EP. 567 – Born Again – Orlando Magic Podcast

EP. 567 – Born Again – Orlando Magic Podcast

This is the Sixth Man Show, an Orlando Magic podcast with your hosts Kevin Tucker and Jonathan Osborne covering all things Magic Basketball by fans for fans. Go Magic. What’s going on Orlando Magic fans? You guys are back with the six-man show. Today is November 3rd, 2025. Jonathan Osborne here as always, joined by my co-host Kevin Tucker. Kevin, what’s going on, man? How are you? Isn’t it so funny, Jonathan, that you know, the last time you and I had this conversation? The sky was borderline falling. And now here we are. Let’s see. Uh 2448, you know, between 72 and 96 hours later and we can breathe, you know, just a little bit. We can breathe, but it’s just another great reminder that it’s a long season, 82 games, but the Orlando Magic are trending in the right direction now. How are you doing? I’m doing well. Yes, three and four feels way better than one and four, but the Magic still have a bit of work to do. You know, we’ve seen some teams that we didn’t expect to get off the hot starts that have got off the hot hot starts. And we’ll go through the weekly state of the Magic here in a moment. Take a look at the standings. And I mean, you know, again, super early part of the year. Nothing is out of reach. You would have liked to see this team get off to a better start, but if they have another good week, right? Like, and we’ll talk about the week ahead, but there are three like very winnable games in front of them this week. And then when you look to the following week, there’s another, you know, two, three, maybe even all four in that following week of like games that the Magic might, you know, they might be able to win those. So, yeah, as as good as maybe not as good as we feel, but as better as we feel than the last time that we talked. I don’t know if that’s proper English, but feel so much better as opposed to the last time that we talked after the Magic have picked up the last couple of wins. Yeah. So, so much better. Before we get into the conversations about the magic, the week that was, the week that is ahead, we want to let you know that this show is brought to you by our amazing patrons. These are the people that financially support what we do here at the six-man show. Today, we’re going to shout out Brinyar Halderson, Himmlow Ban, Himro, Debo 1980, Sir Sundown, and Carson Tulo. Those are five of our Hall of Fame and elite tier patrons, which we shout out a handful of those on each and every episode. But we have several different tiers that are available to choose from if you go to patreon.com/the6man show. We also shout out any new patrons that we have. So today I get to shout out Kevin Williams. Shout out to another Kevin. Alex H and only Melo. Thank you guys so much for joining with our amazing Patreon community. So whether it’s the Discord uh that you get to join and talk with other Magic fans or giveaways like we’re about to do in just a second uh or all other kind of fun things that we do uh we’re so grateful to have this amazing Patreon community, not just of diehard Magic fans, but people that believe in our mission, which is to grow this fan base. So, big shout out to all of our amazing patrons. And now, Jonathan, the moment that many of our patrons have been waiting for. Let’s give away an autographed Jaylen Suggs jersey. Yes, I have the great, wonderful privilege of giving away this autographed Jaylen Suggs jersey to one of our wonderful patrons. And that is Kevin. Drum roll, please. This is where you do in like in in post and maybe you’ll add that. Totally kidding. I’m not trying to create more work for you, but that jersey is going to Lori. Lori, who actually joined the Patreon last month, um, not exactly before we announced the giveaway, before we like officially started the giveaway. So, big shout out to Lori, so if that is you, if that is your name on Discord. We do have your contact information, so if we don’t hear from you, you will be hearing from us. Uh, we’ll get your address and all that kind of good stuff, and we will get that jersey shipped out. So, um, we appreciate all of the love and all the support from all of our patrons. This definitely won’t be the last giveaway that we do. It probably won’t be the last giveaway that we do even this season. So, um, you all are always uh like automatically entered in in these types of giveaways. And if you’re an existing patron uh when we start these giveaways, you have like a leg up on the the I guess not really competition. I don’t know the best way to say that, but uh regardless, appreciate everybody that supports the show. Um, and just thank you all. We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without you all. So, it’s greatly, greatly appreciated. Now, Kevin, before we get into the weekly state of the Magic, we do have some news from last week that I forgot to bring up and so we did not go over. Uh, but the Magic announced that they picked up the 2026 2027 team options for Anthony Black, interest, and Dilva. And they didn’t exactly announce that they declined the option for Jedh Howard. just didn’t include that they did. So, we’re kind of insinuating and reading between the lines that they declined the 2026 2027 team option for Jed Howard, which means he is officially going to be a free agent this coming summer. It’s not really a big surprise. He has seen some time in the the rotation this year. Hasn’t really become like a a hallmark of the rotation just yet, but has had some good moments. He has shown some growth. But the reality of this team is that the team is just becoming too expensive to keep guys around that they don’t really value. And just as we talked about like with Cole Anthony after he was moved this off season, one of those moves that’s probably best for everybody at this point in time, now if Jed Howard, you know, enters the rotation and plays really well, I I think the Magic do have like some pathways to be able to bring him back. They’d probably have to move on from some other guys. So, I wouldn’t completely 100 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10,000% close the door on a Jet Howard return, but I think it’s pretty likely that this is Jed Howard’s last season in Orlando, and he deserves an opportunity somewhere else to, you know, get more of a of a look, a team that can be a bit more patient with him. Yeah. And I hopefully I’m not misremembering this, I believe that will also mean he is going to be not just a free agent, but an unrestricted free agent if I’m remembering correctly. So yeah, that means whatever number is out there, whatever he wants to take, he can take it. It’s not a matching situation for the Magic, which again, not a surprise. I don’t think the Magic are going to be losing sleep over that. You know, as much as it pains us to say, maybe a little bit. I know we wanted J Howard to work out. And look, there’s still time. There’s a lot of time left in the season. Who knows how much of an opportunity is he going to get this season? probably not a whole lot but regardless um yeah depending on whatever happens in the offseason obviously uh we’ll see what happens but not a whole lot of surprise but for me I think the bigger story is you know obviously Anthony Black and Tristan Dilva to me it was no-brainers obviously I think for the for the Magic