WAKE-UP CALL: Orlando Magic fall short—Why flipping the switch FAILED against the Spurs

WAKE-UP CALL: Orlando Magic fall short—Why flipping the switch FAILED against the Spurs

The Orlando Magic tried to flip the switch one too many times and it finally caught them. Why this loss was inevitable and an important lesson today on Locked On Magic. You are Locked On Magic, your daily Orlando Magic podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. And you are indeed locked on Magic. Today is December 3rd. It will be December 4th, 2025. I’m here at the Kia Center. My name is Philip Rosenrike. I’m the senior writer over at Orlando Magicaily.com. Credentialed member of the Orlando Magic media since the 2012 season. On today’s episode of Lockdown Magic, one of those bad habits, one of those bad things that good teams do. They try to sneak out wins at the end when they don’t have it. Finally gets the Orlando Magic. The Magic can’t flip the switch and fall to the San Antonio Spurs on a couple of questionable late question couple questionable late plays, couple questionable things at the end, but ultimately a deserved loss. We’ll talk about why the Magic put themselves in a position where they did not have control over this game. Plus, we’ll talk about how Jace Richardson and Noah Penda continue to make the case for more playing time, one of the only positives from this game. We’ll get to that coming up here in just a moment. But first, we want to thank you again for making Lockdown Magic part of your day every day. No matter when you listen to us, whether it’s first thing in the morning, whether it’s right when we upload, we truly appreciate you making Lockdown Magic part of your day every day. You can make Lockdown Magic an even bigger part of your day by being one of our Orlando Magic dailies. That means you’re an everydayer. That means you are listening five days a week. You’re listening on the weekends. That means we are part of your podcast rotation. We’re your first listen of the day. We truly appreciate you making Lockdown Magic and this Lockdown Magic community so great. We have a big announcement coming Monday that’s going to make the Lockdown Magic community even better. So stay tuned for that. It’s all part of Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one hot sports podcast network. It’s your team every day. Today’s episode of Locked On 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. I talked about this on Monday, and I talked about it in a positive light, you know, because being able to win games when you’re not at your best is a skill. It it is a skill that good teams have. And I am very serious about this. The Orlando Magic are a good team. the Orlando Magic team that rightfully has these championship aspirations, that rightfully believes they can do something very, very special this season. So, I I’m not here to poke holes in the balloon or or tell you otherwise. A close loss to a San Antonio’s first team that is now 7-2 since Victor Webbyama went out that is still above has a better record than the Magic frankly in the Western Conference. There is no shame in losing to the Spurs. shames in the conditions that this happened with. And we’re going to talk about that today because while it is important to be able to know, oh, we don’t have our best today, we still have a chance to win. And and and if you want to, that is a positive from this game. But what can’t happen is it becomes habit. It’s it’s one thing if like, oh, we had one off night. We have one off night every two weeks, but we’re still going to win that basketball game. We’re still going to give ourselves a chance to win the game. And, you know, getting comes down to making shots, missing shots, whatever. you still have a chance to win the basketball game. This Magic team is going to give themselves a chance to win basketball games even on bad nights. Even on bad nights like this. So, don’t lose sight of that. This team is good enough to now play a C++ game, a B minus game, and still beat some really good opponents. The Magic had no business being tied in this game. They played so poorly. They played without without any intention, without any intensity. They did not play with much physicality. They did not do much to bother the Spurs to take Darren Fox out of his spots. They couldn’t figure out how to hit a shot. They couldn’t figure out how to beat his own zone defense in the second quarter. There was a lot the Magic left on the table. There was a lot that the Magic, you know, should have should have put them in a deeper hole and and a few years ago maybe this would have been a 20point blowout and we would be trying to figure out, okay, here’s the fatal flaw for this Magic team. No. Like, yes, there are still fatal flaws. Yes, they they need to win games, but they’re still in the game. They still have a chance. Fron Vagner got fouled on a three-pointer, tied the game at the foul line. The Magic had at least two possessions, I think, where they were down by one with a chance to take the lead. They put themselves in a position win. And when when Jeremy Sohan missed those two free