RECKONING: Orlando Magic’s Depth WOES Unveiled, Paolo Banchero Dominates as Injuries DERAIL Season

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PaloBad Curl is doing all he can to save the Orlando Magic this season, but injuries have

exposed poor depth and poor build as the losing street grows today on Lockdown Magic.

You are locked on magic.

For daily Orlando Magic podcast, part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team every

day.

And you are indeed locked on magic today is March 25th, 2026.

My name is Philip Ross, right?

I'm the senior writer over at OrlandoMagicDaily.com, credential member of the Atlantic Media

since the 2012 season.

On today's episode of Lockdown Magic, PaloBad Curl did all he could.

The offense had a second straight, really good game, but no defense.

Injuries exposing the roster and exposing the poor depth and build of this team.

The next big question that the magic are already making us ask or have made us ask for

a long time.

I'm just going to talk about it today.

After a sixth straight loss, plus we got an update on Franz Wagner.

So maybe that light at the end of the tunnel is not a train.

We'll find out.

We'll get to that coming up here in just a moment, first we want to thank you again for

making Lockdown Magic part of your day every day.

Whenever you listen, thank you for making Lockdown Magic part of your day.

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This season has been a challenge.

I haven't criticized for the challenges that I've set for this team, but I offer no apology

for that.

I offer no apology for challenging this team and holding them to a standard and saying

they need to do this.

That or anything or holding them to expectation.

I'm not going to do that.

I caught myself today.

I was willing to talk about this team like they're a tanking team.

I was willing to say this team was in the fight.

Oh, boy, did they fight?

Oh, boy, did they give their best effort?

Efforts on enough.

Efforts expected.

And yes, the magic played hard and they were better tonight on little things that they

were not good at against the against the Indiana Pacers.

The magic, second night of a back-to-back Orlando Magic now eaten for on the second night

of back-to-back.

They got two more of those left, including Wednesday's Gaming Against The Atlanta Hawks.

Not this one, say, next one, say.

The magic did the little things.

However, it's still the big things.

It's still this overarching thing that is hung over this team all season long that led

to this 136-131 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

I have a critical Apollo band carousel.

I will come out and say it early.

I do not play in Apollo band carous.

I didn't play them against the Lakers.

I didn't play them against the Pacers.

I don't play them tonight.

The broadcast, the NBC broadcast, the national panel, Trace McGrady, Carmelo Anthony, Vince

Carter.

In their pre-game show, they said this at halftime, at least, they challenged Apollo

band carousel to lead this team, to get them out of this rut, to get them out of this

6-game losing streak.

And he responded with 36 points, 5 assists, 6 rebounds, 10 for 19 shooting, 13 for 15

from the foul line, 3 for 7 for 3, maybe took 2-3, but he made 3 of a 7-3.

So I'm not going to be too upset about that.

They caro continued to do everything in his power to will this team out of their rut,

just like scoring 39 points on Monday night.

I'm done blaming Apollo band carousel.

Let's make that abundantly clear.

He deserved criticism in January for kind of the sluggish way that he was playing.

And the magic needed more from, they needed this, because in 39 minutes and 58 seconds,

Apollo band caro delivered exactly what the magic had been asking for from their superstar

player.

If Orlando gets this Apollo band caro in these final 10 games, no in half of them, no

in their share, if the magic got this Apollo band caro for most of the season, they'd be

in the succeed, they'd be, you know, I'm not appreciative, not like significantly

better, but they'd have more wins.

This is not on the stars.

It's not even necessarily on Desmond Bay, you know, at 17 points, 7 rebounds, 5 for 13

shooting, 1 for 3 from 3, 6 for 6 from the foul line.

Desmond Bay has largely been good and largely miscast as a second player, like thinking

about it, Bay is the kind of guy that could be your second option on four out of every

10 nights, like this was one of those nights.

But the end of the day, this is about the team.

This game is about the team and this game is about what the team is so clearly and painfully

missing, because we have been waiting for it all year long.

From game number 12, this team is dealt with significant and severe injuries.

And you could survive those for only so long.

You could survive one.

The magic built the depth to survive one injury.

Palo goes down for 12 games, Franz Wagner, Desmond Bay and Anthony Black, Jalen Suggs,

Wendell Carter.

That's enough to carry you through.

That is enough to keep you moving, to keep you up in the standings.

