TURNING POINT: Orlando Magic & Desmond Bane DELIVER with dramatic win | Is momentum finally here?

TURNING POINT: Orlando Magic & Desmond Bane DELIVER with dramatic win | Is momentum finally here?

Desmond Bane plays the hero. Is this the turning point for the Orlando Magic? Is this the turning point for Desmond Bane? The Magic sure hopes so today on Locked on Magic. You are Locked On Magic. Your daily Orlando Magic podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. And you are indeed locked on Magic. Today is November 10th. It will be November 11th, 2025. My name is Philip Rostnik. I’m the senior writer over at Orlandomogic Daily.com, credentialed member of the Orlando Magic media since the 2012 season. Coming to you from the Kia Center. On today’s episode of Locked On Magic, Desmond Bane has his moment. Why this can be a turning point for him and for the team. Can the team finally build some momentum? We’ll get to that as the Magic defeat the Portland Trailblazers 115 to 112. But first, we want to thank you again for making Lockdown Magic part of your day every day. No matter when you listen to us, whether it’s first thing in the morning, whether it’s right when we upload, we truly appreciate you making lockdown magic part of your day every You can make lock magic even bigger part of your day by making us by making us your first listen of the day by being part of our everyday club being an everyday and Orlando Magic daily. No matter when you listen to us we appreciate you. We appreciate you making us part of your daily podcast rotation. The Lockdown Podcast Network is now the number one sports podcast network. Thank you all for your support. It’s all part of Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today’s episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. This Orlando Magic team is looking for any kind of momentum it can get. It has been a frustrating start. Everybody can feel it. I can see it in your comments. I could see it in the Twitter mentions. I could I’m feeling it. Everyone knows what this team is capable of and realizes they’re not reaching their potential and no player has frankly exemplified these frustrations quite like Desmond Bane. Like Desmond Bane was supposed to be the guy that fixes everything that that makes everything so much easier. And instead, through these first 11 games now, everything has felt harder. It’s felt more difficult. It’s felt more complicated. Nothing is coming easy for this team. And everything has needed to be reconfigured and reworked out. And the fact of the matter, the fact that the Magic just haven’t been able to get the most out of Desmond Bay and and it deserves its own second. It deserves an examination. I wrote about it this afternoon. It has been the most frustrating thing. I’m not going to sit here tell you after a 115 112 win that everything is solved, that everything is hunky dory. Momentum is the next day’s picture. We’re going to find out what works Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks. I I’m not going to tell you that it’s all fixed. There is still so much work to do. But as Desmond Bane put it after the game, moments like this can build momentum. Moments like this can reveal character. Moments like this can be a turning point for a team. It we’ll get into why the Magic were in a situation with the ball with 1.9 seconds left because it it was a roller coaster to get to that point. It was a roller coaster to be at that moment. But what matters now, what matters is the lead of this podcast is the lead story is what happened on that last shot. As much as we don’t want to care about last shots, as much as it’s about the 48 minutes, a game is decided on each possession. And Desmond Bane delivered on the critical possession. Tie game with 1.9 seconds left. The Magic inbound the ball to Desmond Bane coming across the top of the top of the lane and he hits a offbalance fading three, the toughest three has taken all year long and it plops right into the middle of the net. Celebration ensues. They they they storm the court. The fans didn’t storm court, but the players stormed the court. They mobbed Desmond Bay and all of a sudden it all felt right. It all felt like, yes, this is how it’s supposed to be. This was the only three that Desmond Bane made on the night. He was one for six, and we’re happy that he took six threes after taking only one on Sunday against the Boston Celtics. He finished with 22 points on just nine for9 shooting. Committed three turnovers, hardly perfect, had seven assists, but it was more than that. It was that a he got 19 shots. He got six threes. He he put those shots up. He was aggressively looking for his own shot, but never doing it too aggressively. Still getting the ball around. Still passing it. Still finding guys open. Still using the attention and gravity that he gets to make others better. He delivered