throws and left the door open for Fron to tie it to tie it on that three-pointer or on that on those three free throws, the Magic a team that you can’t leave the door open for. Let’s not lose sight of that. But what you can’t do repeatedly is have nights like this and feel like you can just flip the switch. That you can find that extra gear that you can find that that extra bid of motivation. That’s what can’t happen. And and I asked Jonathan Isaac this who we’ll talk a little bit about that last play, but the Magic lost this game on two free throws by Darren Fox. They tied the game with 7.7 seconds left. Darren Fox guarded by Fran Vagner got to his spot. Jonathan Isaac met him at that spot. Probably got a little bit of his wrist. We’ll see what the last two-minute report says on Thursday, but got him on the wrist as Fox was going up. Got foul was called with 1.1 seconds to play. Fox makes both free throws. Magic run and excellent inbound pass. You know, say what you want about the decision, challenge or not, it my we we we were talk we I talked with the Magic source. Um the Magic bench said it was a foul. They they were they did not believe they were going to win that challenge. They kept the timeout, advanced the ball, ran a great lob play. They got France Vagner layup and Luke Cornet came over, made the block, make or miss league. You know, that’s that’s that’s how this goes. This game was not lost on those plays. This game was not lost in the fourth quarter, and that is still the important point. The fact that the Magic erased a 15-point second half deficit, the fact that the Magic were down by eight with about five minutes to play and erased that deficit, made mistake after mistake, and kept coming back. That is a positive thing that this team has that will to win in them. They have that inside of them to give themselves that chance to win. But this game was lost in the second quarter when they scored only 20 points. This game was lost when they couldn’t figure out how to beat that zone defense. This game was lost every time the Magic seemed to be ready to make a run, trying to build momentum and they turned the ball over, flubbed a fast break, gave up a a tough shot, gave up a basket. The Spurs made the plays to win this game. They built the deficit. They built the cushion and they earned and deserved this game because the Magic did not bring the intensity that they needed from the beginning. They let the Spurs coming from San Antonio after a game against Memphis uh Memphis last night. They let the Spurs dictate the terms to them and that’s what can’t happen. The Magic can’t let other teams tell them how they’re going to play. The Magic can’t let other teams dictate how the game is going to go, especially on a backto-back like this. Especially on a backto-back like this. And Orlando was always climbing uphill. They were always having they’re always on the back foot. They were always trying to catch up. And yes, they flipped the switch. They found it. This again, this this the frustrating part about a game like this is the team is good enough. As Jaylen Suggs said after the game, the Magic knew they were going to make their run at some point, but the run needed to be to extend a four-point lead to 10, not make an eight-point lead, a tie game. That’s the difference. And so, Orlando, like, yes, a lot of the numbers, and I do want to go over the numbers because I think the numbers are really important and do tell a really important story in this game. The Magic had a 108.6 defensive rate. You’re going to win a lot of games with 108.6 six defensive rate, but a 104.7 offensive rating. A lot of players struggling to make shots at the rim. Magic shot less than 50% in the paint in this game. That’s that that is in they still got 60 points in the paint there. There was a lot of good things in this game at at the end of it, but the Magic could not get their grips on this game and they let San Antonio make play after play after play after play. San Antonio had 58 points at halftime. They were making shots, making threes, and Orlando could not stop them. Darren Fox had 31 points, an 11 for 20 shooting. Yeah, they got their turnovers. They got seven turnovers. They got 12 turnovers between the two Spurs point guards, seven turnovers from Fox, five turnovers from rookie rookie uh Dylan Harper. The Magic got their licks in. Like the defense is very s frankly this game was very similar to the first Chicago game to to the first Chicago game back in October where the Magic did a lot of good things statistically and and you look at the box and you’re like oh they they gave themselves a chance to win but they did not dictate terms to the Spurs as Jaylen Suggs said after the game there was just a lack of intentionality and now that you have two games like this because Monday’s game against the Bulls was very much like this where it just felt like the Magic were struggling to get over that hump. And look, Desmond Bay had a crazy fourth quarter. They got over the hump. They made the plays. They made the shots they needed to late. They won that game. And you want to learn those lessons