Orlando star Paolo Banchero says the Magic need to do some soul searching in order to regain their “swag” against the visiting Chicago Bulls on Thursday night.
That fixture will be the last of a seven-game homestand that Orlando began with the hope of rising above .500 again. Instead, it ends with the Magic desperate to avoid a fifth successive defeat.
Tuesday’s 114-113 last-second heartbreaker against Toronto was Orlando’s second home loss to the lower-ranked Raptors in three days — by a combined margin of three points.
“We’ve got to do some soul searching, just try to figure it out,” said Banchero, who racked up 41 points — including 22 in the fourth quarter — eight rebounds and eight assists in the latest defeat.
“The good thing about a time like this is that really, the only way you can go is up,” he said. “We’ve just got to come together and figure out a way for everybody to play with that confidence, play with that swag because right now it doesn’t really feel that way.”
The Magic were outscored 31-19 in the third period, which included a fatal 22-4 Toronto spree.
“Those third quarters have been killing us for the last five, six games,” Banchero said. “We have to find a way to come out of the locker room (after halftime) with more energy, more execution. When things don’t go our way, we can’t let it snowball. We can’t let it compound our mistakes. We’ve got to try to address it and fix it quickly as a group.”
Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley expects a strong response from his group against Chicago.
“We’re going to keep fighting,” he said. “That’s the spirit of the Orlando Magic … we’ll keep fighting no matter what’s happening within a game. That’s who we are, that’s who we’ll continue to be. This is a tough stretch right now, it really is. That’s the reality of the situation. You have to look reality in the face and say, ‘What am I going to do when it gets difficult?’ … this team has grit, toughness, focus, (the) ability to stay together.”
The Bulls, similarly, are bidding to claw their way out of trouble after slumping to their ninth loss in their past 11 outings with a 139-117 home setback against the league-leading Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday. Despite these struggles, they have expanded their lead to 2 1/2 games over Brooklyn and Philadelphia for 10th place in the East.
Coby White (25 points), Talen Horton-Tucker (22) and Zach Collins (20) all were active for Chicago, which was without guard Josh Giddey (quadriceps), Lonzo Ball (wrist), Kevin Huerter (knee) and Ayo Dosunmu (season-ending shoulder surgery).
The Bulls squandered a 15-point lead before falling behind 96-94 after three quarters, then getting blown away 43-23 in the fourth.
“It may have been, quite honestly, too much for our guys,” Chicago coach Billy Donovan said. “Our guys competed, they played hard. I loved the way they tried to play and respected the effort they put in the whole game. It just got away from us there.
“We didn’t execute well enough. We’ve got to be better, quite honestly, as a coaching staff helping them (players) in those situations. We just had a hard time controlling the ball, and (the Cavaliers) were just totally picking on matchups.”
The Bulls and Magic split their two meetings earlier this season, while Orlando has won six of the past seven matchups.
–Field Level Media