for this team. He delivered what they needed when they needed it. and and that obviously finished with that big three at the end. It has not been an easy season for Desmond Bane. We can dive into so many numbers that just say that Bane hasn’t quite found his fit and that Bane hasn’t put together the season that he or this team hoped for from the start. Entering the game, Bane was averaging 14.2 points per game and shooting just 29.3% from three. He’s only averaging 4.1 attempts per game, three-point attempts per game. Those are all the lowest since his rookie year. His usage rate, his usage rate has been a really fickle thing. He had a 30% usage rate in that opening game against the Miami Heat, 23 points, three-pointers, and we all thought, “Oh, this is going to work so perfectly.” But since then, and I’m not including tonight, which I don’t quite have the numbers up yet on that. Um, entering tonight since that game, he hasn’t had a usage rate higher than 23%. Paulo and Fron have had fewer touches, and that was expected, obviously, when you’re adding a guy like Desmond Bane that’s going to get more touches, but no one’s gotten fewer touches than he did last year than Desmond Bane. Bane has been just a little bit behind the eightball and hasn’t quite been able to put all those pieces together. Tonight, obviously that changed. Tonight, obviously, the Magic got him the ball so much more. Usage rate 27.7%. More in line with that of being a star. We could talk about France Vager later. But the Magic got Desmond Bane the ball. The Magic kept him involved, kept him in the flow of the game. And so when it came time to make that big shot, he was in rhythm. He was aggressive. He was in it. and he delivered. That’s all the Magic have wanted from him. That’s all the Magic needed for him. And again, after Sunday’s game where he just didn’t get enough shots, this is exactly the kind of moment that he needed. The question, of course, is whether you could keep this going, whether it continues, whether it stops, who knows? But this can be a turning point game. Everybody has been feeling the pressure. Everybody has been feeling we’ve got to we’ve got to make this work. A and you can see everyone pressing and and trying to do too much at times. It’s one of the reasons why the Magic’s turnovers have been up. And look, Orlando did good did a much better job on turnovers. 17 for 29 against Boston on Sunday against the number one team in the league at forcing turnovers. Orlando had 13 for only 12 points. So didn’t kill them. Forced 10, they scored 16. The Magic got more out of their turnovers than Portland did out of theirs. Big factor in this game. The question is, is this the turning point for Desmond B now that he knows a little bit better how to make this work, how to make this fit, how to keep the ball moving, how to be a factor, the freedom and permission to be aggressive. Is this the thing that unlocks the next steps for the Magic? Again, like I’m not going to sit here and say everything’s fixed. I still want Desmond Bane to get more threes. I don’t think he shot enough threes tonight. Um, the team passed on some open threes that they got to take and and and we’ll get to the three-point shooting here in a bit, but this moment, this this critical moment, it’s proof of concept. Like, you want to be process over results and and it’s great to say that. It’s great to be about that, but sometimes you need some results. Results give faith in the process. As much as you want to believe, oh, we are doing the right things and the results will take care of themselves, you actually do need results for confirmation. We’re all human. We’re all human. We all react to what’s happening. And the Magic have to hope that a shot like this takes the lid off the rim, takes the pressure off, and allows Dez to finally be himself and see what being himself does for this team. It was not just Desmond Bane who needed this confidence boost. It was the Orlando Magic themselves. How the Magic may have shown signs of building momentum and the work that they still have to do. 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. The NBA is back and boy was this a night in the NBA. I’m recording this here at 10:52 here at the Kia Center. We obviously had the Magic game. We got the Pistons and the Wizards. 