while winning. But the problem tonight was the Magic didn’t learn that lesson. They let the other team dictate terms to them. They let them come at them. And again, that’s going to happen during the course of the season. It’s not crazy that that happened. and the Magic are good enough now, and they are, they’re good enough to combat that. They’re good enough to still win those kinds of games. But to be the team they want to be, to be the team that we know they can be, to be the team that it that can be one of the top seeds in the East, it’s going to take a lot more. And the Magic can’t count on flipping the switch anymore. They got to be good from start to finish. They need a 48minute game, not as Jamal Mosley said, an 8-minute one. That’s why perhaps Jamal Mosley did what we have been asking him to do, turning to the Magic’s rookies to inject some energy. How Jace Richardson and Noah Penda have claimed their minutes. 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 Robin Hood. What if sports were traded like markets? Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robin Hood prediction markets. It’s not you against the house. It’s you participating in a live market. You can buy or sell your positions live all game long. Use your sports knowledge in the moments that matter. Robin Hood prediction markets changes the game. It’s people moving the action. So when momentum shifts, you can move with it. You always knew the game but never had a dynamic way to apply that knowledge. Now you can actually take part live in a market powered by people. You’re no longer just a spectator. Playbyplay, you decide. Trade every play with Robin Hood. Now available across the US. Download the Robin Hood app now to begin. We want to thank you again for making Lockdown Magic your first listen of the day. And we want to thank you again for helping make the Lockdown Podcast Network the number one sports podcast network. Stay tuned Monday. We got a big announcement coming. You’ve been seeing the teasers hopefully on social media. Big announcement coming Monday from the Lockdown Podcast Network. It’s your team every day. You can tell like I’m a positive guy like like there’s there’s a lot to be frustrated with this with this in this game. And I I’ll point out where maybe this was just a bad night. You know, again, 82 game season, you’re going to have bad nights. Even the good teams have bad nights except for the Thunder for some reason. You’re gonna have nights that that things just don’t click. And and I want to repeat like the Spurs are a good team. Again, the travel and all that stuff. I do want to talk a little bit about that. This is a good San Antonio team. So, don’t I’m not freaking out about a losses first. If this was like the Nets and you’re playing like this, which happened two weeks ago now against Brooklyn, uh or three weeks ago now, um these games are happening a little bit more than they should. And so to be the team the Magic, excuse me, to be the team the Magic want to be, they got to be more consistent. And so in a game that wasn’t working, in a game where maybe the energy wasn’t quite what the Magic wanted to be, they went hunting. They went hunting for players hungry for their chance, hungry to make something happen. And as they saw in Boston a few weeks ago, as they’ve been seeing more and more as these guys are playing, they have hungry players who can contribute to this team. And Noah Penda and Jace Richardson. Noah Penda has been playing a lot more lately. He’s been getting more minutes. He has been a really positive player. Yes, teams are still attacking him and and and he’s fouling a little bit too much and and and he can struggle a little bit with that. He’s a rookie. rookiey’s going to make mistakes, but Noah Penda has been a bundle of energy. Like we talked to Jonathan Isaac in the locker room after the game, you know, asked asked him about what he thought of Penda and he said really impressed. He’s really impressed with Penda’s play because this is what you don’t you you know, you don’t expect this from rookies. You don’t expect rookies to make these major contributions. Penda in this game played only three minutes, missed both of his shots, no points, two rebounds. So, this isn’t exactly the no appenda game, but the Magic are turning to him more and more. They’re giving him these opportunities. And remember what I said after the game against Boston. I do think we are at a point where you got to find a game to get these guys minutes. They are whenever they play, they whenever they play, whether it’s Pendo or Jason, we’re going to get to Jason here in a minute because he got his first real minutes of the G of his of the season. whenever they play, they make good things happen and that deserves a longer look just to keep them fresh, just to keep them ready. To say the least, when the Magic called on Jace Richardson in the third quarter, because I didn’t think Taius Jones played poorly, like yes, he was attacked a little bit on defense, but Tus Jones did good things. Five points, he did what he needed to do in this game. They clearly turned to Jay Richardson because a they felt like they needed energy and b like maybe this was just his turn. Maybe this was just his time to get this opportunity and to get this look. And again, it’s going to be hard not to play either of these players because they play with so much energy. They they make things happen and most of them are good. This was Jace Richardson’s first real playing time. And frankly, the Magic don’t have a chance to win this game if not for Jace Richardson. The Magic do not have a chance to tie this game to be in this game late to to be a threat to win without Jace Richardson. His final box score playing mostly in the fourth quarter. 