it was also no-brainers but glad to see those guys will definitely be back for the 26 27 season and hopefully maybe beyond completely agree now let’s get to this week’s weekly state of the Magic where we go over how the Magic did this week and how they’re doing um in comparison to the rest of the league in general. This week the Magic went two and two, started the loss with the losses to the 76ers and Pistons in which yes, the sky absolutely felt like it was falling followed by wins over the Hornets and the Wizards. And you know, everything’s not perfect. It’s not everything’s not great. We’re still going to talk about some things, but the Magic definitely are improving. And again, three and four feels way better than one and four. So at three and four, the Magic are currently, at the time of this recording, at least ninth in the Eastern Conference. Three games back of the Bulls. Looks like the Bulls are going to fall to the Heat and get their or the Knicks rather and get their first loss of the season. Two and a half games back of the 76ers, a game and a half back of the Bucks and Pistons, one game back of the Heat and Cavs, tied with the Raptors, Hawks, Celtics, and Hornets sitting there at three and four. But because of the way that the tiebreakers are right now, the Magic sit at ninth in the Eastern Conference. The Magic up from last year where they were 29th in the league in offensive rating, they’re now 23rd in offensive rating with an offensive rating of 113.0. And they are back up to 11th in defensive rating after a couple of good performances with a defensive rating of 112.7, excuse me, 14th in net rating with a positive net rating of 0.2. So even though the Magic are three and four uh with a losing record, they still have a positive net rating at this point in the season. And they are now ninth in pace with 103.29 possessions per 48 minutes. So, the Magic’s still playing with good pace, with increased pace this year, but as Kevin and I will talk about, and as Josh Cohen uh put together an article talking about, which we shared on social media on Sunday, the way the Magic are increasing their pace is really starting with their defense. And that’s what we saw on Thursday against Charlotte and on Saturday against the Wizards. Taking a quick look at the injury report, Mo Vagner still out with the ACL. We don’t have a timet yet on his return. Jaylen Suggs missed Thursday’s game versus Charlotte because it was a back-to-back. He played on Wednesday in Detroit. Right now, they’re still holding him out of back to back for the knee injury recovery maintenance kind of stuff, but he did play on Saturday. And we got a little bit of a scare on Thursday as Fron was questionable versus Charlotte with a heel contusion, but he was able to play on Thursday and I don’t believe he was on the injury report at all on Saturday. So, it seems like he’s going to be okay. Injury report mostly clean. We want to keep it that way. So far about two weeks through the season and yes, we are anxiously awaiting the return of Mo Vagner. Now, let’s talk about the games, Kevin. Let’s go back to Thursday night, which this was coming off of the loss to Detroit, the 135 to 116. Just absolute drubbing at the hands of the Pistons. And yes, the sky felt like it was falling because the Magic in back-to-back performances put up 124 points and 116 points. Lost both of those games, and they weren’t necessarily close. They gave up 136 points to Philadelphia last Monday, 135 points to the Detroit Pistons. Both of which would have been the Magic’s worst defensive output of the season last year. Magic, remember, did not give up 130 points at any point last year, but gave up 130 plus points in back-to-back performances. And we were just sitting here talking like the defense has to be better if this team does not sit down, does not defend. They’re just not going to be good. We talked about that Wednesday’s episode after the Pistons game. Jamal Mosley said the same in his postgame comments to the press. So, we go into Thursday saying, “Hey, second night of a back-to-back against a team that’s been relatively solid offensively this year. You’re not going to have Jaylen Suggs.” But if there ever was an opportunity to dig down deep, show everybody what you’re made of and show us that you are the team that we believe that you can be, Thursday was a fantastic opportunity to do that. And Kevin, to their credit, I think they did just that. Now, it was not great, at least defensively, through the first three quarters. Thought the Magic were really good offensively. Uh, but you give up 85 points through those first three quarters because of how good the offense was. Like literally everything was going in. I know we’re going to talk a good bit about Anthony Black. This was definitely Anthony Black’s best performance of the season, but I was still sitting here like kind of frustrated that you give up 85 points through three quarters. But then the Orlando Magic decided, hey, on whatever date that was, October 30th, Halloween Eve, I guess, is when the Magic decided, hey, you know what? The regular season is here. We need to play like the Orlando Magic. and they had an absolutely dominant fourth quarter outscoring the Hornets 34 or I’m sorry 31 to22. Uh only held them to 16 shot attempts. They were able to force six turnovers in that fourth and they shoot 57% themselves. six of 11 from behind the ark in that fourth quarter and uh yeah that was pretty much the best quarter of the season in my opinion up to that point and they end up with the 123 to 107 win backto back on the road much needed win they got it done without Jaylen Suggs too second of a backtoback like you mentioned Jayen Suggs been on the injury report for those backtobacks so far this season but yeah in instead of Taius Jones starting they decided to start Anthony Black in this game. And lo and behold, look at what happened. Uh not only did Anthony Black have a good statistical game, like you mentioned, 20 points for him, three of six from three, but I think him starting had an impact that kind of rippled across a lot of other guys, you know, nights as well. So, um Paulo, I mean, Paulo was outstanding in this game, not just scoring the basketball, but ended up with 29 and N near triple double. I mean, so close. Come on. Yeah. Um had a couple steals as well. Uh Fronze was good. Yeah. I mean, they they combined for what is that? Five of 10 from three. Just the two of those guys. The team shot 42% from three. Like all the numbers you go through and you’re just got to be super happy with it. Obviously, like you said, the defense in parts of this game wasn’t great, but you know, we talked about it going into that game. You know, Charlotte does like to get out and run and they like to score a lot of points. And if I’m remembering correctly, I think still still to this point that we’re talking, I think 107 might still be their season low as far as points scored. I have to double check that, but if not, it’s really close. The Hornets have been in the 120s for a lot of games. Um, and so, while it wasn’t perfect, could have been better, at the end of the day, you look at the scores, you look at the stats, and you’re like, “Okay, that’s that’s a pretty good win.” Especially again when you factor in second night of a back-to-back division opponent. I know it’s not a good division opponent, but division wins matter when it comes to tiebreers. And so, however you can get them, especially second out of a backto-back, I came away really, really pleased with this one. Yeah. Aren’t you glad we play in the Southeast division. Yeah. Like worst division in the NBA for sure. Well, you know, except you know that powerhouse that plays at KIA center obviously. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. But no, like I came away from this game and it was like I think you had five guys that scored at least 18 points. Like Bronze with 21, Powell with 20, Wendell with 18, he was awesome, Anthony Black with 20. And it just seemed like Anthony Black could do no wrong. Like there were so many like no no yes moments from Anthony Black in this game. Tristan Dilva off the bench with 19 points and the reemergence of Jonathan Isaac. This was the first like performance of the season. He only played 15 minutes. There were moments in those 15 minutes where he was asking to be subbed out because he was all over the place defensively just causing havoc whether it was deflections getting into passing lanes. He ended up with three blocks in this game. I think those three blocks came in the span of like two or three minutes. Yeah. Was just all over the place. And it was like, okay, that is the dude that we need. To know that that guy still exists is really encouraging. But I I don’t I don’t know what has happened with him where he can only play 15 minutes and he’s absolutely gassed in like the closing, you know, moments of of those stints. And it’s especially interesting because he spent all off season like shedding weight and doing cardio. So, you would think that a guy who cut as much weight as he did this off season, like you would just think that he his cardio would be in a better spot right now. So just I don’t really know or have an answer for why that is. Um but this was just a great performance and I was still critical through the first three quarters because through the first three quarters I still did not feel like the defensive intensity was good enough. Like we still were not playing to that standard. And then I’ve got people coming at me after the game like oh well they held them to 107 points. Like folks sometimes we got to read time stamps. Like you got to see when the post was sent out and 85 points through three quarters for this team like it’s just not good enough. Uh just 100%. But 22 points given up in the fourth quarter is very very good. And although it’s impossible for a team to play at that level all the time, right? Like you’re not going to hold teams to 84 points in a in a game in today’s day and age in the NBA, but for that team to be like, “Oh yeah, hey, by the way, we’re still here. we we’re still capable of playing this type of dominant basketball in essentially a must-win game for this team in a difficult environment, different situ a difficult situation with it being the second night of a backto-back. So, a ton of credit to Jamal Mosley for like whatever he said to them. I don’t know if it was in the quarter break between the third and the fourth, it was after the game on Wednesday night, but getting these guys to buy in and be like, “Hey, remember who you are.” like this is a good reminder of what we’re capable of when we really lock in. So, um I was super impressed with way with the way they played in this game and 16 to 38 from behind the arc, 42%. You can’t be mad at that either. Yeah, and I hinted at it earlier and this kind of spills over into the Wizards game, but I think Jamal Mosley also and his staff also deserve credit because um Taius Jones is not getting the same minutes that we saw in week one. And so that that shift has happened. We I I I think they gave him a leash, wanted to see how it went, and you know, it might have been a game or two too long, but regardless, they’ve clearly reeled it in. Now, he’s still playing. You know, he played 14 minutes on Thursday and another what was that? 14 almost 15 minutes on Saturday. 1444. Yeah. Um but it’s not the same. Like he’s not with the starting unit, which Saturday was his best game of the season. Well, it was. Yeah, exactly. It was his best game. Yeah. Yeah. And so I think I think Mosley and company deserve a lot of credit for that because I don’t want to say it’s easy to sit here and say, “Well, he’s a veteran. He’s got to play.” But that that’s part of it, I think. But the fact that just the signs were just so so blatantly obvious that it was not working, I give the Magic. And again, it we we said early on it wasn’t working, but at the end of the day, it the season was a week old when this h it’s not like this happened for a month or whatever. Like a week I when you look back on it, we were really mad at the time, but when you look at back on it, a week isn’t that crazy to give. I don’t know. I It was pretty It was really bad. It was bad. I know. I know. I know. But all that to say, it looks like that is trending in the right direction as well. and Taius hopefully can find a nice role where he’s just getting spot minutes and if he is playing he’s not starting. Um I don’t know. I I I just came away from those two games encouraged by that as well. Yeah. And then Magic take care of the basketball. Uh 13 turnovers in that game on Thursday. And like it’s it’s so evident. I know we’re going to talk about the Saturday game as well, but like this team I like there was a lot of heat thrown at Jamal Mosley the last, you know, week and I I don’t think all of it was deserved. But at this point, like he has provided them with all of the evidence that they need. Like he he has given them a proof of concept to this point. like we sit down and defend, we take care of the basketball, and we play with pace, you know, in getting stops and getting turnovers and getting out in transition, we’re going to score plenty of points, and we’re going to be able to win basketball games. And I know it’s just the Hornets, it’s just the Wizards, but like you win these two games like very, very convincingly, and like Desmond Bane is not playing great in these games. Once that kicks in and we can continue to play at this level of defense, like there’s no excuse for this team to go through like games are like one-off games are going to happen, right? Like it’s your fourth game in five nights. You’re it’s your ninth day on a on a road trip. You’re ready to get home where like you just show up, you don’t have the juice getting off the bus. The energy is not great, but we should not see another three or four game stretch like what we just saw where the defense just completely falls off a cliff. These games are showing you if you defend at a high level, take care of the basketball, not only are you going to have an opportunity to win games, you’re going to win a lot of games going away, right? Like there are 10 to 12 teams around the league that are really going to be able to give the Magic like a tough time no matter what the Magic do. But at this point with the talent that we have on this roster, there’s a lot of teams that if you show up and you defend, you should just be able to beat and beat easily. So this was encouraging. And after the win and after getting our butts kicked in the, you know, previous, you know, four games, it was just like, okay, we’re not going to lose every game the rest of the way