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Bane has been obviously not quite the shooter and scorer we’ve wanted this year, but I’ve been really impressed with Bane’s playmaking. He has generally made good decisions and generally been aggressive. Like, he’s contributed to this team even if the shots not falling. And I think that is a credit to him. Obviously, the Magic got him for shooting. They got him for that three-point and that floor spacing. It’s been used, but we need to see the shots go in. Momentum though is the next day’s pitcher. Um, that’s a phrase that I like and I use, probably overused. It’s cliche, but the Magic still have a lot to do, a lot to build on. And it feels like after every win, we ask like, well, is this it? Is this where they turn the corner? Is this where they become the team that everybody knows they can be? Is this the moment? is is is a buzzer beating shot the confidencebuilding shot that they need to take that step. Is this when the team builds that momentum when they turn one win into two, two wins into three, three wins into four, four wins into five of seven, uh five of seven into into 10 of 14 or 10 of 13? Is this when they start making that move? And obviously like the schedule’s not super set up for it, but that they might be kind of puttering along here for a little bit, but again, they’re capable of winning these games. Like can they go into New York and win? Absolutely. Are they going to? We’re going to find out. Um, but there was a lot in this game beyond this Spain that that hinted at, okay, they can find it again. First is, of course, the response to the turnovers. Jamal Mosley was heavy on the turnovers in his postgame on Sunday. 17 turns with 29 points. He referenced it again in today’s post press game post game. But the Magic came in for their shoot around for their walkthrough. They were showed all the turnovers and they made a concerted effort to get rid of them. Again, 13 points for 12 12 port 13 turnovers for 12 Portland points. You could survive that, especially against a team that lives off of turnovers. Only 10 fast break points for the Blazers. So, really good defense on that front. Honestly, the third quarter when the Magic really took control of this game, went up by 11 at one point in the third quarter, that was the best defensive quarter we’ve seen from the Magic in a very long time. It’s the first time, Frank, you know, I don’t know if I want to count the Charlotte Washington games, but first time since the second quarter against Washington where they looked like the Orlando Magic that we know. It might have been slow grind on offense. It might have been a lot of free throws. as the Magic took a lot of free throws in that third quarter, but their defense was the thing that led the way. And if they’re going to change, if they’re going to recover, if they’re going to get back to being who they are, they’ve got to play defense like they did in that third quarter. They gave up just 20 points. They locked down Portland. I think Portland was one for 10 on threes. Magic weren’t much better. We’re going to get to three-point shooting here in a minute. Um that was when they took control of this game. And again, they were up 11 heading into the final quarter. I think up up 11 heading into the final quarter. Um, that was that’s where they took control of this game and really could have put it away. Now, obviously, it didn’t last. Portland scored 36 points in the fourth quarter. Things got very sloppy, very crazy toward the end. There’s still these little mistakes that add up. A shot at the wrong time. Uh, going for a big play when a simple one would suffice. making free throws. Palade car obviously missed three critical free throws that would have iced this game when the Magic were up by two. He missed backto-back free throws that would have put him up four. Then gave up a foul on a Jeremy Grant lob that put Portland in the lead. Then he split a pair of free throws on his next possession after getting to the basket late or he get I forget the exact sequence but he got to the line made these made these crazy plays and then couldn’t take advantage and put the game away with free throws and then he came away with the big steal at the end like at the end of the day like that Desmond Bane shot doesn’t happen without a Palo Ben Carro steal. So give all credit to palibate carro made some mistakes made some mental errors made some mental lapses and made up for them every time. Every time almost immediately made up for them that that is that is a character that is character stuff from Pal and obviously like we expect more from him. He expects more from himself. He wasn’t happy. He was hap he was happy Desmond Bane bailed him out. Um, but look, Paulo, we’ll get to this box work in a minute, but the Magic leaned on their defense and and while it had its shaky moment still, Magic finished with a I got loaded up here. Magic finished with a 114.3 defensive rating. They scored 116.2 points for one possession. We’ll take that. A 114.3 defensive rating. That’s not our standard. Like, I think the Magic need to hover around 110 111 to to be really successful this year. Again, offense is better than people want to give it credit for. It’s it’s scoring points, but again, the offense like stalled out a little bit. They missed some key shots. They didn’t get good shots down the stretch. That’s got to improve. I think they got a little rattled, a little