1552 came out for a little bit in the fourth quarter. He essentially played the whole fourth quarter. Three for five shooting. Didn’t take a three. Two for two from the foul line. Five rebounds including two offensive rebounds, two assists, eight points, and a team high plus nine. For whatever that’s worth, he’s on the floor when the Magic made their run. like that’s fine. Jace Richardson made a huge impact just by being aggressive, just by having a scores mindset, just by trying to make things happen, but staying under control. He made a great dump off pass to Jonathan Isaac when he got underneath the basket. He knows he is not the tallest guy on the floor. So, he uses his speed to his advantage. And frankly, the most important thing, the guy just fights. The guy is not afraid to mix it up. He got called for a double foul trying to box out. I believe it was Jeremy Sohan. And frankly, it probably shouldn’t have been a foul. Our friend Richard statement asked me why the Magic didn’t challenge that foul call. And I was like, well, a they want to keep that challenge in the back pocket. They want to keep the timeout, but b they got the ball back anyway. Does it matter that Jace Richardson picked up a foul? Like no harm, like no harm there. But just like he did against Boston a few weeks ago, Jace Richardson sparked this team on a night where they did not have it offensively. He was unafraid and and and that unafraid and aggressive and that is the most important thing. That is the most important thing I want to see from Jace Richardson. I I know I’m a bit of a Taius Jones defender. I I’m not going to pretend otherwise. I I’ve I’ve said a lot about Taius Jones. I think Tyus is better than a lot of fans are giving him credit for. He does need to shoot better. He does need to provide something offensively. But even and I think a lot of things with Tai have stabilized since the early part of the season. But I have also been a proponent of give Jace a chance. Give Jay some give him some meaningful minutes because I believe he can do things like this more regularly. And certainly it is undeniable in however small the sample that we have of Jace that he can make an impact on this team, that he can be a positive impactor for this team. It’s just a matter of time. So yes, am I saying you’re calling for Jace Richardson to be in the rotation tomorrow or be in the rotation Friday? Look, teams are still attacking him like crazy on defense. His willingness to fight, scrap, be physical with whatever he has in him, that’s a plus. That might be better than what you’re getting from Tyus Johnson. So, if the offense is consistent, absolutely. I am still calling for what I’ve called for and that is giving just making sure you give Jace his opportunity. Making sure you pick out spots to get Jason to games to to give him a game in Taius’s role to give him kind of that full responsibility and to gain that trust because the only reason Taius Jones is playing over Jace Richardson at this point is because Taius is the veteran. Because Taius has a decade in the NBA of trust built in with him. And again, he’s not playing poorly. I want to make that clear. is not playing as bad as a lot of people put him out make him out to be. He’s only minus one in this game in a game where the Magic probably should have been blowed out and and we’ll talk a little bit more about where the Magic’s weaknesses are uh lineup wise on tomorrow’s episode. The important thing with the Magic’s two rookies at this point is look, they’re in it for the long haul with these two guys. Like they’re going to be happy with whatever they get from them this season, but they are in it for the next two, three years. Like I I I think they want Jason to be Jason to be contributors next year. This year it’s a bonus. Next year is when they’ll be they’ll be needed. And so whatever experience and and trust you can gain with them this year is going to be really really important. Every time they go on the floor in meaningful action though, that trust grows. And so yes, it’s it’s time to give Jace more serious looks. It’s time to make sure Jace that this isn’t some flash in the pan. It’s It’s time to see, okay, you had a good game. Do it again. Build some consistency. Give him the opportunity to build consistency. That’s really what we’re asking for because every time we see Jace and Noah get their chance, the Magic are better, at least in the small sample sizes we’ve seen. And the Magic should be looking for