Maybe not be your peak, but to be more than capable.

You lose Franz, Jalen, Anthony Black, Jonathan Isaac.

It's impossible, or it is not impossible, because you can do it.

The magic put themselves in a position to win tonight.

It is extremely difficult to win with four players out.

But at the same time, it's not this impossible.

It's not completely abandoned your identity defensively.

It's not, look like a tanking team, bad.

And that is the central question now.

The Cleveland Cavaliers put up 140 plus points per one-on-one session.

This is one of the worst defensive games of the season for the Orlando Magic.

And sure, like, David Mitchell and James Hardiner are going to have these nights.

They scored 68 points between them, 14 for 22 for Mitchell, 3 for 7 for 3, 11 for 11

for the foul line.

James Hardiner, 7 assists with his 26 points, Mitchell had 42.

Hardiner was 8 for 16, 4 for 6 from 3.

And yeah, Orlando made mistakes that put themselves in the hole.

Palo fouled Hardiner on a 3 right at the buzzer at halftime.

Really, I don't think he fouled him.

I thought he avoided contact for the most part.

They called the foul.

He put himself in a bad situation.

Magic went from tied down 4, and then came out in the third quarter,

gave out the first six points.

That's the starting lineup that gave up those first six points.

Put the magic down 10, and that's about where they stayed for most

of the rest of the game.

The magic continued to shoot themselves in the foot with poor effort, poor execution,

and poor defense, which again is what this team was supposed to be about.

And yeah, the magic are missing four of their best individual defenders,

even in down years for all four.

Franz Wagner is going to be in all defensive team player one day.

I firmly believe that.

Jalen Suggs is already in an all defensive team player.

Anthony Black is all defensive team potential.

And Jonathan Isaac, when he's healthy is, and I know that's a big hit,

when he's healthy is still an all world defender.

Even when he stinks, he is still a good defender.

And so the downgrade from those players to what the magic are throwing out

on the floor right now, it doesn't matter how good Palo Banqueiro is.

The margin for error is just so small, so tiny, it doesn't matter.

But in simple, it doesn't matter.

So credit to Jamal Cain played his butt off for 17 points, six rebounds, plus eight plus

minus five for 11 shooting.

Jamal Cain has earned himself a 14th or 15th roster spot next year.

But also the magic are relying, and again, no offense to Jamal Cain, who is played incredibly

well.

The magic are starting and relying on Jamal Cain in the final 11 games of the season

of a tight playoff race that can see them finish still as high as 6th and as low as 9th,

or as low as 10th.

The magic are playing a rookie in Noapenda, played 437 in this game, who look like he had

no clue where he was supposed to be, was too overzealous and just doesn't seem to fit.

They're playing Goga Patadze, who, yes, has this potential as this great defender and

can be this above the room player, but essentially is just out there shoving guys, and has been

doing that all year long.

They have Javon Carter, who they signed off a minimum contract, who played another, again,

another fantastic game, 15 points, 6 for 12 shooting, 3 for 9 from 3, so all six of

them, this is for 3s, with four assists.

Obviously scoring all their bench points by the way, 15 of their 28 bench points.

This is a magic team that has been exposed by their poor health all season long, and I

could recount you how this game went, because the magic right now just do not have enough

playoff level players available to them.

Why is that the case?

Why is that where the magic are at at this critical juncture in the season?

And what does that mean for the future?

We talked about them all mostly yesterday.

Today, I'm going to put Jeff Welton to task.

We'll get to that coming up here in just a moment.

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So how do we get here?

This has been a disappointing season.

You know, I know like

everyone's going to focus on big picture stuff.

The off season is going to come in hopefully 17 games like we're there.

There's not much longer left and we will dive into all of these big questions.

I will apologize.

I focus on the season.

Like I mentioned, I did the tomorrow mostly segment yesterday.

Go back and listen to that if you haven't done so.

That was not called for any immediate shape.

He is finishing the season.

He is the best option to finish the season.

But we are definitely in this crisis mode where we have to ask ourselves,

how did we get here?

As many are predicting and I would agree with this prediction.

Jeff Welman, when he speaks to us during external views, whatever that is,

when he speaks to us, he is going to tell us

injuries were a big part of the magic story this year.

He's got to tell us that when the magic were fully healthy this year,

had their top five guys on the floor, they had a plus 18 net rating,

one of the best lineups in the league with at least 100 some odd minutes.

