INDIANAPOLIS – The Orlando Magic managed to win three straight games on last week’s road trip in the midwest. Orlando beat the Chicago Bulls twice (On Wednesday 11/15 96-94, and on Friday 11/17 103-97) and then took down the Indiana Pacers (11/19 128-116.)
The Pacers have the hottest offense in the NBA, but Orlando managed to attack their interior, and put up a stingy defense that forced turnovers and slowed the game down.
Paolo Banchero continues to show that he’s a leader on the floor. He lead all scorers with 24 points, followed by his partner in crime Franz Wagner with 19. Jalen Suggs returned to the court after a brief break with injury and added 18 points.
Goga Bitaze has continued to play strong to the Magic on the inside with 4 blocked shots, and snagging 8 rebounds. Rookie Anthony Black continues to get time on the floor. He gains confidence with every play and scored 7 points, but added two blocked shots for the Magic.
Indiana’s lead scorer Tyrese Haliburton was held to 12 points sin the game, and the normally low turnover Pacers had an unusual;l 16 turnovers against the Magic defense.
“I’m extremely pleased with how they played tonight,” Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley said. “They came out right away (and) took on the challenge. Our coaches did a phenomenal job with the gameplan, going through walk-through yesterday and showing them the details of what it takes. Our guys did a fantastic job following the gameplan.”
In all three wins on the road, Orlando came out hot on offense and defense, holding their opponents to scores under 50 points on head night.
Orlando then held on for each teams push to come back, but was able tp make the plays both sides of the ball to come out with wins.
Orlando is now 1 and 1 in the NBA Cup Tournament after losing to Brooklyn at the beginning of the road trip, but taking home their second win in Chicago to even things out.
Orlando faces the Toronto Raptors for their first home game in the tournament on Tuesday November 21st at the Amway Center.