ways to continue to challenge and grow these two young players. Let’s dive into the box score. why the Orlando Magic really should have won this game and did a lot of things they needed to win this game. Where this game was lost on the box score. We’ll get to that coming up here in just a moment. But first, today’s episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to my friends over at Game Time. The World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1994. And with 48 teams for the first time ever, it’s going to be massive. the World Cup draw coming up, I believe, on Friday. So, we’re going to know the groups, who’s going where, who’s going down to Miami for those games. So, if you’re looking to get tickets to the game, that’s the hardest part of this whole thing. There’s so many games. Getting tickets is hard to the World Cup. That’s why the Game Time app is clutch. It finally gives fans a real advantage when it comes to snagging seats. 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Alerts for teams and matches make it easy to grab tickets the moment they drop instead of missing out. So, take the guesswork out of buying World Cup tickets or whatever you’re trying to go to every match, concert, or event with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Again, terms apply. Download the app, make an account, and use code locked on NBA for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Game time. When you look at the box score of this game, it was a strange one. It it was a strange one because there are a lot of things that point to this should be an Orlando Magic win. San Junior Spurs, one of the slowest teams in the league. Played at a pace of 106 possessions for 48 minutes. Obviously coming off a back toback where they traveled from San Antonio, they they got in at around 3:30. It was a tough night for the Spurs. This is why the Magic had to jump on them early. Like the Magic be ready to go from tip and and they just weren’t. The Magic were just playing uphill the entire way. Orlando finishes with a 108.6 six defensive ring that is better than their average. They played a at the end of the day a really good defensive game. They forced 19 turnovers for 23 points. That’s usually a good sign. They outscored San Antonio 21 to9 on fast breaks. What cost them obviously was their offense. A 104.7 offensive rating. Magic had a 96.8 def offensive rating with black on the floor. 87.7 with Wendell Carter on the floor despite his scoring. 98.3 with Tristan Dilva on the floor. um 87.5 with Tyus Jones on the floor, 63 with Jonathan Isaac on the floor. Yesesh, they scored only 20 points in the second quarter, which is when San Cherner really gained some distance against them. Um outscored them 2720 in the second quarter. The Magic were just always playing uphill and their offense was just unreliable. They shooted 45% 45 for 100 and nine for 28 from three for 32.1%. Again, Orlando’s defense did a good job. Sancho made a lot of threes in the first half. They were just 13 for 38 though for the game, 34.2%. The Magic just left a lot of opportunities on the board. The Spurs gave them a lot of opportunities and the Magic just did not play with precision or sharpness. Those fast break points I mentioned 21 to9 Orlando advantage in fast break points. Orlando’s one of the best transition teams in the league. They were eight for 18 on fast break on fast break points and fast break opportunities. Eight for 18. They’re supposed to be easy shots, right? supposed to be shots at the basket, you know, spray out threes, like they’re supposed to be easy shots. Eight for 18 points in the paint. Orlando scored 64 points in the paint. I believe that is their third or fourth straight game with 60 points in the paint. That’s really good. Magic one of the best teams at scoring in the paint. They got a lot of points in the paint. Outscored the the Spurs 64 to 42 in the paint. 32 for 65 in the paint. Less than 50% shooting in the paint. Assumably the easy close-up shots you’re supposed to get. Now, typically Orlando gets to the foul line a lot. They drive a lot. They tackle a lot. Magic didn’t take a lot of threes in this game. Certainly, they got to the line and and if the Magic got their typical diet of free throws, perhaps they would have won this game. But Orlando was just 13 for 19 from the foul line. Not only did they not get 20 free throws, 10 20 free throw attempts in this game. They not hit their average, which they’re, you know, 30 something 33% free throw rate. They they get a lot of free throws. They get like one free throw for every three field goal attempts. Not only did they not hit that number, they missed six. They missed opportunities, more points left on the board. And so when we talk about kind of flipping the switch, it’s also about this precision. It’s all it’s it’s precision. It’s about are you taking advantage of the opportunities that you have? Are you are you you know, when you get when you do the good things, are you making them pay? Every time the Magic made a mistake or or more often when the Magic made a mistake, the Spurs made them pay. When