{"id":554579,"date":"2026-01-23T03:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T03:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/554579\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T03:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T03:06:14","slug":"orlando-magic-flounder-in-loss-to-hornets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/554579\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic flounder in loss to Hornets"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the Magic<\/a> split a pair of games against the Grizzlies<\/a> in Europe, coach Jamahl Mosley<\/a> emphasized the need for his team to start games off stronger when it returned home this week.<\/p>\n

Hosting the Hornets on Thursday night, Orlando<\/a> failed to accomplish such a start, trailing by 15 after the first quarter, and found itself behind most of the night in a 124-97 loss to Charlotte inside Kia Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Missing starters Franz Wagner<\/a> (left ankle soreness) and Jalen Suggs<\/a> (right knee MCL bruise), the Magic only led for 38 seconds total after Desmond Bane hit the first shot of the evening and trailed by as many as 33 points to the Southeast Division foe.<\/p>\n

The contest marked the 18th time the Magic have allowed 120-plus points this season, posting a 6-12 in those contests.<\/p>\n

Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, Charlotte (17-28) had six different scorers finish in double figures, including Brandon Miller who led the team with 20 points.<\/p>\n

For Orlando, which lacked the necessary precision and sense of urgency to win on its home floor, the loss is its second in a row, keeping the team at 5-5 in its last 10 games.<\/p>\n

The Magic (23-20) remain at Kia Center when they face the Cavaliers for the first of four times this season Saturday.<\/p>\n

Starting 5<\/p>\n

Anthony Black and Tristan da Silva filled in for Suggs and Wagner when they started alongside regulars Paolo Banchero, Desmond Bane and Wendell Carter Jr. against Charlotte.<\/p>\n

Bane and Banchero both notched 12 points in the first half when Bane knocked down a pair of triples and Banchero got to the free-throw line early and often (5 for 6 before the break).<\/p>\n

Banchero ended with 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists, but posted the team\u2019s worst plus-minus rating through three quarter (minus-25) when he turned the ball over four times.<\/p>\n

Bane totaled 21 points in 32 minutes, but no other member of the Magic had more than five points through the first three frames. Orlando\u2019s starters were outscored 69-55 by Charlotte\u2019s first five.<\/p>\n

Difference from distance<\/p>\n

Charlotte, which entered the night inside the top 10 in 3-point shooting (36.6%), shot 9 for 14 from beyond the arc (64.3%) in first quarter alone.<\/p>\n

It slowed down some in the second frame, shooting just 2 for 9 in the 12-minute stretch, but hit four more long-range baskets in the third quarter. The team ended 17 for 36 (47.2%) from distance.<\/p>\n

Orlando, which ranked 29th in 3-point percentage heading into Thursday (33.9%), continued to struggle from the perimeter, shooting 5 for 19 (26.3%) from distance in the first half.<\/p>\n

It finished 14 for 37 (37.8%).<\/p>\n

Rookie watch<\/p>\n

Second-round pick Noah Penda provided a small spark with a pair of first-half dunks \u2014 the first off a steal late in the opening frame and the second in transition off an assist from Bane early in the second quarter.<\/p>\n

The French forward hit two 3-pointers to total 13 points and four assists in 19 minutes.<\/p>\n

First-round pick Jase Richardson missed first two shots and ended 1 for 5 for just two points in 23 minutes.<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the Magic split a pair of games against the Grizzlies in Europe, coach Jamahl Mosley emphasized the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3777],"tags":[7,684,473,3878,685,165,6,76,1412,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-554579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-charlotte-hornets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-charlotte","10":"tag-charlotte-hornets","11":"tag-charlottehornets","12":"tag-hornets","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-orlando-magic","16":"tag-social","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115942207363083695","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554579","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=554579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}