Winners of two straight, the Portland Trail Blazers look to extend the recent slump of the host Orlando Magic when the two teams meet on Thursday.
Portland comes into Orlando for the second of a three-game, Eastern Conference road swing, which opened on Tuesday with a 116-107 win at Miami. Trail Blazers big man Deandre Ayton went for 22 points and 15 rebounds for his second straight double-double — both coming in Portland wins.
Ayton finished with 15 points and 13 boards in Sunday’s 113-102 victory at home over Chicago, a decision that pulled Portland out of a five-game losing streak.
“I feel we’re in a good place,” Ayton said following Tuesday’s win. “Everybody’s just unleashed this thing called togetherness. We’re just out there for each other now. We’re playing for each other, and that energy’s something else.”
Orlando aims to summon its own positive energy amid a four-game losing streak and slump of six defeats in the last seven games. The Magic have sputtered on offense with a bevy of injuries mounting, most notably 24.4-point per game scorer Franz Wagner’s absence since early December due to an oblique injury.
Orlando’s 109-93 loss on Tuesday at Toronto was the third time in its current four-game losing streak scoring fewer than 100 points, and the fourth time in the last seven games. At 103.9 points per game, the Magic are the NBA’s lowest-scoring team.
Generating offense without Wagner and with just an eight-man rotation due to an abundance of absences contributed to Orlando scoring just 43 second-half points. The Magic have been without Jalen Suggs (back) for the last nine games; Gary Harris (hamstring) for the last 10; and Goga Bitadze (concussion) for the last four.
Moritz Wagner is lost for the season with a left knee injury sustained in December. Without Suggs (16.4) and Moritz Wagner (12.9) providing scoring off the bench, Orlando is down to only one scorer averaging in double-figure points per game with Paolo Banchero’s return to the lineup on Jan. 10. Banchero is averaging 25.3 points in 11 games.
The 2022-23 Rookie of the Year and 2023-24 All-Star Banchero has scored at least 20 points in five of his six games since returning, and on Tuesday went for his first double-double since Oct. 28 with 26 points and 12 rebounds.
“Just trying to get better and better conditioning, getting more minutes,” Banchero said of transitioning back into the lineup after missing more than two months due to a torn right oblique.
“As a team, we’ve dealt with a lot of adversity over the years, so it’s not something we aren’t used to,” Banchero said of playing with a thin lineup. “We always find a way to make out … even though it looks pretty bad right now.”
Orlando looks to remain in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt in time to get some players back, including Franz Wagner, who could return by the beginning of February.
For the Magic, who are one game above .500, that includes beating an opponent like Portland that is 13 games below .500. The Trail Blazers are seeking to win three consecutive games for the second time this season.
Portland will look to Anfernee Simons to build off of his bounce-back performance in Miami. The Blazers’ season-long leading scorer at 18.2 points per game, Simons’ 24 points against the Heat matched his total scoring output from the previous three games combined.
The Magic have won four of the past five meetings.
–Field Level Media