And he'll be absolutely right.

There is proof of concept that what the magic have works.

That when this team is fully available and maybe we see that this year,

certainly not at full tilt, but maybe we still get a glimpse of that.

Maybe we don't.

That things will be all right.

That the magic don't need some massive change.

You can still go through the trade machine.

We'll deal with that at the end of the season.

And I would honestly agree with that.

So many problems the magic have are simply fixed by putting them in the right

rules. If you've listened to the show for years,

I've covered plenty of taking teams.

I've covered plenty of teams that barely scratched 20 wins.

I have watched players from those taking teams go on and do great things with other

teams. And it is my belief that for the most part, players in this league are not

bad. They're just asked to do more than they're capable of doing for winning teams.

They're just asked to do more than their talent allows them to at least consistently

over 82 game season, 80 games a long time.

Anyone can have a great day.

It's being able to do it night in and night out.

And so losing a player like Franz Wagner shifts and changes responsibilities.

Now you want to build a roster that is good enough to withstand that.

Like maybe Franz is a 10 out of 10 guy at 10 at 10 games out of 10 games.

He's going to get you 25 just like, you know, that's what's going to be from Palo too.

Desmond Bain is probably a four or five out of 10 guy or six out of 10 guy in that

role.

Jalen Suggs might be a four out of 10 guy in that role.

And so you can still win games.

And that's what's frustrating about right now is that the magic heart winning games,

despite getting great efforts from Palo, Desmond Bain struggled a lot during the last six

games now.

That's a huge factor because you can't do it alone.

Unless Palo is going to score 80 on somebody, maybe Thursday, but it's hard.

And so you just look at this roster and you just see guys being pushed out of their ideal

roles.

Why is it Desmond Bain taking six or seven threes per game?

It's because the magic need him to be their primary attacker.

They, I've said this a million times this year.

The magic don't have enough guys who when they get the ball, they won a score.

I will fully admit, and I'm saying this after Javon Carter played a fantastic game tonight

against the calves, I will fully admit, I am not a big Javon Carter fan.

I think he takes a lot of bad shots and he's not overly effective or efficient with

them to warrant it.

But why is Javon Carter so effective?

Why does he feel like a breath of fresh air?

Because he is willing to take shots off the dribble.

He is willing to create for himself first, and he's not a good enough passer to warrant

that or to be successful on that in the long run, and by opinion.

But he is so, so different than any player the magic have.

And so yes, injuries are why the magic are where they're at.

They would be the six seed.

They would be the fives that if they were healthy, they would be the five seed.

Fighting the cows before.

I don't think they get there.

I think there are very deep flaws with this team, but that ex depth is not good enough.

But at the same time, if this team were healthy, you know, the Anthony Black interested

in the silver coming off the bench and pairing them with any one of Desmond, Desmond

being Palo Manqueur of Franz Wagner, that's a pretty good lineup.

The truth is, right now, the magic cannot put out lineups that are consistent threats

offensively, and certainly because of the specific players they are missing.

Again, Palo's improved greatly as a defender, but when the magic miss Palo, Franz is still

one of their best defenders.

Taylin Suggs is still one of the best defenders.

One no Carter is for all his flaws.

I know there's plenty of them.

We'll talk about them in a minute.

It's still one of their best defenders.

That's why the magic survived when Palo's out.

The magic still need Palo to win these kinds of games and win playoff level games.

Do not get me wrong.

I'm not devaluing Palo, but his role versatility is a little different.

This is a flawed roster construction.

And maybe the fact, you know, again, like the magic put their bench money into Tayus Jones.

That was a whiff.

And it was such a bad whiff that it struck, it struck this team out in a lot of ways.

They continue to put their faith in Gogobatage, and that was warranted after his year last year.

But now it feels like they got to remake their entire bench.

And this has been the problem with the Jeff Welman philosophy and the way that Jeff Welman has built this team.

This is not a rebuilding team anymore.

Like essentially, like, I think so much of the bigger picture debates about this team comes down to.

They've got a rebuilding coach as a rebuilding eye.

And that's not a bad thing.

It's still a young team.

They still need that bit of rebuilding.

But he'll focus on the long term over the short term.

Which can be good, can't be bad, it hasn't worked this year, hasn't found the right balance this year for sure.