here. We’re not going one and 81. The other thing, we will be the first team to ever do that. Yeah. The other thing I’ll just add that I didn’t really have I didn’t know number one. Number two, I didn’t have an appreciation for until after this game was that the Magic after Thursday night, there were three teams in the league that had played six games, three of them. The Magic were one and the Warriors and I can’t remember the other team. It might have been the Thunder. I don’t remember because they played seven at at this point. Yeah. Right. So, uh, only three teams have played six games. Those other two teams, the Warriors and the Thunder, opened their season on true opening night, the Tuesday night of the the regular season. So that means the Magic literally had the most condensed schedule of the entire league through those first, what was that, eight full days, nine full days, whatever it is, Wednesday to the following Thursday. They played six games, the most in the league. The most condensed schedule in the league. Obviously that means there were two back toback six games in nine or 10 days. Nine. I think it’s nine nights. Yeah, six games in nine nights if I’m doing right. That’s a lot. It’s a lot. Two back tobacks in there. like that’s that’s a tough start and I know a lot of those teams were it was some very winnable games but I I think maybe many of us might and I’m definitely including myself in that just kind of glossed over that but when you go from not playing basketball all summer long you know we already talked about the elongated Magic preseason how you had all these just gigantic gaps between games and you turn right around and have to play six games in nine nights two backtobacks um yeah I it it was a lot. And so maybe that maybe that was more of a contributor to the struggles than I initially thought. Who knows? But at least that that stretches behind us. Now, if you’re looking to buy or sell your home, look no further than Positic Group. You’ve probably seen Ken Pix on social media. He’s the guy always talking about real estate in Central Florida. And why? Because he’s smart about it. He’s got a great team. They know how to help you buy or sell your home. The Posit Group, they are your home team on and off the court, not just for the Six-man show, but for the Orlando Magic as well. They’re the official real estate partner of the Magic this season. And when you talk to Posit Group, when you have them help you buy or sell your home, you will see it’s no wonder why they have 1,700 plus five star reviews. They’re in the top 1% of sales in the United States. They know the Central Florida market as well as anybody. And so again, if you’re looking to buy or sell your home, or maybe it’s not you, maybe it’s a family member, a parent, grandparent, loved one, friend, neighbor, co-orker, classmate, whoever, if they’re looking to buy or sell a home, you definitely want to reach out to Positic Group. Go to posic.com. That’s p o zk.com and let them know that you’re looking to buy or sell a home and that it was the six-man show that sent you. Now, it’s time for one of our favorite segments of each week, the jam hot chicken jam of the week. We are going to go back to Saturday night to the second quarter. Magic versus the Washington Wizards. Jaylen Suggs drives to the right side of the lane almost to the right block. Stops his dribble with his man on him. Fron Vardner is being covered in the corner as well. Fron Vardner fakes his defender with the fake point. Jaylen Suggs hits the head fake. Fron Vder cuts back door. Jaylen Suggs finds him for the back door pocket pass. And Fron goes up and throws it down with two hands to give the Magic a 38-35 win in route to the Magic routing or washing the Washington Wizards. That is this week’s Jam Hot Chicken Jam of the Week and Jam Hot Chicken is proudly serving the city beautiful, bringing jams culture and hot chicken to the heart of Winter Park, but also Winter Garden as well. Now at their new Plant Street Market location, Jamh Hot Chicken is a Nashville and LA inspired hot chicken shack. Locally owned and operated in Winter Park and now in Winter Garden. Follow them at jamhotchicken on all social media. Be sure to check them out at jamhotchickfl.com to access their menu, online ordering, and all things jamhot. And when you stop by Jam, when you get to the checkout, let the the cashier know that, hey, I’ve got this code six man. That’ll get you 10% off each of your orders at JamHawk Chicken. Not only are Jam great friends and supporters of the show, but they’re also huge diehard Orlando Magic fans. So, they love everything that we’re doing here. They love Magic fans. So, be sure to give them your support. And when you go, let them know that the boys at the Sixman Show sent you. And now, let’s go ahead and get back to our episode. Let’s move on to Saturday night Magic in Washington to take on the Wizards. And this like the fourth quarter Thursday was like a nice, you know, like introduction like a an appetizer, an an orurve if you will to like the I don’t want to say like the reappearance, but like the reemergence of the Magic and then finally being like, “Oh, hey guys, this is the team that we talked about. This is the team that we can be. This is the the standard that we expect to play to. A lot of this is that the Wizards are not good. Yeah, they’re a fun team to watch. They play a hard. They have a lot of young talent. Not a good basketball team right now. Very bad. Very bad. That being said, we’re at the point with the Magic and we have been for the last couple of seasons that you just need to take care of business. Beat the teams that you should beat. Don’t give them any signs of life. Don’t give them any signs of hope. And when it came to that second and third quarter, especially in this game, the Magic showed up and took care of business. The first quarter was was not spectacular. Okay, you’re down 3532 at the end of one offense for both teams. Absolutely humming. really it was like Keshan George like really buoying the Wizards and and and supporting and and holding up that team and their offense in the first quarter, but after that it was literally all the magic. You outscore them 43 to 21 in that second quarter, which to this point best quarter of the season, not even close. You outscore them 28-9 in the third and 22-9 in the fourth. So after giving up 35 in the first, you let them score a combined 40 across the second and third quarters and three straight quarters of 219 19 points. Absolutely dominant defensive performance mixed in with Washington not being very good. But in this game, the Magic had a 116.8 offensive rating, an 87 defensive rating, and a 29.8 overall net rating. This was just as dominant of a performance as you will see. Magic played incredibly well. Uh, great individual performances, awesome team defense, awesome individual defensive performances, and they showed up and just played the way that they need to play. Needed to get this win. Not really excusable to not get this win. And they did it. And they did it going away and it was convincing. This was one of those games, I mentioned it on the postgame live. It’s like the Magic won by what was it? 31. Yeah, 31 points and it probably wasn’t even really that close, right? Like it it was just a beatd down, especially thinking back to that second