frazzled, and Portland’s defense is very good. They play tight in spaces. They they make you work for everything. They zoned Orlando for long stretches because they couldn’t shoot. The Magic still found a way. And and and again, like one of the big criticisms I think we all have is one of the big criticisms I think we all have is this Magic team hasn’t been learning lessons while winning. So take the win. You take the win and you learn from it and you say, “Okay, we played and did XYZ wrong, but we’re still capable of winning.” more than anything else like a buzzer beating shot like that that moment again it’s just a moment that can build confidence that can tell you like okay we got this you know with the magic of one in overtime that is the unknowable question that is the thing we cannot figure out we’ll never know because it both teams had their shaky moments both teams look confident in one moment and then very shaky and and succumbing to their flaws in the next. So, what would another five minutes have done? It really would have been a coin flip. And look, the Magic blew an 11-point lead. The Magic had a six-point lead with or five-point lead with like two minutes left. They they they did not put this game away. And that is something this team has to be better at. This team this team has a lot of things they got to grow and improve on. I am not sitting here excusing what excusing um flaws and excusing mistakes. This team has to be better and they’re playing one of the best teams in the league on Wednesday. They’ve got to be better if they want to beat the Knicks. They play like this against the Knicks. They might be in the game, but they’re not going to win it. But right now, like watching this team and and seeing where they’re struggling, they’re going to take anything they can get. They’re going to take any opportunity they can get, any positive thing they can get and hold on to and learn from and grow from. They’re going to take. Is this a turning point for Desmond for for the Magic? We’re going to find out Wednesday. Just like after Friday’s game, we said, “Is this the turning point?” Well, we’re going to find out Sunday. Turns out it wasn’t. Turns out there’s still one more lesson to learn and and more frustration to get through. So, is this a turning point? Well, we’ll find out Wednesday in New York. Let’s go through the box score. We’ll talk about individual performances and what we saw coming up here in just a moment. But first, today’s episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to our friends over at Game Time. The NBA season is here. Basketball season is officially here if you’re into college, too. And nothing beats it beats being in the arena for those opening games. But let’s be real, getting tickets can be a total headache. Between waiting in queues, surprise fees, and prices that jump right before checkout, it’s easy to get frustrated when all you want to do is cheer on your team. That’s where Game Time comes in. The app that gives fans the advantage. 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You expect more from yourself, expect more from your money. Get started today at robinhood.com/yyouoney. Again, that’s robinhood.com/yyoumoney. your money, your move. Let’s run through the box score as the Orlando Magic defeat the Portland Trailblazers 115 to 112 on Desmond Bane’s buzzer beating shot. Huge three from Desmond Bane. We already went over his stats. I went over a little bit about his game, but I want to repeat it. 22 points, nine for, excuse me, I’m still a little sick. Nine for 19 shooting, one for n one for six from three. three for three from the foul line, seven assists. Seven assists are just as big as anything else. Um, obviously we want to continue to see Dez get comfortable and confident shooting and we’ll see if this becomes a a a catalyst for him just that Nate just gives him a lot more confidence. Um, but he’s still making an impact elsewhere and and and that again has been the most impressive thing. I think the Magic are leaning a little too much on his playmaking and driving and not enough on treating his shots. But, you know, I I think the Magic are getting good shots. And and this is something I plan to talk about tomorrow. So, we’re going to put a pin in this for tomorrow. Put a pin in it for tomorrow. We’re going to talk three-point shot quality. By my eye, and I don’t think these numbers are up on NBA.com. We’re going to save them for tomorrow. By my eye, the Magic are getting really good looks. I think they were four for 17 on wide openen threes in Sunday’s game against the Celtics. Tonight, the Magic finish just eight for 30 from three. It’s so again, look, the Magic did threes at an I know we say this a million times and we’ve said this over and over and over again over the last few years. If the Magic were just league average from or just slightly below league