You have a front office that values internal growth, which is a good philosophy to have.

But it also doesn't address weaknesses.

It assumes growth is linear.

And the magic never quite attacked the things that they're bad at.

Because even after acquiring ties shows, even after acquiring Desmond Bain, the magic was still clearly short of guys who can dribble an attack.

Go watch the teams in the finals, go watch the teams that are making deep in the playoffs.

Last year in the finals, the Oklahoma City Thunder, they run the same sort of read and react offense at the magic run, the differences.

Shake goes Alexander, Jalen Williams, AJ Mitchell, case on Wallace, all of their guards and wings can attack off the dribble, can hit threes in a decent clip and make decisions.

The magic's wings and guards, Jalen Suggs has gotten better, his assists are up.

Like I want to give credit, we're credit to you, Jalen Suggs, when he attacks has been been a much better passer this year.

But hardly a consistent three point shooter, especially off the dribble, can play a little over his keys.

Your shooters are just one thing, I've talked about this so much this year, it's role versatility.

It's having guys that can be the guy when you need them to, who can't, you know, call Anthony for all of his flaws.

He'd win you two games a year, two three games a year, just because it was his turn to have a night.

The ball swung to him, maybe there's injuries, he could take over, get you 15 shots and give you a, give you a chance if he got hot.

Like the magic's best bench score this year has been Tristan Silva, because he black started so much.

Tristan Silva, he's gotten better at it and that little two dribble, two dribble pull up or two dribble like floater.

He's gotten a lot better at attacking closeouts.

You're not putting the ball in his hands and saying go get me a shot.

Outside, if the black's gotten a little bit better at it, but outside Palo, Franz and Des, there's no one here that's, you're going to say go get us a shot.

And the problem is that's the magic's offense, because why does the ball end up in Jamal King's hands at the end of the shot clock?

That's the magic's offense, that's the flaw.

This roster is not built for the offense, the magic run, and it's frankly not built to withstand the injuries and get a few rosters are built to withstand the injuries, the magic face this year.

But it's not built to withstand and maintain the standards this team has set.

There's too many young guys, there's too many players who aren't attackers.

And that's what's been exposed during this losing streak as teams are tightening the tightening the screws and getting the playoffs.

It's not that the magic are far away, like the magic have generally stated, we don't feel we're far away.

We're doing a lot of the right things, and I would generally agree with that.

Lakers game, they did a lot of a lot of things right.

Best up the end of the game, but they did a lot of things right that night, really good defensive effort.

Even against Indiana for maybe two and a half quarters, they did a lot of things right.

Tonight, they did a lot of things right, they played really hard, they were first to 50, 50 balls, they, they put themselves in a great position to score the subset when everything should have been working against them.

Their star showed up, guys filled in, they fought to the end.

But like taking team, when this team is bad, they're really bad.

And that just comes down to talent.

And so as much as yes, scheme is holding this team back and, and I would agree completely that it's, it's time to move on from tomorrow, mostly at the end of the season if I didn't make that clear yesterday.

It's also put up a shut up time for Jeff, well, he's done the big stuff right, the magic of two, maybe three all stars in the right system in the right year.

Palo, France and Des are all star level players.

Top end talent is not this team's problem.

And we will talk more about this in the off season, but top end talent is not this team's problem.

They don't need to go remake and reshape their starting lineup from scratch.

They've got things to work with, they will be one of the most attractive jobs in the league this summer.

Who doesn't want to coach a 23 year old tank like Palo, Ben Carroll, they can do the things that he can do.

Who doesn't want to coach Franz Wagner and all the things he can do and get creative offensively using the two of them off each other.

Who do very unselfish guys who can score who doesn't want that.

The magic will have virtually their pick of coaches.

The challenge though for Jeff Welman is exactly what he struggled with his entire tenure here.

Getting the role players right.

Finding players who may not be great at defense, but are willing to try and give you enough offense to get over it.

Making small trades on the margins that prove to be big.

Hitting singles.

Magic had a lot of doubles, a lot of triples, guys are on base.

But just strike out on the stuff that brings them home.

And that's what happened Tuesday night in Cleveland.

The Cavs got all start games from Donovan Mitchell from James Harden.

They stepped up, made the plays at the end of the game that they needed to hold the match off, give them the lead, keep them in the lead.