quarter and parts of the third. Like the Magic literally did whatever they wanted. And again, a lot of that goes to the fact that I think the Wizards are really bad. Like they actually have a win, which I don’t know how I don’t know who they beat, but they have a win thus far this season. And they but I mean Saturday they just they just look a mess. They look terrible. So that’s a big big part of it. But again, if a team’s bad, you should beat them by a lot. And what did the Magic do? They beat him by a lot. So I can’t sit here and complain, you know. Um and yeah, it was another great Palo game, another very good Fron game. Uh Fron with three steals, Powell with two blocks. Like the defense we’re getting from those guys uh quite quite good. I mean again the Palo blocks this season have just been wild. Like I mean just a different level which is very leading the team with 1.3 per game. That’s wild. Like that that’s your leader going out and setting the tone. Yeah, that’s big time. My favorite stat from this game, Jonathan. My favorite stat, Jaylen Suggs in 19 minutes. Five steals. Yeah, in 19 minutes. That is ridiculous. That is so crazy. But again, it’s just testament to him just flying around like a crazy person. He also feels in one turn around. Yep. I was about to say he also had what for me is the highlight of the season so far. The low light of the season. Yeah. I don’t know because we won by 31. It’s my highlight. Um I don’t know. I don’t know if Do they still do Shaq and a Fool inside the NBA on ESPN? I’m sure they do cuz this is going to be on there for sure. If you’re not familiar with what we’re talking about, Jaylen took a three. I mean, it was pretty It wasn’t even in the blowout stages. This was probably like the second quarter, maybe when the team was like really feeling themselves. Yeah. Yeah. Jaylen takes a three right in front of the Magic bench. And as it’s in the air, he’s done this a couple times before. As it’s in the air, and he has made them before. He turns to the magic bench, you know, little shimmy while it’s in the air before it goes in and it doesn’t go in. Now, to his credit, it it rattled like it it probably should have gone in, but it didn’t, and that’s what matters. And so, he looked a little bit silly. Um, but it was still obviously a very funny moment. Now, the magic won by 31, we can all laugh, but it it was pretty pretty exciting. And then Paulo shared it to his like lifestyle uh Instagram account which tells you that like the team has had a little bit of fun with it and given Jaylen a hard I even think he posted it as well. So he did. Yeah. He said you win some, you lose some something some something some something some something. That’s that’s a real one. But it it’s I had tweeted something I think it was Wednesday night against Detroit that this team had no juice and was not playing with the joy that we’re accustomed to seeing them. And that second quarter especially, it was like the joy is back. Like these guys are having a lot of fun. Like Paulo had that play, I think it was in that stretch in the second quarter where he drives, ball kind of goes behind his back, he gets fouled, and then tried to go with the reverse on the left side. Had he made that, oh mercy, we would have had to call up Monty McCutchen and like make a change to the rules of the game like, hey, this game has to end. It’s over now, right? they were just dominating, rolling, and if a guy does that, it just feels right that the game should end and that team should win. But um yeah, this was an awesome performance. Like you mentioned, Paulo Fronns, spectacular. Another really strong Wendell game that’s now two in a row for him. A really good Goa game. Uh guys came off the bench, added a spark as well. Taius, his best game of the year, played 14 minutes, three of four from the uh from the floor, had six points, two rebounds, and an assist. Ji eight points, missed some free throws, but I still thought the defense was really solid. Had some good rebounds. Uh got to the free throw line six times, but only made three of those. He’s got to be able to convert on those a little bit better. But 19 of 22 from the free throw line for the team, 86.4%. We will always take that. 12 of 36 from three. You want to shoot it a little bit better than 33% but 51.1% from the floor. And then you hold Washington. They shoot 39.8% in this game. 33% from behind the arc. They only go to the line 15 times. So you did a good job of defending without fouling. And 15 turnovers for the Magic. It’s kind of in that gray area where it’s not the best. It’s not the worst. Would love them. like if they’re under 15 turnovers to me that’s like this team is doing a good job of taking care of the basketball when they get to 15 it’s like you then you’re getting into that like 16 18 20 territory and and that’s the area that I think is really dangerous for this team combined 23 stocks in this game we’re turning obviously the the Wizards over at an alarming rate but 10 blocks for a team is impressive two from Paulo two from Wendell L one from AB, three from Goa, two from Noah Penda as well. Like just a good old-fashioned defensive buttkicking this team sitting down guarding, taking care of the basketball. And they use that to get out in transition and really um just make Washington pay for not scoring and and and taking care of the basketball. So, um, just was absolutely thrilled with the way that the Magic played in this one. And I went to bed with like a sigh of relief, like, okay, this team looks like the team that we thought we were getting. And I’m just super grateful for that. And I think everybody, coaching staff, players, everybody involved um, deserves credit for being able to like turn this thing around within a week. Now, we’ll see what happens on Tuesday and as we go into the week, you know, the the kind of weekend series against Boston that we’re going to have at home, but good signs. All that is great, Jonathan. Oh, brother. What are you going to say? Hold on. The Charlotte game, great. The Wizards game, even better. I want to ask you a question. This might sour the mood a little bit. Mhm. How are we feeling slash how concerned are you with Desmond Bane so far? Because I’m not I’m I’m really not. Uh what was it on Saturday? He goes one for three from three. I just it’s a it’s a completely different situation for him. And we talk about you know it was silly of us to be worried about Taius like after one week. Like Taius was awful. Like both ends of the floor, the the lineups that he was in, especially with the starters, like supported the the idea that he shouldn’t be playing with that group at least in and not significant minutes. Desmond is still making an impact. Like in this game, he’s a plus 17. He had five assists in this game. And I don’t have his assist numbers up in front of me, but he is right now 3.7 assists per game. He’s shooting 41% from the floor and 25% from behind the arc. He’s shooting 94% at the free throw line. I really just believe it’s a matter of time with Desmond. And the thing is I I forget who he was talking to. I think it was after Saturday night’s game, but was asked about like, “Are you concerned about the shooting?” He said, “No, I’ve had stretchers like this before. Like you just you have to keep shooting the basketball and you have to continue to be confident.” the