average, like not just abysmally bad, a lot of these close games would be easy wins. A lot of these game like that’s the missing ingredient. Like I I just I was looking back at the box score of the Celtics game and just kind of watching it back again and and just like looking through the stats. I was just like, you know, yeah, the game against Celtics on Sunday was about turnovers. It was also about missed threes. Like the Magic just missed a lot of threes and obviously Boston made a bunch of big ones at the end. It’s just about making shots. And like maybe I’m wrong for this, but I’m kind of of the opinion like as long as you’re getting good shots, as long as that process to get good shots is fine. and Magic had like 33 points out of 17 of them are wide open. You’re you’re getting good looks and you can’t be afraid to shoot them. Even if you’re missing, you can’t be afraid to shoot. But like I’m just of the opinion like if you lose because you miss shots, like so be it. As long as they’re quality shots, as long as you’re stepping into them with confidence, as long as you’re moving the ball to get them, like okay, make or miss leak, you can live with it. You got to find ways to adjust. And like when you miss shots, like turnovers become bigger, like all these other things become bigger. But like if it’s just about making or missing shots, like find a way to make the shot. Like obviously it’s like just make the shot. But you can’t do much more beyond that. Like you can’t do much else. I imagine when we look at the stats and again we’ll go over them tomorrow. Um we’ll see that the Magic got a lot of really open looks. Like I I loved their process tonight. The Magic talk about trust the process all the time. Um maybe that’s just a faith gimmick and again like I’m I’m about trusting the process too, but sometimes you need results. I thought the Magic did a really good job moving the ball, getting open looks, and you know, credit to them. The threes weren’t falling. They didn’t let their head sack last week. They would have last, you know, on the road trip. They would have they would have let those missed threes ruin the game and would have been over. They didn’t let that ruin the game. They got back, they defended, they didn’t take as many threes. Like the threes weren’t falling. We’re not taking a bunch. We’re going to we’re going to we’re going to attack. And that was a big reason why the Magic were able to kind of stay in this game, take control of this game is they were just constantly on the attack where Orlando finishes with 34 free throws, 29 of 34. A lot of those misses at the end of the game. Paulo missed three at the end of the game. They were at sitting at three free throw, three missed free throws for a long time or two missed free throws for a long time. Go miss one. AB missed one. Guys, you can live with missing um just missed free throws at the end of the game. Again, just leaving that door open. Just the margin for error is a little smaller when you’re not able to hit shots consistently. So, like obviously like we can talk about how bad the three-point shooting was, but the Magic won this game because of a three. Um, so it’s just again like you make or miss shots. It’s it’s it’s not whatever, but it’s it’s annoying, but you you just got to trust that if you get good shots, you’re going to make them. Um, and again, like Paulo was two for three from three, Fran was one for two from three. You know, it was Tristan Silva going 0 for five that probably really tanked that percentage. Um, just little things here and there. Um just just little little little things. Again, Orlando’s not overly reliant on three. I’ve been actually kind of quietly impressed that they’re not just keep jacking up chops. Like they they’re passing on so threes they got to shoot. Bane included. Um but threes will go down if you keep trusting it if you get good shots and I thought they got really good shots. I loved their offensive process tonight. I loved what they did offensively tonight. Um again, just the results didn’t quite follow the way they needed to. Um, Paulo Ben Carro, say what you want about the misses, about the the way he ended the game, 28 points, had eight eight of his 28 in the third quarter, was a 24 entering the fourth quarter. Really was the catalyst to put the team in the lead. Obviously, like ball in his hands to close, didn’t close the way you’d like him to. Again, Baker missed 10 for 18 from the floor, two for three from three, six for 10 from the foul line, nine rebounds. Activity in the second half, especially on the glass, was really, really good. Was really energetic. So, good energy from him. Only two turnovers, three assists. Generally, a good game from Paulo. Um, again, end of game stuff, like struggled like no doubt. And and that’s on him. He’s a leader. It’s his responsibility. He’s got to be a little bit better, a