They also got 19 points from Sam Merrill, who despite shooting only two for six from three was still wildly effective off the dribble.

They got 11 points off the bench from Max Truce, including a humongous three in the fourth quarter.

They got nine points and four dunks from Thomas Bryant.

They went out and got a great defender and Keon Ellis, another veteran guard.

I know a lot of magic fans want Dennis Shooter.

Cleveland Cleveland was in the same spot or land it was in in December and January.

They went out and made their team better.

And they got healthy.

Like Jared Allen still out, but they got healthy.

They have some injuries.

They got healthy.

They traded an injured Daria Scarlin for healthy James Harden.

That's what the magic haven't done yet.

And that's what they'll need to do to get back on track next season.

Franz Wagner updates getting pushed to the third block, but we have some Franz Wagner news that light at the end of the tunnel may not be a train.

We'll get to that coming up here in just a moment.

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Before we get to the box where we've talked a little bit about the box.

We are at a point where we're talking more big picture issues and game to game issues.

Magic will update the standings magic are.

With this loss the magic are now tied with the Miami heat and Charlotte ordinance.

All three teams have a 38 and 34 record.

You can guess who you you should think is going to win that that race.

But as things stand now.

The magic are tied with the horn to heat and own the tie breaker over the three.

The magic are six and three in the game.

So the tie breaker between those three teams is the head to head record between all three teams.

The magic are six and three against the heat and the hornets that beats out the hornets who are I believe four and four.

And the Miami heat of course are two and five.

Sweeping to heat is awesome.

So the magic currently are still eight in the eastern conference and of note.

Maybe not of note, but of note still two and a half.

Still two games or two and a half games back of the Toronto Raptors for fifth.

Two games back of the Atlanta Hawks for six.

A game back of the Philadelphia 76ers for seventh.

The sixers will get dual and beat and Paul George back on Wednesday.

Of note, those two Hawks play the pistons next Hawks start a start their most difficult stretch of the remaining schedule that their schedule gets really, really tough coming up here.

They play the pistons the Celtics the Kings and then the Celtics again.

The heat are in Cleveland for two straight games.

So the heat will get the calves twice.

Meanwhile the magic will play the Kings and the.

The Kings and the Raptors next huge game on Sunday against the Raptors.

And then the and obviously huge game against the Kings can't look past them after what happened Monday night.

And then the hornets will play the nicks.

I believe on Thursday.

I think they think they think they get the day off tomorrow too.

So.

Having said all that.

Keep keep calves tomorrow.

So yeah, the magic might drop down to ninth tomorrow.

If they if the Hornet if the heat beat the calves.

The the radical drop to ninth tomorrow no matter what.

Don't obsess with the standings tied in the lost column with the Hornets.

I believe one one loss behind the one loss behind the both the Hawks and the Sixers and one loss behind the the Raptors.

Now remember tie breaking scenarios as well.

Do any three way tie breaker division winner is the tie breaker.

So if it's Hawks Sixers magic tied for the division lead.

Or for the tied for that.

The Hawks win that tie breaker because they won the seasons here.

So.

Well, we got 10 games left.

That stuff will matter.

Just when baby.

If the magic win the magic.

I think got to probably go eight and two to get to the six seed.

I think seven and three will get them will get them the seven seed.

Maybe put them in play for the six.

They're going to have to go eight and two to be anywhere near the five or the six.

And that does feel very impossible right now.

I will take six and four.

I will take seven and three for the rest of season.

That still feels like wish will think because the magic got to win a game much less six.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel.

And so before we get to the box where let's talk about the news of the day.

It was not sneakily put up on the glee page but not promoted by anybody.

Credit to roto wire for finding it first or bringing it to my attention first credit to the fans who brought the roto wire report to my attention first.

But locked on magic and Orlando magic daily can confirm and the magic did eventually confirm that Franz Wagner went down to practice with the Osceola magic on Monday and then was immediately recall.

That's procedural don't worry about that.

He practice with the Osceola magic on Monday.

And so that is regardless of how it went.

And Jamal mostly said before Monday's game that he did not talk to Franz on Tuesday.

Regardless of how it went.

It is a significant step for Franz in his hopes of returning.

It has been a long journey for Franz Wagner he has missed a lot of time.

Including.

He has missed.

A 44 of the last 40 48 games.