the Spurs made mistakes, and they made a lot of them, they were not. Go listen to our friends at Locked on Spurs. I’m sure they’re celebrating a hard-fought victory and and breathing a sigh of relief over it. When the Spurs made mistakes, the Magic did not always make them pay in. And that is something good teams have to do. You go watch the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Oklahoma City Thunder, if you make a string of mistakes, you’re going to be down by 10 in three possessions. It’s that’s just how they are. And that’s what the elite teams have to do when teams are at a disadvantage, at a rest disadvantage, are not making good plays. And you can find this throughout the roster. Fron Vagner 25 points, nine for 17 shooting, six for seven from fell. And he did make those three key free throws at the end. Four rebounds, six assists. A solid game for Fran Vog. Solid game, but a lot of his misses, or at least a few more misses than you’d like for him just trying to throw himself at the basket, trying to get a foul. whistle wasn’t going their way. First time all season perhaps Magic work getting the benefit of the whistle. Spurs did a good job defensively. Again, like they didn’t call fouls. Whether that’s true or not, they didn’t call them. You can’t count on that. And that’s one of the problems with the Magic relying so much on free throw shooting. They they had to find another way. And and again, for much of the last three weeks, the Magic have found another way. They couldn’t find that other way tonight. Desmond Bane really struggled in this one. 14 points, six for 15 shooting, two for three from three. Would love to see him get more threes, six assists. So, Magic get 27 assists, by the way, on 45 field goals. 27 assists. You’re going to win most games with 27 assists. So, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater on this one. The Magic did a lot of good things. The Magic put themselves in a position to win this game. They were just having to climb uphill to do it. They didn’t bring the right intensity early. Again, they missed opportunities. They didn’t take advantage of opportunities when they came and that ultimately made them made them pay. Um Jaylen Suggs was the real hero this game. 24 points, 10 for 20 shooting, three for eight from three, um, which would make him seven for 12 inside the ark. Four assists, three steals, one turnover. So, controlled the turnovers. Orlando only had 10 turnovers. Turnovers were not a problem in this game. But where Jaylen Jaylen Sug’s usually over skis on offense, a little too aggressive at times on defense and and he admitted that after the game. He’s got to control his pace a little bit, control his tempo a little bit. And that that again, that was like the big problem for the Magic all game is just they struggled to control their tempo. They struggled to kind of play at their speed rather than letting San Antonio dictate the speed to them. Tristan Silva had a nice bounceback game with 12 points on five for 10 shooting, two for six from beyond the arc. Solid a solid but not spectacular game from him. Wendell Carter had a kind of rough game. Five points, nine rebounds, two for nine shooting. Just struggled struggled making the jumpers that have been really reliable. He was 0 for four from three. He’s been a really great three-point shooter all game long all year long. So maybe just a bad shooting night. Maybe if the Magic have a normal shooting night. Um, you know, again, two more. They lost by two. May it’s little, it’s little things that are g going to shift things the other way. And that’s why the little the big thing today is having to play from behind, having to climb uphill, and all these missed opportunities the Magic had to build momentum and give themselves a chance to win and make that fourth quarter a little bit easier instead of a little less frenetic. The big story tonight off the bench, Anthony Black, who’s been super reliable for the last three weeks, just he he just finally had a stinker. like he’s he’s I think he scored at least 10 points in his last six or seven games. That includes uh like five 20 point games in those seven I think. Um he had seven tonight. Two for 11 shooting. 0 for three from three. Three for four from the foul line. Did have seven rebounds. Did have five assists. Did do some good things, but Anthony Black was trying to get to the basket. Trying to finish around the rim. Struggle to struggle to finish. Struggled to just complete shots around the basket. Struggled to to kind of get that last little bit over the hump. And and again like that’s that’s the difference in the game. That’s kind of where where this game where this game is it that’s where that’s where things struggle for this team is they just could not get themselves over that hump and and that’s ultimately ultimately what cost them. Um Goatz again had eight points. Taius Jones had five. I thought Tus was fine. Again Jace was better. I I I I get it. Jay’s becoming undeniable. We we can we can have that debate and I think that is a discussion the Magic will have. Again give Jace more opportunities. Days finished with eight points, three for five shooting again. San Antonio led in scoring by Darren Fox with 31. Uh they get 14 from Julian Champeni. They get 11 from Harrison Barnes who’s just four for 12. And I see him have a bad game here. Deon Della had 15 on six for 14. They get 16 off the bench from rookie Dylan Harper who was five for 12 with five turnovers. 