little bit better with the shot selection, getting downhill, getting to the basket, getting to the foul line. Um, getting spraying out to open players, just just miss some passes as well. Um, but generally good things from Powell. Like I like I think the people writing his obituaries are obviously like a little wrong. Um it’s been an up and down season. He’s not like all NBA levels. We haven’t except for the Philadelphia game, we haven’t seen him like really take over a game yet. Um that will come, but like his jumper looked pretty fresh for the most part. Like when he’s engaged and and moving quickly. I think that’s the key. He’s got to move quick. I’m sure I’ve said this million times. He’s got to move quickly. When he moves fast, when he’s when he’s in motion, really tough guy to stop, like impossible to stop. Um, Franager ended with 19 points, five for 10 shooting, one for two from the on the arc, six for eight for eight from the line, excuse me, nine rebounds for him, six assists, two blocks. Fran didn’t get a lot of shots like just the shot, the ball wasn’t coming to him just where the ball dictated. His defense on Denny Aia though, fantastic. Like Avdia still finished with 27 points. Um, five rebounds, five assists, seven for 18 shooting though. He was four for nine from three. got got a little bit away from three, especially in the fourth quarter. A lot of obvious work came in the fourth quarter, but Fron like made his life miserable and they play very similarly. Um Thiago Splitter said before the game that like they show Denny clips of Fron like is like that’s you that’s who you need to be. Um but Fron I thought like I’ve been a big proponent of Fran’s defense for the last few years. Fron like I thought locked up Denny like he he won that matchup wholeheartedly even if he wasn’t scoring. Um I I thought Fron gave Denny a lot of problems and Denny was working overtime to avoid being guarded by Fran Vogger. Really nice game from Fron even if the scoring wasn’t there. Obviously get more shots like like shot distribution still an issue for this team. Figure out how to get their best players their best shots. But really loved what Fron did. Wendell Carter a really solid game as well. 19 points, nine rebounds, five offensive rebounds, eight for 12 shooting. Did have four turnovers. You know did get kind of stuck sometimes. Um Klingan’s a big guy. Carter tends to struggle finishing over bigger players. A lot of flip shots, a lot of mid-range shots, you know, didn’t have like the put backs that we’ve seen from him throughout the year. Um, but again, like Carter was a beast down low, got away with get, you know, got some fouls, you know, on some switches that that that that he tends to get got on himself a little bit, but I thought Wendell largely recovered and largely played played well for himself. Um, the Magic just don’t have a lot of other scoring. Anthony Black in the start, only eight points, two for eight shooting. Magic had their worst offensive rating with him on the floor at 101.5. Um so really struggled with him just struggled to bring the ball up. He’s guarded by being guarded by Drew Holidayiday. Like you could tell like guys just didn’t want to deal with Drew in this game. Um Black was one for three from three. So just keeping him involved, getting him downhill. Again, like so much of this Magic offense is like how can we get the guys with the ball in motion heading downhill? Like once they’re started, they can’t be stopped. It’s it’s getting them started that’s been the problem for this team throughout the year. Bench got very very little. Like Portland got 17 from Jeremy Grant off the bench, 31 from Shane Sharp. Magic got very little off the bench. But the two guys that really contributed, Goa Tad with seven points, five rebounds. Jonathan Isaac played really good minutes. Seven points for him. Two for five shooting, one for three from three, six rebounds, two steals, took over part of the third quarter. Like classic Jonathan Isaac stuff. So really good minutes from Jonathan Isaac. like he makes such an impact on defense. Like if your offense is rolling, play him. Deal with the consequences later. Um it worked tonight. Like I don’t know if it’ll work permanently, but Magic had their uh Magic had one of their best defensive ratings. Magic had a 1077 defensive rating with Isaac on the floor. That’s really good. And so Isaac played really really well, really exceptionally well in this game. So to honestly did Jet Howard, I want to give Jet Howard some love. 19 minutes, only three points, only one for five shooting, only one for three from three. But loved how aggressive he was. He wasn’t settling for threes. He was getting downhill. He was trying to score. Defense is still a work in progress. We talked to him after the game. He said defense is still work in progress for him for him. But like he’s made games like he