Magic don't overcome poor shooting, fall to 76ers to split road mini-series
Published in Basketball
PHILADELPHIA — If Monday’s road win over the Philadelphia 76ers was a lesson in the importance of consistently bringing defensive intensity, Wednesday’s 105-94 loss to Wells Fargo Center showed some nights just aren’t a team’s night.
The Magic (20-32) brought the necessary focus to compete with the 76ers (33-17) from tipoff, unlike Monday. They just didn’t make enough shots to beat the 76ers for the second consecutive game.
Some nights, it’s just that simple.
“We couldn’t throw it in the ocean,” coach Jamahl Mosley said. “We did our job defensively. We just couldn’t find the basket.”
The Magic held the 76ers to 26 or fewer points in each of the final three quarters after Joel Embiid’s dominant first-quarter performance (16 points on 4-of-7 shooting, 8 of 8 on free throws) gave the 76ers a 37-23 lead going into the second.
Orlando chipped away at the lead every quarter.
The Magic brought their deficit down to 3 in the middle of the third and kept the game close the rest of the way. They trailed 82-81 after a Jalen Suggs 3-pointer with 11:23 remaining.
But every shot they needed to get over the hump late didn’t fall.
The Magic shot 5 of 18 from the field and 2 of 10 on 3s in the fourth quarter in which they only scored 16 points.
For the game, the Magic shot 37.5% from the field (33-of-88 shooting) and 15.4% on 3s (6 of 39).
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