New Orleans, LA – The Orlando Magic (31-36) defeated the New Orleans Pelicans (18-49) at the Smoothie King Center last night in a game where the team had a solid performance.
The core of Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley’s philosophy has been “Defense creates offense,” and Orlando’s team showed that they were fully on point in last night’s game, playing a near-perfect game with defensive toughness being the key.
“[It was] a great defensive effort by this group,” Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley said. “I thought the energy, I thought the spirit, and togetherness was exactly what we’ve talked about over these last two days. Their ability to lock in defensively to the game plan, doing a great job of tightening up the paint, getting out to shooters on time. Then just their ability to play faster, share the ball, move the ball, attack the basket, and find the open looks.”
Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner dominated on the offensive end, with Banchero scoring 34 points and Wagner finishing with 27. By each scoring 20-plus points in the first half, they became the first Magic duo during the play-by-play era (since 1996-97) to each score at least 20 before halftime in the same game.
“I would just say [we were] ultra-aggressive,” Banchero said. “Everybody was locked in on the defensive side. They have Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy, CJ McCollum – guys that can go off if you let them. So we were trying to be locked in on that end and it led to us getting run-outs, out in transition, jump shots falling. It was just an ultra-aggressive night for both of us.”
Cole Anthony was out of the game as a late scratch, still nursing a toe injury, but Corey Joseph started and contributed 12 points to the effort.
Also, with Wagner going 8-for-8 from the field in the first half, he became the first player in franchise history to score at least 20 in a half without missing a single shot and without committing a single turnover.
Orlando had its best offensive effort this season, shooting 51% from the floor, including 39% from 3-point range.
Orlando, which led by as much as 36, has now won eight straight in New Orleans, which is the longest road winning streak against any opponent in franchise history.
Now 2-1 on this five-game road trip, the Magic will look to carry this momentum into Minnesota, where they will take on the Timberwolves on Friday at 8 p.m. ET.