has gotten a lot better, a lot better with his awareness on defense. There’s still some things to clean up. I I definitely think he missed some rotations and I I think I don’t know whose fault it was, but he missed he missed a he messed up an inbounds play one time just it didn’t look like he knew what he was doing. Um but um really positive minutes for Jet and obviously like they’re going to have these games where Jaylen Sug is going to play. We don’t know when Jayen Sug is going to start playing back tobacks. Magic are two and one in these games by the way, Charlotte and tonight. Um having said that, Jaylen S is really important. We’ll talk about that tomorrow too. Um, but really positive to see see Jet make a positive impact and and you know, I don’t know if it earns him more minutes, but he was ready when his number was called and I was really impressed with how he played tonight. The Orlando Magic shoot 44.8% from the floor. Really much of a slog in the second half. 8 for 30 from three, 29 of 34 from the foul line. They will take that 11 offensive rebounds for 12 second chance points, but just four for 12 on second chance points. So, a lot of points left on the board. Portland’s defense is disruptive. They forced turnovers. Orlando only 13 turnovers for 12 Portland points. Portland only shoots 44.4% from floor. 13 for 36 from three. Threes got them back in the game. Kept them in the game. 19 for 26 from the foul line. Excessive fouling also a problem helped Portland get back in the game in the fourth quarter. But Portland also left a lot of points on the board. I’m sure if you go listen to our friends at Lockown Blazers, they will talk about these missed opportunities. A lot of things that we’ve talked about on the Magic’s end about how they just kind of left something on the board here. So both these teams pretty fairly fairly matched in this game. Came down to one shot. Desmond Bane hit it. What can you say? Um only that you know Portland merely adopted the dark. Desmond Bane was bored in it. Um but that’s that’s how the cookie crumbles. The Magic defeat the Portland Trailblazers 115 to 112. They are back in action Wednesday at the Garden against not that Garden Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks. But that’s going to do it for me today. As you can tell my voice is going. You can uh you can of course find me on Twitter, philipr_omd and on blue sky at phiprr. You can subscribe to the podcast, Apple podcast, Google play, Spotify odyssey and all the podcast to your podcast enabled listening device. For the latest on the Orlando Magic, be sure to check out you can also check us out on YouTube. Just search for lockdown magic. For the latest on the Orlando Magic, be sure check out Orlando Magicaily.com. You can find us on Twitter, omagic Daily. And for even more Orlando Magic content, be sure to check out my Patreon page, the Orlando Magicub at patreon.com/orland Magicub. As always, thank you for your support. Now that you’re done making Lockdown Magic your first listen of the day, go check out the Lockdown Fantasy Basketball Podcast. Josh Lloyd hosting number one fantasy basketball podcast, giving you daily tips and helping you win your league, all while making you a smarter NBA fan. Find Lockdown Fantasy Basketball on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcast, part of Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. That’s going to do it for me today, though. I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of Lockdown Magic. On tomorrow’s episode of Lockdown Magic, we will talk Jaylen Suggs impact. There is a real real statistical impact with Jaylen Suggs. We’ll talk about that plus where the magic are getting their threes. We’ll address that as well. But until then, for Orlando Magic, daily locked on Magic, this has been Philip Rossman Reich. We’ll see you all again next time for another episode of Locked On Magic.

The Orlando Magic escaped the Portland Trail Blazers thanks to a dramatic buzzer-beating three from Desmond Bane. Can this be a turning point for him and the Magic in the beginning of the season?

Bane has struggled to start the year and even struggled to find three-point shots. The Magic came out determined to get him going and he took his share of shots, leading the team for long stretches with 22 points and seven assists.

The Magic as a group need to continue to find their togetherness. They put together some truly great stretches before a shaky finish nearly derailed the game.

Paolo Banchero dominated for long stretches before a roller coaster finish saw him be both hero and goat before Bane stole back the game.

00:00 Desmond Bane’s Turning Point
08:22 Magic’s Turning Point Question
19:42 Team Needs Improvement to Win
24:33 Magic’s Three-Point Struggles Discussed
31:52 Magic’s Offense Struggles Progression

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