, but it’s more the opportunity. There were just these backbreaking rebounds, these backbreaking plays where the Magic look like they’re about to get a stop. New York got a rebound or and got a three or got another three and then another rebound or missed a three and then got another rebound. It’s just these like little backbreaking plays. Now, look, New York is one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the league. Mitchell Robinson is probably the best is probably the best offensive reb that’s not on the Houston Rockets. Um it’s not all Wendell Carter’s fault. He had to clean up a lot of stuff. The Magic switching scheme on Jaylen Brunson was really complicated. But again, just like when you’re at an offensive deficit, which the Magic are right now, when you’re trying to get out in transition, not securing rebounds is killer. And so while the Magic won those stat categories, um Noah Appenda had three offensive rebounds in his limited minutes. Well, the Magic won those stat categories. The Magic have to be better. Similarly, Anthony Black played 30 and a half minutes, 14 points, six for 16, shooting one for seven from three. Again, no stat is more correlative with the Magic winning than Anthony Black shooting. Shot poorly. Magic loss, even though he scored 14 points. He had 11 rebounds, loved his activity on the glass, had four assists. Love that. Four turnovers. Just he and Desmond Bane at the same time have both been really wild at their finishes around the basket. they’ve been frustrated about not getting foul calls. Um, it’s been it’s been rough. Like, it’s just it’s just it’s it’s just it’s just been rough. And so, I think that I think that like look, you have bad games. Newton games are weird again, injury, all that. we’ve been seeing a little bit more like inconsistency and and and again like the big reason I think the Magic succeeded with Paulo Benur out was not because of anything the starters did like death Ben played better a bunch of guys played better it was because Anthony Black took took this mini leap and so it feels like we’re kind of at the end of that and now it’s about okay how can we build a consistent layer for him he’s confident now which is good how can we build a consistent layer for him just Dilva continued his struggles I believe he’s like nine for 30 in his last threes He’s nine of his last 30 from three. He was 0 for seven, 0 for three in this game. Did have five rebounds. He’s going to be leaned on to fill some of that starter role. They’re not starting Jonathan Isaac. That’s a bad idea. Um I don’t like Paulo at the three, honestly. So Tristan D Silva is kind of your guy. Um we’ll see. Again, he’s just got to get he’s he’s hit a wall. He’s just got to get better get better on that front. Um you got to give credit to the Magic’s bench group, especially Jace Richardson and Noah Penda. Um, Magic played the last six minutes or so, about the last six minutes with their bench group, you know, essentially conceding the game. They helped cut a 15-point lead down to six and made New York sweat a little bit. They had to bring back their starters to just make close the game out in the last 15 20 seconds. Couple of missed shots. Again, there’s just a lot of timely miss threes. If the Magic shoot halfway decent from three, this is a game. And and the Magic certainly a winnable game. You only lose by six, but it just felt like the Magic couldn’t get the the the big shots that they needed. as has been the case whenever Noah Penda and Jayce Richardson play they make good things happen. They make some rookie mistakes. I’m not gonna say that. I’m not gonna say otherwise, but they just make good things happen. And so it may not be this year. Like, you know, I know there’s a lot of people that want to see them play and and that’s that’s true. They should play and they need there needs to be a plan to play them because they are impactful. They need this experience. It may not be this year that they play, but they’re going to make they’re going to make an impact to this team moving forward. It’s it’s it’s very clear to me that Noah Penda and Jace Richardson are players and contributing players and are going to help this team in the future. I always remind people this. You don’t draft rookies for their rookie year. Whatever you get from a rookie in their rookie year is great. You draft them for the development and the growth that they’ll have over the course of that rookie contract over those first four years. And so, yes, find a way to play these kids more. They they make good things happen. Jonathan Isaac was fine today. Tyus Jones was mostly fine today. Got targeted a little on defense, but again, we know that’s going to happen. That’s going to happen with Jace anyway, so you’re not losing much there. Both of these guys did good things and continue to do good things and continue to merit more playing time. And that’s I think all I really have to say about this game. The Magic again shoot 38.3% from Florida, about a 104 offensive rating, 12 for 42 from three, that’s 28.6%, 16 for 24 from the foul line. They score 42 points in the paint, the second fewest points in the paint they’ve scored this season, they get beat in the paint 50 to 42. Again, Magic 21 to 43. You shoot less than 50% in the paint. That’s a problem. They’re supposed to be easy shots, supposed to be in the high 50s on those shots. And again, credit to the Magic, they only give up 25 to 47 shooting in the paint. So, they don’t even get more shots in the paint than the Knicks. That’s a problem. gota you got to win that battle. Orlando does win fast break points 17 to 12. So Orlando was able to get out in transition. They’re able to defend the Knicks really well. This again one of the best offensive teams in the league. They’re a team that regularly scores more than 115 120 points nightly. I think they got a 120 offensive rating. They’re held 42.9% shooting, 11 