fact that his confidence hasn’t been shaken at all. And we we have six years of him being one of the elite three-point shooters in the league. I’m I’m not worried about it. This continues for another couple of weeks. Sure. Um I just refuse to believe that we’re going to get screwed on this move. Like I for maybe not for no other reason, but a big part of this is just like I’m refusing to believe that the Magic are going to get burned on this move. We don’t we don’t deserve for that to happen. And although that might not be like a logical reasonable thing to say, I really don’t care. I just don’t think I I think it’s going to work out. And again, six years of evidence of him being near allstar level player. I don’t think that’s something that you just forget. I think Paulo and Fron less less so Fronze France has had a really good start to the season, but took Paulo a little bit of time to get comfortable in this offensive system. I do think playing at a slower pace the last couple of games and sitting down and defending and and letting the team get out in transition and make things a little bit easier for everybody has definitely benefited Paulo. I think it’s Paulo’s probably the most important person on this roster to feel confident in the offense because as good as Fron is, like Fron is, you know, he he’s just very like adaptable and is going to get his no matter what in any system, I think, where Paulo is, as good as we all know that he is, it does seem like, hey, like I I can play different styles, but this is really the style that I thrive in the most. And I think it was most important to get Paulo right first. And we will talk about that. I do think he has gotten right. And not that he was bad before, but we’ve got Paulo good to go. We’ve got Fron. Now they need to spend a little bit more attention on, okay, how do we get Desmond the ball in the spots that he likes? How do we get him more three-point attempts? Because right now, he’s shooting 4.4, which is the same as Tristan Dilva. And as good as Tristan’s been, Desmond’s got to have more opportunities to shoot from deep than Tristan Dilva. So, no, I am not overly concerned. I’m like, “Oh, this is still interesting. It’s not ideal, but no, I’m I’m not panicking. What about you?” Yeah, I’m not panicking. I’m not worried. I I think you and I talked before the season started or maybe early after the season started. We We joke about this term small sample size and we said, “What is when does that small sample size go away?” And I think we said 10 games. I think I think we’re like 10 games gives you it’s not big, you know, but it’s it’s a decent sample size. We’re we’re through seven games so far. And if you take away opening night, Jonathan, where he went three of six from three, if you take that away, he is shooting 20% from three through the other six games, including two overs. He went 0 for against Chicago and over against Charlotte even on Thursday. One of those games that you you blew him blew the opponent out. So, it’s just not not great. These aren’t great signs. Um, and for me, it’d be one thing if he was getting a ton of or taking a ton of threes and just not making them, but like you said, he’s not taking a ton. We were promised like eight to nine threes, I think he said. Now, all of us might have heard that went, I don’t know. I don’t know if it’ll be that many, but the fact that he’s averaging four per game isn’t great either. And so I’m not worried, not totally panicked, but if the Magic are going to fulfill the goals that that we think they should have for this season, Desmond Bane has to be a factor. And so far, at least from distance, he hasn’t. But like you said, he’s been a factor in other ways. Five assists on Saturday, seven on Thursday. He’s found other ways to get involved. And let’s not forget, like we’ve talked about before, he can get to the rim. The last two starting shooting guards never did that. KCP, Gary Harris, forget about it. So, at least he can get to the rim, he can handle the ball, he can get other guys involved. But to truly unlock this team, that three ball has to be going. So, I’m hoping the Magic can find a way to figure that out soon. I think the key to unlocking him is going to be the volume. Like, I’m just going back and looking at uh previous seasons and like some of the stretches that he’s had. Like, I see a 4 for 12 followed by a 3 for9 followed by a three for nine followed by a two for eight. So like the the the makes in those aren’t great, but you just see a lot more volume. Then if we go like a little bit further, you’ll see like a two for six, a two for six, a five for eight, a two for seven, a two for nine, a two for seven, a two for nine, a two for six, a four for nine. So, like he has had stretches where he hasn’t like shot the ball the best, but he hasn’t really had a lot of stretches in his career where the volume’s been as low as he’s had so far. So, I think that’s really like going to be the next step for the Magic offense. Like, yes, getting out and running is great, but we just have to find ways to get him involved more from deep. like he he’s getting plenty of touches, I feel, but we have to find a way to convert that into better looks for him from deep. Even if he feels like he’s got to press it a little bit, even if he walks into the locker room one night and says, “Hey, I’m not even going to dribble the ball into like two-point territory.” Like, every time I touch it, I’m either passing it or I’m letting it fly from deep. Yeah. Like I I think at this point because the pace that they were trying to play with especially like in the half court the first couple of games I think we all realize that right now it was perhaps like a little bit too much all at once where this style where they’re just getting stops and getting out in transition and getting their pace that way I think just suits the roster a bit more. But the next thing that they have to figure out is the Desmond Bane element. Cuz as good as they were on Saturday and they just beat the brakes off of the Wizards, Desmond Bane shoots one of three from deep. Like what does this game look like if he’s like four for six or like five for nine from deep that then you’re winning this game by 40 45 points. So to me that’s that’s kind of the next step. But no, I’m not I’m not like panicking by any means. So yeah, looks awesome for the Magic to uh be back in the swing of things and to look as good as they did Saturday night. Two wins in a row. Uh I did just want to take a quick look at some of the season standings for all the talk about Paulo Bancero. He’s averaging 23.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, four assists per game, 2.6 turnovers, 0.7 steals, 1.3 blocks, so two stocks per game. uh he is still struggling in terms of like overall efficiency. 