{"id":551702,"date":"2026-01-21T20:46:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T20:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/551702\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T20:46:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T20:46:14","slug":"orlando-magic-aim-for-stronger-start-hosting-hornets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/551702\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic aim for stronger start hosting Hornets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following a week-long trip to Europe that included splitting a pair of games in Berlin<\/a> and London<\/a> against the Grizzlies<\/a>, the Magic<\/a> returned to the practice courts inside the AdventHealth Training Center on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Regrouping after a long trek back Monday and an off-day Tuesday, Orlando<\/a> focused on the fundamentals of the game on both ends of the court while reflecting on the time spent overseas and looking ahead to the second half of the regular season.<\/p>\n

\u201cA really, really cool experience, something that me, Moe [Wagner] and Tristan [da Silva] will definitely never forget,\u201d German forward Franz Wagner<\/a> said about the trip. \u201cHopefully the other guys had a lot of fun out there too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a long week though, so we\u2019re definitely happy to be back here,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Back home, the team went through a \u201cspirited and physical\u201d practice Wednesday, according to coach Jamahl Mosley<\/a>. Orlando hosts the Hornets (16-27) at Kia Center<\/a> on Thursday and Cleveland on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, we had a great practice,\u201d Mosley said when asked if he saw any lingering fatigue from the trip. \u201cI thought it was a great practice for our guys, for getting their bodies moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Entering Wednesday\u2019s slate of games, the Magic (23-19) were sixth in the Eastern Conference but just 1.5 games back of No. 3 New York (25-18) and three behind No. 2 Boston (26-16).<\/p>\n

Orlando isn\u2019t pleased with how the first 42 games of the season went but it knows a lot can still be accomplished in the second half of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fair to say we\u2019re not where we want to be as a team in terms of the standings,\u201d Wagner said. \u201cThat was a big part of today, just realizing that we do have half the season left, kind of in our control. [We] haven\u2019t played our best basketball and have a lot of basketball left to prove what kind of team we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Wagner made his return to the court in Berlin following a 16-game absence due to a left high ankle sprain, the team has still been without Jalen Suggs<\/a> for 14 of the last 16 contests, including the last seven because of a right knee MCL bruise.<\/p>\n

Orlando upgraded Suggs to questionable on the team\u2019s initial injury report for Thursday\u2019s game, indicating his return is possible against the Hornets.<\/p>\n

\u201cJalen is getting better,\u201d Mosley said about Suggs after Wednesday\u2019s practice. \u201cHe was doing a little bit of light contact and, as you know, we just always go off of how he\u2019ll respond to what happened today, looking at him [Thursday].\u201d<\/p>\n

Moe Wagner<\/a>, who was a late scratch in London due to left knee injury management after he played two games following a year-plus recovery for a torn left ACL, is also \u201cdoing better now,\u201d Mosley said.<\/p>\n

While injuries have contributed to Orlando\u2019s recent struggles \u2014 the team is 5-5 in its last 10 games \u2014 how it has started games has been a factor, too.<\/p>\n

The Magic gave up 39 points in the first quarter to Memphis in Berlin and 40 points in the opening frame three days later in London. The Hornets scored 38 in the first quarter when they left Kia Center with a 15-point win over Orlando the day after Christmas.<\/p>\n

The players are aware it\u2019s up to them to figure out how to start games stronger in order to play more consistently with just 11 games left ahead of the NBA All-Star break in mid-February.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s on everybody in the building to make sure that we finish out the season the right way and hopefully the result of that is stringing some wins together in a row and finding a rhythm as a team,\u201d Franz Wagner said. \u201cThat happens when you focus on each day at a time [and] get better as a a team on both sides of the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

That process starts when the Hornets come to town Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur fans are the best, so that energy that happens in Kia Center, that\u2019s going to be so big for us,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cThat can help out coming home from a eight-day trip overseas and the travel.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that\u2019s not going to be an excuse,\u201d he added about the trip back. \u201cI think our guys are ready to go for tomorrow.\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":"Following a week-long trip to Europe that included splitting a pair of games in Berlin and London against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551703,"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-551702","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":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115935050843865979","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551702","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=551702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}