This was his 19th straight game missed having not having not played since the all celebrate.

It's been a long time.

And.

It's been very, very clear how much the magic missed Franz are not that they can't win without them.

When seven straight games without them like we can end that whole power the magic or better without palo thing the magic beat both.

They need both to win at the highest levels.

You need your best players to play.

But it has been a frustrating process.

This high ankle sprain is just lingered.

Every time Franz felt like he was good enough to go and pushed himself it would knock him back.

The coming back too soon in Berlin is absolutely everyone's fault.

It's Franz's fault.

He was the one that pushed for it and pushed himself to do it.

It's the team's fault for approving it.

But at the same time, he probably cleared all their checklist.

He probably cleared everything he needed to clear the magic work letting him play if they didn't feel comfortable letting him play.

So again, like it's frustrating.

I think the magic should probably look and review their procedures or be one of the questions we asked Jeff Waltman during exit reviews.

But.

But I don't think this is anyone's fault.

It's just bad injury luck and the magic of had a bad injury luck season.

It happens.

It happens to good teams.

They fall further down than they should and have kind of these lost years.

It happens.

But the idea that Franz Vager can come back.

It feels like mana from heaven.

Because he fixes so many problems for this team.

He is their best defender.

Like Jalen Suggs is a chaos agent.

He just makes things happen.

Franz Vager is a big body who can move his feet.

Stay in front of his band.

Absorb contact.

Doesn't take risks.

And just is is is is a pain in the butt when he's guarding you.

Franz Vager is going to be an all defensive team player.

I will continue to say that he was having an awesome year on defense.

If even if his offense was kind of weird all season.

And then Franz.

Would help will help this team so much just to just to give them another threat.

Another guy who could attack off the dribble.

So they don't have enough of those guys like I made that clear.

They need shooting and they need guys that can attack any players when they get the ball.

They're not afraid to score.

Franz is not afraid to score.

We could say like he needs to take more shots.

Be a little bit more selfish sometimes.

But he is not afraid to take that ball to the rack and score.

And he's smart about doing it.

So the reason why all the plus minus and all the advanced analytics love it.

And so it feels like he is close.

Now.

My league source tells me that.

It's still that the magic thinking is still.

They're going to wait to see how he feels after practice.

It's this is part of the recovery process.

Nothing is imminent.

I would not be shocked.

If he's questionable for Thursday's game.

Maybe he's listed doubtful.

Maybe he's upgraded to doubtful.

But my freezing cold take.

Is that Tuesday's game is the last time you will be listed as out.

Before a game starts or before like.

In the run up to a game.

I think he is very close and I think I think I think I said this.

I've said this to people if I didn't say it on the show.

This was a very big week for him.

This was this is essentially the last full week.

The magic have at home.

This season.

They were home Saturday home Sunday.

Home Monday.

Travel to Cleveland from state home did his like most said.

I didn't talk to him after his workout on Tuesday.

He did a workout Tuesday.

See how he feels after that.

I'm sure Wednesday's his off day.

Thursday's the shoot around get him back with the guys.

See how he's feeling.

You know, see see what that is.

Game Thursday night.

Friday is a scheduled maintenance day for the magic.

Saturday are scheduled to practice before they leave for Sacramento.

But those are two days at home to ramp him up some more.

And then obviously have the big game Sunday against Toronto.

Then you got a back to back Tuesday Wednesday.

Yeah, then you're back in the ringer again.

I think he's playing Thursday.

I don't have anything official on that.

That is that is not reporting.

That is educated speculation.

I think he's playing Thursday.

And the magic have been hoping and praying and desperately.

Anticipating seeing this group out on the floor in full.

They have been waiting so long to get their top five together.

They haven't seen him together since December 7th.

Not even then because I don't think pal will play that game.

They haven't seen them together in so long.

We don't know how good this team can be like like honestly like.

It's hard to fully judge this team because we don't know how good they can be.

We never got to see them play long enough to tell us how good they can be.

We have hints.

We have ideas of how good they can be.

But we don't know.

And we won't know even if France plays these last 10 games.

But I do know one thing.

It was always the case even when the magic were in the 7 game win streak.

It was always the case.

This magic team was not going to be able to do anything without Franz Walker.

And so even having him at 50% even bring him off the bench.

And he's the best player in the team.

It's just my team.

It's just my team.

It's just my team.

