{"id":541110,"date":"2026-01-16T18:18:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T18:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/541110\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T18:18:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T18:18:18","slug":"orlando-magic-head-to-london-after-taking-down-grizzlies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/541110\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic head to London after taking down Grizzlies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Countless media interviews, hundreds of autographs signed, favorite restaurants visited, time spent with family and old friends, and of course, plenty of volunteer work done in the Berlin<\/a> community.<\/p>\n

That and more was what Magic<\/a> teammates Franz Wagner<\/a>, Tristan da Silva and Moe Wagner went through in the lead up to facing the Grizzlies<\/a> inside Uber Arena and in their home country of Germany on Thursday.<\/p>\n

As noted by Amazon\u2019s Prime Network analyst and WNBA legend Candace Parker, it was easy to forget an actual game had to be played, given all of the events surrounding the international contest.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s not a coincidence the Wagner brothers and da Silva only scored a combined seven points on 3 for 13 shooting from the field with five turnovers in the first half.<\/p>\n

But by the end of the night, the German trio, with help from Paolo Banchero<\/a>, lifted Orlando<\/a> past Memphis<\/a>, 118-111, in front of a national TV audience and fans in more than 200 countries and territories on Prime and NBA League Pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cMentally, it was a lot coming into this week,\u201d said Franz Wagner, who played in his first game after missing 16 due to a high left ankle sprain. \u201cObviously working back from an injury isn\u2019t ever easy, and then it being this game. So, (it was) a very emotional week and also a taxing week because we did a lot of stuff because we wanted to maximize our time here.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot making any excuses though,\u201d he added. \u201cOnce you decide to play, you\u2019ve got to be ready. I was happy to make some plays at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

The eight-point victory almost didn\u2019t happen after Jamahl Mosley<\/a>\u2018s squad fell down by 20 points in the first half. The Magic allowed the Grizzlies to score\u00a0 39 points in the opening 12 minutes.<\/p>\n

Memphis caught fire from distance early when it shot 12-for-20 from 3-point range and Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 23 points before the half.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nerves were there,\u201d Mosley said about the Wagner brothers and da Silva. \u201cThat adrenaline was very heavy for those guys, and then as they settled into the game, you saw what they were capable of doing once they got themselves going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orlando was able to turn things around when it relied on its defense to limit Memphis to just 12 points in the third quarter, the fewest allowed in any quarter by the Magic this season.<\/p>\n

Franz Wagner scored 13 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, da Silva ended with eight points, four rebounds and four steals, and Moe Wagner added 7 points and four rebounds.<\/p>\n

The 20-point deficit was the largest overcome by Orlando this season, achieved as Banchero notched his team-high 13th double-double with 26 points and 13 rebounds.<\/p>\n

\"Orlando<\/p>\n

AP Photo\/Ebrahim Noroozi<\/p>\n

Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) passes the ball around multiple Memphis defenders during Thursday’s in Berlin, Germany. (AP Photo\/Ebrahim Noroozi)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came out in the third and played really good defense, like the Orlando Magic do usually,\u201d Franz Wagner said. \u201c(We) held them to 12 points and that was the key to winning the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crowd at Uber Arena helped, too.<\/p>\n

Although the game took place nearly 5,000 miles away from Orlando, it was clear which team had a home-court advantage in Berlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, this atmosphere was incredible,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cThe German fans are just amazing. As soon as the introductions started with Franz (Wagner) coming out, then Tristan (da Silva) checks in and then Moe (Wagner) checks in, and then the chants of the \u2018Orlando Magic,\u2019 \u2026 That\u2019s a good feeling for our group. It felt like a home game.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, we have some of the best fans in the NBA, and it felt like that for our guys tonight, which was part of that big adrenaline rush for our guys starting the game out that way,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The win could serve as a turning point for the Magic, who reached the halfway mark of the regular season Thursday. It marked the first time since Nov. 28-Dec. 1 that Orlando recorded consecutive victories after alternating between wins and losses for almost a month.<\/p>\n

Even though Jalen Suggs<\/a> (right knee MCL bruise) missed his sixth straight game, getting healthier has unsurprisingly helped the Magic. Thursday\u2019s game also marked the first time Banchero and both Wagners played in the same game since Oct. 30, 2024.<\/p>\n

The group hopes to ride the wave of momentum and emotion that came with playing in Berlin when they face the Grizzlies again on Sunday in London<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be the third time the Magic (23-18) have played in London and the first since 2016. Although the contest will serve as the 10th regular season NBA game played in the UK (more than any other European country), Memphis (17-23) has never played in London before.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always challenges when you\u2019re going different time zones, weather change, \u2026 All of those things took place, but our performance staff did a great job with our guys, keeping them prepared,\u201d Mosley said.<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic vs. Grizzlies<\/p>\n

When:\u00a0Noon, Sunday, The O2 Arena (London)<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0Amazon Prime Video<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Countless media interviews, hundreds of autographs signed, favorite restaurants visited, time spent with family and old friends, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3779],"tags":[7,165,48,6,47,76,3883,1412,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-541110","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando-magic","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-magic","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-orlando","13":"tag-orlando-magic","14":"tag-orlandomagic","15":"tag-social","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}