13 from Kell Johnson. They made a lot of tough shots and and and and again I want to give the Spurs a lot of credit on the backtoback. This should have been a schedule loss for San Antonio on the backtoback. They played hard. They they put themselves in the lead. I thought Mitch Johnson did a great job managing them anytime it felt like the Magic was starting to build momentum. He called timeouts early to just give them the chance to rest and re and recompose. And I I think that’s really smart coaching on his part. The Magic just could not impose their will on this game. And that’s what you have to do in games like this. And the Magic got caught flatfooted. They got caught on their back foot. They tried to ease themselves in this game. Their starting lineup, which we’ll discuss tomorrow, is frankly struggling. the starting lineup has not been good lately. Um, and that’s something we do need to discuss because the bench is a big superpower and again the bench wasn’t there for the Magic tonight. So, that’s a big reason why I think the Magic ultimately lost. Orlando still did a lot of good things. There’s still a lot of things to build on, still a lot of things to say like, okay, just a lot of stuff left on the board. Again, San Antonio deser deserves credit. I’m not taking anything away from them. They went out and took this game. Orlando left a lot on the board. They left a lot of points on the board that they got to take advantage of. This is about Orlando as much as it is about how well San Antonio played. And so the Magic have to dust themselves off. They have to take this lesson, take this L, understand why they had it, understand the intensity and intention that they need, especially with big games coming up here in the next week. And they got to bring it back Friday against Miami against a very good Miami Heat team that I’m sure is thinking about revenge and thinking a little bit about Tuesday’s big game as well. The San Antonio Spurs defeat the Orlando Magic 114 to 112. again. Orlando back in action here at the Kia Center to complete this three-game home stand at against Miami on Friday. But that’s going to do it for me today. I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of Locked on Magic. Of course, find me on Twitter, Philip R_OMD, and on Blue Sky, Philip RR. You can subscribe to the podcast, Apple Podcast, search tun Spotify, Odyssey, and all the way down podcast to your podcast enable device. You can check us out on YouTube as well. Just search for Lockdown Magic. If you have not done so, subscribe on YouTube. We are close to 5,000 subscribers. Thank you all to the Lockdown Magic community for making this the best. And again, we have a fun announcement coming up on Monday as part of the Lockdown podcast network. So stay tuned for that as well. For the latest on the Orlando Magic, be sure to check out Orlando Magicaily.com. You can find us on Twitter, oh Magic Daily. And for even more Orlando Magic content, be sure to check out my Patreon page, Orlando Magicub, at patreon.com/orlandomagichub. As always, thank you for your support. Now that you’re done making lockdown match your first listen of the day, go make your second listen to Locked on Fantasy Basketball Podcast. Josh Lloyd hosts the number one fantasy basketball podcast, giving you daily tips and helping you win your league all while making you a smarter NBA fan. Find Locked on Fantasy Basketball on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. All part of Lockdown Podcast Network. It’s your team every day. Well, that’s going to do it for me today. I want to thank you again for listening to today’s episode of Lockdown Magic from the Kia Center. This has been Philip Rosnike. We’ll see you all again next time for another episode of Locked On Magic.

The Orlando Magic started their run to combat the San Antonio Spurs too late, only tying the game late before a pair of De’Aaron Fox free throws and a Luke Kornet block sealed their fate in a 114-112 defeat.

The Magic were playing on their back foot the entire game and could not get over the hump against a surprisingly energetic Spurs team. Their habit of easing into games and trying to rescue them late finally cost them a winnable game.

Despite this, the Magic continued to prove they are a strong team that can win even without their best efforts. But they cannot fall into the habit of leaving too many points on the board.

The Magic also found a spark of energy from their two rookies once again as Noah Penda and Jase Richardson push for more minutes.

00:00 Magic Fall to Spurs
07:30 Magic’s Missed Momentum Shift
12:40 Magic Seek Consistency and Hunger
17:01 Jase Deserves More Minutes
25:12 Making Opponents Pay for Mistakes

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