The Orlando Magic defeated the Utah Jazz 120-117 Saturday night at the Kia Center. The Magic came back from down 17 points in the third quarter to pick up their second straight win at home.

“I thought [the win] was huge this time of the year,” Magic guard Desmond Bane said. “After the season’s over, I don’t think people are gonna look back and say, ‘what happened’ or ‘why was it so close?’ They’re only gonna remember if it was a win or loss. But with that being said, we have to look ourselves in the mirror and understand that we need to play better. We’re a better team than what we showed. And I think we will continue to improve.”

Orlando’s “Killer B’s” (Paolo Banchero, Desmond Bane, and Anthony Black) ended with 23, 22, and 21 points, respectively. For Utah, Lauri Markkanen led the team and game with 27 points.

In his Utah Jazz debut, Jaren Jackson Jr. had 22 points in 25 minutes. Jackson Jr. did not play in the fourth quarter after helping the team grow their lead.

“I mean, I think that it’s crazy for sure seeing [Jackson Jr.] in those threads,” Bane said. “Me and Jaren talked about that before the game. He was saying they kind of liked it. You know, he likes it, so I’m happy that him and John and Vince are finding a new home.”

Game flow
First quarter

To start the contest, the newest member of the Jazz, Jackson Jr., scored the first four points for his new team. He would end the quarter with 11 points.

Orlando built a nine-point lead after threes from Black, Banchero and Jase Richardson. Utah then went on a 12-6 run to cut the lead to three after one quarter of play. 

Second quarter

The teams traded buckets to start the second quarter, but a 5-0 run by the Jazz, including a Kevin Love three, gave them their first lead of the quarter. Banchero scored a layup after spinning off of his defender to knot the game at 44 a piece.

For the last seven minutes of the half, Utah would outscore Orlando 21-10, largely due to the Magic’s poor three-point shooting. After shooting 5/12 from deep in the first, the Magic shot 1/11 from three in the second quarter. The Jazz also outrebounded them 30-19, including six offensive rebounds.

“I thought we tried to exchange baskets too much early on,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “Got into the sprint game, we’re at race with them, and they put up 35 and 30 in that first two quarters. That wasn’t who we are and who we needed to be.”

Third quarter

At the start of the third quarter, Orlando had a 12-7 run to cut the Utah lead to six. The Jazz were able to hold them off from digging further into the lead, but the Magic had a six-point deficit five times in the third.

With three minutes left in the quarter, the Jazz sparked a 10-0 run, including seven points from veteran big Kevin Love. During the run, Utah guard Keyonte George sustained an ankle injury after coming into the game with a left ankle sprain.

Trailing by 17, the Magic needed a spark, and they got that spark from their Europeans on the bench unit. Center Moritz Wagner hit a three, then forward Tristan da Silva made another. Rookie Noah Penda scored four straight points, giving Orlando a 10-0 run right back heading into the final quarter.

“I thought Moe was excellent in that regard,” Mosley said. “He hit some big time threes, the energy he brought. We said, and then, in the last huddle, in the two minute timeout, it was just, get it to 10, And by the quarter we didn’t get it to set up. So our mini goals in that situation is what kind of sparks this team to be able to look at just the small goals and try to achieve those versus trying to save, just go find a way over the game. Just do the mini goals.”

Fourth quarter

The Magic rode their momentum into the next quarter as they continued to chip away at the Jazz’s lead. Utah sat Jusuf Nurkić, Jackson Jr., and Markkanen for the entire fourth quarter after putting up a combined 52 points and 26 rebounds.

“They’re good players,” Wagner said. “I think Lauri is having a heck of a season. I think their coach puts them in great positions to score too. I think they do something very differently offensively, where it’s really difficult to guard, because you don’t see it much. Kind of understand the game really well, so whether you switch, or not switch, they understand where to put themselves on where to get an advantage towards the basket, and then, obviously, you want to take that away, so the three-point shot is open, and they’re all very skilled. I think in the second half, we did a much better job.” 

Over the next seven minutes, Orlando slowly cut Utah’s lead from seven all the way down to two, including eight points by Wagner in that span. He checked out with 13 points and eight rebounds, leaving Wendell Carter Jr. on the court for the final five minutes.

“[Moe] is humongous,” Bane said. “He told us before the previous game we gotta have our juice and our energy, and you see he’s been bringing it for sure. I think that even he’ll tell you we all gotta have that energy from the start. It can’t just be when we’re down, we’re trying to rally back to come back from a deficit. We have to play with that emotion and that care and that willingness to be unselfish and defend for a full 48 minutes.”

Carter Jr. was fouled by new Jazz player John Konchar and made both free throws to tie the game for the first time since the second quarter. Kyle Filipowski then converted an and-one, thwarting Orlando’s chance to take the lead.

Jazz rookie Ace Bailey then hit a shot to give them a five-point lead with less than three minutes left in the game. Orlando would spark a 5-0 run off a Bane layup and a Suggs three, tying the game once again.

Konchar dunked the ball for Utah with a minute left to reclaim the lead, putting Orlando down with less than 60 seconds left. Bane would get fouled and miss his first free throw but make his second, with the Magic now down by one. 

Needing a stop, Suggs blocked Isaiah Collier’s shot and passed the ball to Bane, who was then fouled. Bane made the two free throws, sealing the win for Orlando.

“We haven’t played our best basketball, probably,” Wagner said. “There’s plenty of reasons for that. But the beautiful thing about the league is you have 82 games; you don’t just have 30. There’s plenty of NBA teams in the past that haven’t had that season that they were expected to have and they kind of turned it around towards the end. And I think that’s the mindset. And it’s on us players to kind of come up with that because we are out there. I think everybody gotta kind of make a decision, whether we come to work and do our routine and do that with the right mindset, and then go to the game, deliver the right mindset, and see if the result works out, or if we just kind of put our heads down with someone. Yeah, just, I don’t know, how do you want to call it, but, like, surrender to the circumstances, you know? I think, after the All Star break, after we kind of rejuvenated our mind a little bit and recharged, we will not surrender.” 

Next up

The Magic host the Milwaukee Bucks for a two game homestand taking place on Monday. Last season, Milwaukee won the season series against Orlando 3-1.

“This is why the homestand is so important,” Mosley said. “You can get that energy from the crowd, which our group is great. We need it a ton.”

Tip-off against the Bucks is set for 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 9.