{"id":564548,"date":"2026-01-27T18:42:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T18:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/564548\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T18:42:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T18:42:19","slug":"orlando-magic-travel-to-miami-heat-after-4th-straight-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/564548\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic travel to Miami Heat after 4th straight loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday\u2019s game between the Magic<\/a> and Cavaliers<\/a> marked the seventh career performance of 35-plus points and 10-plus rebounds for Paolo Banchero<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a total that ranks fourth-most in Orlando history, trailing only Shaquille O\u2019Neal, Tracy McGrady and Dwight Howard.<\/p>\n

Banchero\u2019s 37-point, 10-rebound showing at Cleveland<\/a>, however, was all for naught when Jamahl Mosley<\/a>\u2018s squad fell 114-98 inside Rocket Arena<\/a> on NBC\u2019s streaming service Peacock.<\/p>\n

Not only did Banchero score 30-plus points for the fourth time this season, but he was the only member of the Magic to score more than five points in the second half (when he himself notched 23).<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Banchero, Cleveland\u2019s Donovan Mitchell<\/a> met the moment and more when the Cavs star totaled 45 points, knocking down five 3-pointers in just 35 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey got going on offense,\u201d Banchero said when asked what got away from Orlando after it led by 10 points after the first quarter. \u201cDonovan Mitchell had a big night and they just scored more than we did.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played good defense in the first quarter, then we gave up 39 points in the second quarter so they just got going,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

It was during that second frame when Mitchell shot 6 for 6 from the floor, including two 3s, for 16 points. In that 12 minute stretch, Cleveland outscored Orlando 39-24 to take a five-point lead heading into the half.<\/p>\n

Mitchell scored 12 more points in the third quarter, Cavs guard Jaylon Tyson added nine and Cleveland\u2019s lead grew to 10 points entering the final frame. The Magic remained within striking distance until Cleveland closed out the final 3:53 of the game on a 10-2 run with Banchero\u2019s driving dunk at the one minute mark serving as Orlando\u2019s last points of the night.<\/p>\n

For the game, Banchero shot 61.9% (13 for 21) from the floor while the rest of the Magic shot 34.2% (25 for 73) from the floor.<\/p>\n

In what\u2019s become a trend, the Magic continued to miss open shots against Cleveland.<\/p>\n

Orlando as a whole shot 6 for 18 (33.3%) on 3-point attempts where the closest defender was six-plus feet away, meaning they were \u201cwide-open,\u201d according to league-tracking data<\/a>. It shot an even worse 5 for 20 (25%) on 3-pointers where the nearest defender was 4-6 feet away, or long-range shots that were considered \u201copen,\u201d according to NBA.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In comparison, the Cavaliers shot 8 for 17 (47.1%) on \u201cwide-open\u201d 3-pointers and 3-for-7 (42.9%) on \u201copen\u201d threes, according to the tracking data<\/a> from the same game.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust continue to stick with what we\u2019ve been doing,\u201d Mosley said when asked what he tells his team when shots aren\u2019t falling so they don\u2019t lose their confidence. \u201cThe process. Because we\u2019re getting open looks. That\u2019s what we have to know.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we weren\u2019t getting the looks that we needed, then there\u2019s something else that we can look at,\u201d he added. \u201cBut we\u2019ve got to continue to stay with what we\u2019ve been doing \u2014 generating those great looks for our guys and just continue to step in with that level of confidence, get your legs underneath you, to be able to knock them down.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of it resulted in not only Orlando\u2019s fourth consecutive loss but also the team\u2019s fourth straight double-digit defeat.<\/p>\n

The past four contests, the Magic have allowed an average of 120.8 points per night while only scoring 102.3 points per game \u2014 an 18.5-point average margin of defeat.<\/p>\n

Franz Wagner (left high ankle sprain injury management) missed the past three.<\/p>\n

But regardless of who has been available, Orlando has neither defended at a high enough level nor has been efficient enough on the other end to come out on top.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we just need to play better,\u201d Banchero said. \u201cShots may or may not fall, but we\u2019ve got to win. So, anything we\u2019ve got to do to win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orlando heads to warmer weather next when the team travels to Miami, a team that\u2019s won two in a row.<\/p>\n

Although the Magic already clinched five-game regular season series against its in-state rival (they won the first three meetings in Orlando), the No. 7 Heat (25-22) actually sat one spot ahead of No. 8 Orlando (23-22) by a full game in the Eastern Conference standings entering Tuesday\u2019s slate of games.<\/p>\n

Banchero doesn\u2019t care how the Magic accomplish their goal of finding a way to win, as long as they do Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust go out there and win, that\u2019s it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic at Heat<\/p>\n

When:\u00a07:30 p.m., Wednesday, Kaseya Center<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0FanDuel Sports Network Florida<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Monday\u2019s game between the Magic and Cavaliers marked the seventh career performance of 35-plus points and 10-plus rebounds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564549,"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-564548","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\/115968537082037336","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564548","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=564548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}