Beede's Breakdown: Magic snap 4-game skid at Kings behind Wagner's 33 points

In a meeting between two teams looking to snap their respective losing streaks Tuesday night at Golden 1 Center, it was the Orlando Magic who ended their four-game skid against the Sacramento Kings.

Behind a season-high 33 points from Franz Wagner and 26 from Anthony Black, Orlando earned its first win of its four-game West Coast road trip, 107-100, during its lone trip of the season to Sacramento.

The Kings cut their deficit to five points at 103-98 with 44.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter but Wagner sunk two clutch free throws and Wendell Carter Jr. added a dunk late to put the game out of reach.

Kings No. 7 overall pick Darius Acuff Jr. shot 10 for 21 from the floor to total 29 points while Sacramento’s Zach LaVine notched 31 on 6-for-9 shooting from 3-point range. The loss, however, was Sacramento’s fourth in a row and sixth straight at home to start the regular season.

The Kings (1-10) were outscored 58-28 in the paint by Orlando, which also outrebounded Sacramento 48-34.

The Magic (3-7) have a quick turnaround when they wrap up their four-game West Coast trip on the second night a back-to-back at Utah on Wednesday night.

“We’ve seen some improvement in areas that we really wanted to improve upon — whether it’s defensive rebounding or taking care of the basketball — so to get the reward of the W is always great,” Magic coach Sean Sweeney said. “Now it’s, continue to build on it and try to get a little momentum.”

—Starting 5

After starting second-year guard Jase Richardson the past seven games, Sweeney moved the 2025 first-round pick back to the bench.

Instead, Orlando opened with Black, Desmond Bane, Jamal Cain, Wagner and Carter at Sacramento, which represented the team’s sixth different starting lineup of the season.

Black and Wagner scored 16 points apiece in the first half. Black specifically scored 12 of Orlando’s first 24 points when he knocked down first pair of 3-point attempts and added a two-handed slam in transition in the first quarter.

Wagner did a little bit of everything and helped stabilize Orlando’s offense by attacking downhill. The German forward had no problem driving to the basket where he scored 20 of his 33 points in the paint to total 30-plus for the second game in a row.

Black finished with 20-plus points for the second time this season while he added seven rebounds, five assists and four steals.

“There were times in the game where I thought he could have even been more aggressive, but I thought just throughout, he did a great job of attacking the paint,” Sweeney said about Black. “(He) was really putting pressure on their defense.”

Bane had an up-and-down night from distance (4 for 13) but hit two 3-pointers in the third quarter to total 15 points.

Carter, who grabbed 11 rebounds, found himself in foul trouble in the second when he picked up his third foul at the 11:05 mark of the third quarter and his fourth foul just 13 seconds later. He recorded a team-high plus-minus rating of plus-14 in his 33 minutes.

—Second quarter of runs

From the end of the first quarter throughout the start of the second, the Kings scored 18 unanswered points and ultimately a 20-1 run that was largely powered by taking advantage of Orlando’s seven first-half turnovers.

Trailing 40-35 at the 8:24 mark of the second quarter, the Magic responded with a 17-3 run that was capped off by Wagner’s first triple of the evening and put Orlando back out in front 52-43 late in the frame.

Pushing the ball down the court with an up-tempo pace, the Kings were able to outscore the Magic 25-23 in the second quarter, but they still trailed by five points, 57-52, at the half.

—Two-way help

Magic two-way forward Alex Morales made the most of extended action on the road.

He sunk his first-career NBA 3-pointer five minutes into the second quarter and scored off an offensive putback later in the same frame. Morales hustled on both ends of the floor by making the Kings feel his defensive pressure and fighting for offensive rebounds.

In 29 minutes, he recorded seven points and seven rebounds, all marks that represented career highs for Morales.

“He does a great job of giving effort on both ends,” Sweeney said about Morales. “All the little things that you need to win, he does. He did that in the G (League) for Osceola and has done it throughout his time, whether it’s in practice or in the games, with us.”

—Turnovers and takeaways

Neither side took care of the ball on Tuesday night.

For Orlando, Black committed four turnovers and Wagner three. For the Kings, LaVine committed five turnovers and Acuff Jr. turned the ball over four times.

The Magic scored 33 points off 21 takeaways while Sacramento notched 20 points off 14 Orlando turnovers.

“The guys did a great job, especially forcing turnovers,” Sweeney said of Orlando’s defensive effort. “I thought we were real aggressive. We did a great job with our hand activity a number of times. I thought we did a really good job with our communication.”