Welcome to a new era of Magic basketball. How this period will eventually come to be defined is not yet known, but tonight’s game at least provided a glimpse of what to expect across the remainder of this season. An Orlando side stretched thin by the recent flurry of franchise-altering trades lined up against a Blazers side missing Damien Lillard, compiling a largely competitive effort despite being on the wrong side of a stark talent deficit. Let’s unpack the action.
Surprisingly, the Magic were able to jump out to an early lead thanks to some accurate shooting. Dwayne Bacon used a Khem Birch screen to rise up for an elbow jumper.