And maybe just maybe is enough to make one last push to avoid the play.

I'm not going to bore you with the box score.

The Orlando Magic played a really terrible defensive game.

Stayed in the game because our offense was awesome if they play offense like this.

like this on Thursday, a little bit of defense

should be enough to win that game,

but we said the same thing about Indiana.

They didn't play a little bit of defense against Indiana.

So who knows?

The magic gave the game away at the start of third quarter.

They were down by four,

gave up the first six points down by 10,

got to within two.

Every time it felt like they were ready

to make that big shot to get them over the hump,

they just didn't make that play.

James Harden made those plays,

Donovan Mitchell made those plays,

and that's why those are those players.

Like I said, I thought Palo played really, really well.

Five turnovers, like some over dribbling,

trying to do little too much.

I thought third quarter especially,

he was passive, trying to get others involved

when they weren't there.

Like Palo just go score 50 against someone,

just take over a game and make them

howling into those passes instead of doing,

instead of like forcing those passes,

like again, I just, I want him to take over a game

and he's been doing that.

He did that last two games.

I have very few complaints about him.

Desmond Bain struggled to get himself going.

I thought Wendell Carter did some good things

and did some bad things.

The foul trouble was really bad.

He was defending with his hips, not his feet.

So he's bumping a lot of guys.

He got beat out a few rebounds,

but he made some big plays as well.

Again, it came down to shot making.

Tomalkane played with a ton of energy that kid

has earned a roster spot somewhere in my estimation.

I would like to see the magic bring him in.

It's like the 15th guy.

It's on a minimum if that's available to them this summer.

I would like to see them keep him.

Plays the game the right way.

And he's developed a lot as a shooter

and his defensive potential is really nice.

I like to see him continue to develop that.

Devon Carter had a really nice game, like I mentioned.

Tristan De Silva got himself going in the third quarter.

Offense was not the problem.

The magic score plenty.

Their offense looked pretty good.

They relied a little too heavily on good shot making

in the first quarter.

When that dried up, it took him a while to figure out

how to get in the paint and beat the Cavs pressure,

but they got there, got to the line of ton.

It was just they couldn't get stops at all.

If the magic could get some stops,

they would have loved this game.

So another game that felt like the magic continued

to do the right things,

but can't put all the pieces together.

And that's just defined so much of the season.

Like they just can't get everything together

at the right moment, at the right time,

to deliver them a win.

And as I said yesterday in reference to the Pacers,

when your bad losses find you,

and like a loss on the magic against the Lakers,

feels like losses are finding the magic right now.

They just got to get that winning feeling.

Get one, that lets you get a second,

that just lets you kind of build some positive momentum.

And I do feel like this team is doing a lot of the right things

for the most part, just not enough of them

and not at a high enough level.

Again, it's really dangerous

because it feels like we're talking like a tanking team right now.

It's not happening at a high enough level.

But I think if they get one,

it's just gonna relieve some tension and relieve some pressure.

And I think they'll be able to take a little bit of a breath,

feel some confidence,

and then we'll see where they go.

Like I mentioned, they've gotta go seven and three

in the last head to give themselves a chance

to get out of the plane.

If they go five and five, they're gonna be nine,

they're gonna be nine to 10th.

If they go six and four, they'll probably be seven to eight.

If they go, if they go seven and three,

I think they'll be six or seven.

If they go eight and two, I think they have a crack at five.

That's where we're at.

The pressure's on.

Playoffs have started.

Team needs to play like it

and just be a little bit more precise and firm.

And they were not any of those things

against a playoff caliber opponent like the Cavs

and a championship caliber opponent like the Cavs.

Cleveland Cavaliers defeat the Orlando Magic,

136 to 131, again Orlando back in action.

On Thursday at the Kia Center

against the Sacramento Kings.

But that's good for me today.

I wanna thank you all again for listening

to today's episode of Lockdown Magic.

Or find me on Twitter at Philip R. R. R.

underscore on D and on Blue Sky at Philip R. R.

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That's good to do for me today.

I wanna thank you all again for listening

to today's episode of Lockdown Magic Hopefully tomorrow

when we're back with some fraud news.

Maybe we will, maybe we won't, we'll find out.

We'll be back stock for Orlando Magic Basketball

on tomorrow's episode until then.

For Orlando Magic Daily, lockdownmagic.com

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