45.6% from the floor and 27.6% from behind the arc. But if we take those numbers and we just look at the last two games for Paulo Bancer, I’m sure this will go ahead and and load in just a minute here as I’m looking at NBA.com, but Paulo has looked a lot better in the last handful of games. And for all the talk at the beginning of the season of just like how much he’s struggling and not looking the best last couple of games he’s looking much more like himself. Kevin and NBA.com is still loading. So what do you think about Paliban Cara so far this season? Well, I I think the uh the haters have been awfully quiet the last couple games and and the ones that still talk, they’ll say it’s the opponent and they’re partially right. You know, Charlotte Washington, but again, some of the plays Saturday night just totally unfair. I mean, absolutely like I I don’t want to say I felt bad for the Wizards, but it just it was unfair. Like it was just total bully ball. Um, and that that’s when you know Pal is locked in where he’s just doing whatever he wants, getting to the rim. That that was great. And so I know we’re going to talk about this in a second when we talk about the week ahead, but there’s an opportunity for that to continue on Tuesday. And I I hope it does. I think Atlanta obviously has very different personnel that could maybe handle Powell a little better than Washington. But I I think the Magic could and spec specifically Paulo have got a little mojo going and hopefully they can continue that as we as we continue on. Last two games 24 points, 10 rebounds, 6 and 1 half assists to two turnovers, a steal a block per game, 63% from the floor, 50% from behind the arc. We still got to fix the free throw shooting. not great, but just like genuinely dominant the last couple of games. And Jaylen Johnson did give Paulo like fits in their first matchup, you know, a week and a half ago. So that’s going to be kind of like a get back game for Paulo. Fron 22.6 points per game on the season, 5.6 rebounds, 3.4 4 assists, 1.9 turnovers, 1.3 steals, 50% from the floor, 43.3% from behind the arc, and 76.7% from the free throw line, which I believe would be a career low for Fron. So, he can still be a little bit better in that regard as well. But those guys have been flatout awesome, especially the last couple of games and um really all season long. So, those guys are just kind of they’re they’re carrying uh the magic offensively in a lot of ways right now. Desmond 14.6 points per game, four rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.3 turnovers, 41% from the floor, 25% from behind the arc. He’s got to be better. I think he will be better and I’m looking forward to see him turn that around very soon. And then last thing I wanted to shout out here before we take a look at the week ahead is just how good this starting lineup has been. In five games, they played 56 minutes, 121.2 offensive rating, 99.2 defensive rating, and a 22.0 overall net rating. That starting lineup has been absolutely dominant. Yeah. And once Jaylen Suggs, again, like right now, he’s not playing in second night of of backtobacks and in terms of his minutes, he’s only playing 19 minutes per game, not the like 30 plus minutes a game that we’re used to. So, 11 more minutes of Jaylen Suggs each game. This team, as good as they’ve looked the last couple of games, this team saw so much room and opportunity to grow. And I think the ceiling of this team is even higher than we realize right now. Once Jaylen is fully whole, once Moagner is back, that’s going to be huge. And once Desmond Bane gets going, if all of those things can happen, this team can stay healthy. We’re talking about the good C word. The We’re talking about contenders. We’re talking about contenders. Contending, right? The good C word, not the bad word. That That one we don’t use here. This is a family-friendly show. Wow. I’m I’m just sitting here in shock. I’m just sitting here in shock because the last episode how that went and now all of a sudden we’re we’re back to talking about they they’ve got to earn it. And if they look, my whole thing is I genuinely don’t care what the offense looks like. If you score 95 points, I don’t care. Until you’re keeping teams in like that 100 to 110 range, like pretty consistently. I know that’s hard to do in the NBA, but if this team defends, I can kind of live with everything else because I have faith that they’ll figure the rest out, but defense is like the number one thing you can control. And if you want to be a team that has a chance to play into May, to play into June, you just got to do that. And this team wasn’t doing that. And that’s what drove me crazy was infuriating. And I feel for Jamal Mosley, right? As people were talking about, oh, he should be fired. He’s on the hot seat. All these kind of things. He can’t defend for these guys. Mhm. And if if they do that, like I don’t know what else he needs to do, but to show them like, hey, remember when you guys locked in and played well on that end and how good we were. I don’t think the players like have like a any way to like have a copout or um any excuses the rest of the season if they’re just not going to defend because this coaching staff has shown them, you guys defend, play the way we need you to play, we’re we’re going to be really good. Yep, that’s right. And uh yeah, the opportunity that we just I just mentioned a second ago starts on Tuesday. No Trey Young coming up for the Hawks here for the next four weeks or so at least. Shout out to my fantasy team, by the way. Not great, but we’re out here. Is he on it? He’s on it. But snipe Ryan Rollins. That’s what you get for having Trey Young on your fantasy team, though. Just saying. Sometimes you got to do what you got to do. You’re trying to win money, you know. Yikes. But uh but yeah, shall we? Week ahead time. Let’s do it. Tuesday on NBC. Let me hear that Round Ball Rock, baby. NBC and Peacock, by the way. Shout out to Peacock. Um 8:00 in Atlanta, there is not going to be any Trey Young. Uh do we we don’t have an injury report for that. We will have that injury report roughly like 5:30 Eastern on Monday. We will have that. So, but no, it doesn’t sound like there’s I can guarantee there’s not going to be any Trey Young in that game. Not sure if they have anybody else out at the moment. And then it’s kind of weird. You have like two days off. You have a game, then you have another two days off. No game Wednesday, no game Thursday. Then you’re back home on Friday versus the Boston Celtics. That is going to be an NBA Cup game if I’m not mistaken. That’s right. Magic’s first of the year. And then just like we had a weekend in Boston a couple seasons ago, if you remember correctly, Kevin, we were supposed to be there and Luke committed to be there and then was like, “Oh, hey, actually, I can’t go there.” That’s true. I do remember. Then we ended up going to Charlotte, which was still great, but probably not as fun as Boston would have been. Yep. But so we have the home kind of weekend series versus the Celtics on Friday versus the Celtics and on Sunday versus the Celtics. That game tips off at 6:00. And here comes uh Debbie Downer. Kevin, listen. No, this is not Debbie Downer. This is me imploring the Magic Faithful, imploring the maniacs. Come to If you’re going to pick a game, please come to the game on Friday against the Celtics. Why? Several reasons. Number one, it’s the return after this road trip. Welcome the team back. Be loud. Go crazy. Number two, NBA Cup game. It’s fun. It’s different. The court’s going to be cool. Whatever. The third reason, the biggest reason, the New England Patriots play in Tampa on Sunday. Do you know what that means? Not only are the New Englanders who already live in Central Florida going to be there like they usually are, the ones that live in New England, they’re going to see this as an excuse to leave the bitter