for 35 from three, 17 for 20 from the foul line. Jaylen Brunson at 30 points, nine for 12 from the foul line. Um Ojanobi had 21. He was a big difference in this game. Josh Hard had 17. Mal Bridges at 12. And that’s about all the scoring. Gashan Yabiselli had eight. That was their next highest score. Um Orlando’s defense had some holes, had some pockets where they didn’t play well, but the Magic’s defense continues to round into form. They’re back in the top 10 in defensive rating. They’re almost back in the top five in defensive rating. Their defense is carrying the day. And so, if they can defend it at at a high level, the offense is going to come back around at some point and they’ll start picking up wins even without France on the floor. And I I am very convinced the match will be will be able to kind of sustain themselves and and succeed. Maybe not beat the Denvers or beat the OKCs or beat the best best best best teams in the league. Um but they’ll be able to compete on a nightly basis and should be able to still rack up wins again after this West Coast trip coming up. So the Magic do their NBA Cup games and they go out west. Magic schedule lightens up a ton when they get back from the West Coast trip. uh you know if you’re going to be without if you’re going to be without France Vagner for four to six weeks this is the four to six weeks to be without him because the schedule the schedule’s going to be manageable and again it’s about just staying in the race stay in the race get everyone healthy and then you’ll be able to zoom past everybody um again I am about at I’m about at six o’clock um I’m about at six o’clock and there’s no word yet on Fron Vager uh my my trusty My uh my trusty plane tracker tells me the Magic actually delayed getting out of New York, which is frustrating. Um because that you play an afternoon game to get out early and get home, but they may not be home till late. Um so we won’t probably hear about Fran Vogger for a little bit. Probably won’t hear about him till tomorrow. I’ve seen a few fan photos um circulating of Fran leaving on crutches, not in a wheelchair. I’m actually going to look at the photo right now. Um doesn’t even look like his foot foot is in a boot. It’s not that as good as the problem, but um again, we’ll don’t want to speculate too much. I’m not into being Twitter doctors. We’ll wait for the official diagnosis when the Magic at home and we’ll probably hear about it tomorrow. So, that’s where we’re at. Unfortunately, we do have to deal with and reckon with the injury to France Logner, but that’s where we’re at and we’re going to move forward from there. The Orlando Magic fall to the New York Knicks 106 to 100. They are back in action Tuesday in the NBA Cup quarterfinal at the KIA Center. So, pack the KIA Center with blue. I don’t want to hear any of those ugly ugly heat chances that we heard on Friday night. Pack it in blue, you know. Pack it in blue, blue and white. I ignite it. It’s a playoff game. We want to go to Vegas and hopefully we’ll see you in Vegas as well. 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. Of course, find me on Twitter, phipr_omd, and on blue sky, phipr. You can subscribe to podcast Apple podcast. Search your tune in Hway Google Play Spotify Odyssey and also on my you download podcast to your podcast enabled listening device for the latest. You can check us out as well on YouTube to search for lockdown match. We are closing in on 5,000 YouTube subscribers. So help me feel good about myself and complete my vanity project by subscribing to the show on YouTube as well. For the latest on the Orlando Magic, be sure to check out orlandomagicaily.com. You can find us on Twitter Daily. And for even more Orlando Magic content, be sure to check out my Patreon page, Orlando Magicub, at patreon.com/orland Magic Hub. As always, thank you for your support. We truly, truly, truly appreciate you for making black magic part of your day and listening to today’s episode. We’ll be back tomorrow. We’ll be chatting with our friends Wes Goldberg and David Remal to preview Tuesday’s big game against the Miami Heat in the NBA Cup quarterfinals. What What What have we learned about these teams since Friday’s game? What did Friday’s game teach us about this big game? Again, I’m expecting another nip and tuck game. I think the Magic and Heat play classic games and and I’m excited to see what they do against each other. So, make sure you subscribe and follow Locked on Magic so you get all the latest episodes. And if Lockown Magic made your Spotify wrapped, prove it on social media. If you do, you can secure a free month of our brand new Everyday Club. Just tag our national locked on podcast network account on any social platform and we’ll drop you a code. Be one of the first to join the everyday club to get your favorite show ad free and exclusive access to the membersonly discord channel. 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The Orlando Magic face a new test as Franz Wagner suffers a significant leg injury in Sunday’s loss to the New York Knicks. The Magic will have to fill back in and find a way to survive once again facing a major injury.

Paolo Banchero is still working his way back from his early-season injury and it is clear he will need to step up more just as everyone will have to fill in with Wagner likely out. The only to move is forward. That means a focus on the team’s offensive and defensive identity to find success.

The Magic were left in a sort of daze as they struggled to shoot and create shots in the paint to stay competitive, ultimately falling short with Wagner out of the lineup.

00:00 Franz Wagner Injury Shakes Magic
11:45 Magic’s Path with Banchero
16:46 Magic Struggle with Paint Scoring
27:58 Magic’s Struggles with Three-Point Shooting
36:09 Black’s Leap, Magic’s Consistency
38:42 Magic Poised to Persevere

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