{"id":547337,"date":"2026-01-19T19:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T19:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/547337\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T19:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T19:50:12","slug":"orlando-magic-return-home-after-europe-trip-vs-grizzlies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/547337\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic return home after Europe trip vs. Grizzlies"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the first 12 minutes of Sunday\u2019s game between the Magic<\/a> and the Grizzlies<\/a> in London, Orlando<\/a> missed all seven of its 3-point attempts, allowed Memphis<\/a> to shoot 6-for-11 from beyond the arc and turned the ball over three times.<\/p>\n

As the mistakes piled up for Jamahl Mosley<\/a>\u2018s squad, the deficit, which grew to 33 points in the first half, became insurmountable for the Magic in the 126-109 loss at O2 Arena<\/a> in front of a global audience on Amazon Prime Video.<\/p>\n

Unlike last Thursday\u2019s game in Berlin<\/a> where Orlando was able overcome a 20-point deficit to beat Memphis by seven, the Grizzlies\u2019 lead never shrank to 15 points, let alone single digits.<\/p>\n

So what was the difference?<\/p>\n

In the eyes of Magic forward Paolo Banchero<\/a>, it was Memphis star Ja Morant, who returned from injury after six games and had 24\u00a0points and 13 rebounds in 28 minutes,<\/p>\n

\u201cHe creates so much for their team off the dribble with his talent, so you can\u2019t really game-plan for that,\u201d Banchero said after the 17-point loss. \u201cI don\u2019t think they did much differently. They played the same style, fast-paced, but they had probably their best player out there today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Mosley about Morant: \u201cHis speed, his intensity, his energy level when he gets on the court, he\u2019s a tough guard. He\u2019s a lightning bolt getting downhill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another key difference was the absence of Orlando backup center Moe Wagner, who sat out due to left knee injury management after playing in just his second contest Thursday following more than a year-long rehab of a torn left ACL.<\/p>\n

Missing Wagner and guard Jalen Suggs (who sat out his seventh game with a right knee MCL bruise), Orlando was without two of its top energy-providers against the Grizzlies, who grew more explosive with Morant back.<\/p>\n

But one common theme between the two contests, regardless of who was available, was Orlando\u2019s lack of urgency from the jump. The Magic were outscored 79-46 in the first quarters combined against Memphis (18-23).<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth games we started down big,\u201d Banchero said. \u201cGermany, we came back; [Sunday] we didn\u2019t. So not something we want to continue, going down early.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orlando traveled home Monday and will recoup Tuesday before hitting the practice court Wednesday ahead of hosting the Hornets at Kia Center on Thursday.<\/p>\n

And not all was lost on the trip that saw the Magic split their pair of games with Memphis. Entering Monday\u2019s slate of games, No. 7 Orlando (23-19) was only one game back of No. 4 Toronto (25-19) and just two games back of No. 3 New York (25-17).<\/p>\n

But the Magic are aware they haven\u2019t played up to their standard as of late, going 5-5 in their last 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s things we\u2019re going to have to correct and clean up \u2014 that\u2019s with every game whether you win or lose,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cOur ability to start a little stronger, learn a little faster and have sense of urgency to start the game is something that was trending. So we\u2019ve got to make sure we clean that up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the slow starts have persisted for the Magic \u2014 and before that, it was poor endings \u2014 Banchero remains optimistic. But the Magic are not pleased with where they stand at this point in the season, either.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe group is together,\u201d Banchero said. \u201cWe all trust each other [and] have each other\u2019s backs. Heading into this back-half, we need to find a way to string some consistent basketball together and get wins. Hopefully we can go on a streak here because we\u2019re right in the middle of the standings. That could do a lot for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know we\u2019re in the [spot to make the] playoffs right now, but you can\u2019t be complacent with that,\u201d he added. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to try to fight for homecourt and get [a] top seed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starting with Thursday\u2019s game against Charlotte, Orlando\u2019s schedule includes games every other day leading into the league\u2019s All-Star break that covers Feb. 12-17. So while there aren\u2019t any back-to-backs the next 11 games, there also isn\u2019t much time off before All-Star weekend, which takes place in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

The NBA trade deadline is set for Feb. 5 at 3 p.m. ET as well.<\/p>\n

With less than half the regular season remaining, the Magic recognize the amount of time left to rise in the East is fading, but they aren\u2019t putting a ceiling on themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re talented enough to go all the way,\u201d Banchero said. \u201cBut at the end of the day, we\u2019ve got to start playing better and we\u2019ve got to go out there and win games. We can\u2019t just say it. We can\u2019t just say we\u2019re going to do this or we\u2019re going to make it this far.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been out the first round two straight years, so we have to go prove that we\u2019re better than that and we can advance in the playoffs,\u201d he added. \u201cObviously, I\u2019m going to think highly of the team and the rest of the guys do [too], but [as] I said, we have to go and prove it this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic vs. Hornets<\/p>\n

When:\u00a07 p.m., Thursday, Kia Center<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0FanDuel Sports Network Florida<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During the first 12 minutes of Sunday\u2019s game between the Magic and the Grizzlies in London, Orlando missed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3795],"tags":[7,294,165,293,177,4070,6,76,1412,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-547337","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-memphis-grizzlies","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-grizzlies","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-memphis","12":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","13":"tag-memphisgrizzlies","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-orlando-magic","16":"tag-social","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115923506084682484","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547337","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=547337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}