cold of New England, get some sunshine in Florida, hit the the Magic Celtics game on Friday, see the Patriots and the Bucks on Sunday. And I’m a little concerned that there’s going to be a lot of Celtics fans there. So, I’m just saying if you’re a Magic fan, if you’re a Magic Maniac, get out to that game, support the team, drown out the Celtics fans, and let’s get a dub. That’s This is going to be another one of those opportunities where just like opening night versus Miami, just like a couple of seasons ago in the NBA Cup or as it was known as at that time. Remember when the NBA Cup was the inseason tournament? I’m old enough to remember that. Yeah. So the the first year of the NC tournament when the Magic played the Celtics on Black Friday in Orlando, every time the other team’s chance got going, it is on you being at that game to be like, “Nah.” And just drown that crap out immediately. Don’t give them life. Don’t let them get loud. Just put it to bed. The moment it starts, shut it down. That’s what we need to do. And yeah, it’s on the Magic to make sure that anytime the Celtics start to get on a run that the Magic also shut that down. I’m taking a look at Boston and kind of what they’ve been up to lately. They’re three and four as well as we mentioned earlier. They’ve had a, you know, couple of good wins, you know, win over the uh Cavs, a win over the 76ers. They did beat the Hornets, but everybody, quite literally, everybody is beating the Hornets. Lost to Philly on their opening night. lost to the Knicks, lost to the Rockets. So, they’ve kind of had like an up and down season as well to this point. Everybody knows they’re playing without Jason Tatum. So, like this this is an opportunity like the Magic absolutely can get a win and not only one of these, but both of these. And honestly, I’m expecting the Magic to be favored in these games. So, show up to these games. Don’t be discouraged just because it’s the Celtics. Maybe you’ve been in Kia Center before when the Celtics are there and especially if you were there last year for the playoffs. You know, did get a little bit not so great at times, but uh the Magic should be able to win each of these games. So, don’t be discouraged by that. Get in the building. Bring your family. Bring the magic blue. Bring your voice. And anytime those uh Boston people get to go in and hoot and holler and whatever they do talking about Paka and Havad, just shut him down and send them back to New England crying. Thanks. And the Bucks should do the same as well. Yeah, fingers crossed on that one. Um, which is wild to think about, Jonathan, because we’re playing them twice in a weekend. They’re not coming back to Central Florida unless we play them in the postseason or something. But yeah, it’s kind of kind of crazy. Or well, you know, that’s the only only play only time I would if they’re in the postseason. Um, okay, prediction time. No, don’t. No, no, no. Three and0, baby. Oh my. We’re back. I’m all the way back. I’m all the way back. I’m all the way back. You are You’ve got to win Tuesday. You have to win Tuesday. No excuse not to win Tuesday. Yeah, Tuesday is not an NBA Cup game, is it? Just Friday. No, just Friday. Just Friday. Only Only on Fridays right now. Except for the last week, then it’s a Tuesday. But yes, regardless. Hasn’t it been on Tuesdays and Fridays the last couple of years this year? Only Fridays except for the last week. Then it’s Tuesday, Friday. Yeah. And they’re starting it earlier than normal is what it feels like. I don’t remember it being in like the third week of the season last I thought we were like a good month, month and a half in before it started, but I could be wrong. Regardless, you have to beat Atlanta. You have to have to have to beat Atlanta. And then let’s make a freaking statement that would put us, if we run the table this week now, you’ve won five games in a row. You’d be six and four. You probably find yourself somewhere between like fourth and sixth, seventh in the East again. you’re right back into the swing of things and you go into another week with some very winnable games. Let’s make a statement. As bad as the beginning of the season was, let’s bring it all the way back, get back to above 500 and say like, hey, like this, we’re we’re going to be really good. It took us a little bit of time to figure this out and kind of get our feet back underneath us, but we are contenders. Don’t forget about us. Let’s be the other C-word this week and not the Celtics contenders. Okay. Um I am going to go two and one. I’m not as back as you, but I think two- one is respectable. I’ve got us beating Atlanta cuz like you said, we have to win that game. Have to. I’m going to say we beat Atlanta. We we win on Friday and then we lose on Sunday. That’s be my little prediction. Well, Celtics get revenge on Sunday. That’s what I’m going to say. I’ll say two and one and I’m sticking to it. Well, by your thought process, the the Magic crowd on Sunday should be better than the Magic crowd on Friday because there should those New Englanders should be at the the Bucks at Ray J. That’s right. Yes, that’s what I in my brain. But yeah, who knows? Well, I hope you’re wrong all over the place. I hope the crowds are great. I hope we get wins. Yeah, three and 0. It would it would be great for this team to to be back. So, um yeah, looking forward to another week of Magic Basketball and I’m excited to see the Magic on NB NBC. That’s going to be a lot of fun. That is going to be a lot of fun. Very, very excited about that. And uh do we know who the broad broadcast crew is for that game? Of course we do. Yeah, we actually talked about on the show a few weeks ago. It’s Michael Grady. Oh, that’s right. They announced it weeks ago. Yeah, the Minnesota Timberwolves playbyplay guy. I think he’s great. Um, but the the the uh like the pregame, halftime, postgame panel is still the same that we’re seeing a lot of right now. So, uh, Vince Carter and Carmemell Anthony are are the two analysts for that. So, that’ll be fun to hear Melo and Vincanity talk about the Magic on Tuesday. That’ll be awesome. This is only the second NBC game of the year. Third? This is the third. Yeah. Interesting. Okay. Yep. Anyways, going to be fun. Looking forward to that. That is going to do it for this one. Appreciate everybody that tuned in here. Lori, if you’re out there, if you’re listening, be sure to get in contact with us so we can get this Jaylen Suggs jersey out to you. But we will go ahead and end this one for Kevin Tucker. This has been Jonathan Osborne. You all have been listening to the Sixman Show and we will catch you guys next time. See you. Thanks for listening to the Sixth Man Show. Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and Spotify to get new episodes downloaded directly to your phone. If you enjoy the show, please take a minute to give us a five-star rating and a review. It helps out the show a lot. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Sixman show. We’ll catch you guys next time. Go Magic. Let’s go Magic. Let’s go Magic. Let’s go magic.

The Magic seemed to have righted the ship on the back of two great defensive performances and have a proven winning formula. Jonathan & Kevin recap the previous wins and take a look at the winnable games coming up this week!

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