Magic Defeat Trail Blazers, Get 13th Win of Season

The Orlando Magic  got the win last night as it defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 113-95. The Magic are now 13-43 on the season.

Pregame

The main story before the game was Portland’s trade sending CJ McCollum to New Orleans. This ended McCollum’s nine-year tenure in Portland.  The trade also sent forwards Larry Nance Jr. and Tony Snell to New Orleans. In return, Portland received five players and three draft picks.

The trade comes during what has been a disappointing season for the Trail Blazers. A team that started the season with title aspirations, Portland is now at 21-34, sitting a game and a half out from the last play-in spot.

As for the Magic, it await its draft lottery position. This season for Orlando has been one of rebuild and a season to forget.

First Half

The game started evenly matched, with neither team leading by more than three for most of the first quarter. This was until the Magic went on a 9-0 run by way of three unanswered three-pointers, two by Gary Harris, to give the Magic a 29-22 lead.

The Trail Blazers narrowed the gap before the quarter’s end, but the Magic still led 32-28 after one.

Orlando opened the second quarter hot, going on a 9-1 run. The Magic eventually had a lead as large as 15 when they led 53-38 with three minutes left in the quarter. Then by 17 within the last minute as Orlando held a 62-45 lead before going to halftime 62-47. This marked the first halftime lead for the Magic in their last five games, going back to the Jan. 30 game against the Mavericks.

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Second Half

The third quarter saw Portland claw its way back into the game, as it outscored Orlando by 11. The Magic were still holding on, however, as they took a four-point lead into the final quarter.

Orlando’s defense found its way again in the fourth quarter, though, as it held Portland to just 16 points in the quarter. The Magic picked their scoring back up as well, scoring 30 in the quarter. Orlando was led by Franz Wagner in the fourth, scoring eight points with four rebounds and two assists.

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With Orlando holding all of the momentum, the Magic surged on and won 113-95 to secure their 13th win of the season.

Key Players

Per usual, the Magic’s most accomplished player of the night was rising star Cole Anthony. He led the team in scoring with 23 points and added on nine assists, seven rebounds and two steals to his stat line. Franz Wagner also had a good game, shooting three for four from behind the arc and getting nine rebounds.

As a team, the Magic out-rebounded the Trail Blazers by a margin of 50-21. The Magic also were the better shooting team, making 48.9% of their shots as opposed to just 35.2% by the Trail Blazers.

Aftermath

The Magic opened their west coast road trip with a win. Orlando’s next game is against Utah on Friday followed by games against Phoenix and Denver before returning to Orlando for a four-game homestand.

Portland begins a tough slate of games, beginning with the Lakers Wednesday. Over the next week, Portland also has games against the Knicks, Bucks and Grizzlies.