The Orlando Magic never found their footing Thursday night, and the Phoenix Suns made sure it showed on the scoreboard. Orlando opened its four-game West Coast trip with a 117-104 loss to a Suns team that entered the night with just one win, but the final margin barely captured how lopsided this one got. Phoenix led by as many as 30.
Devin Booker was the difference from the start. After his 43-point outburst against the Golden State Warriors, he followed it up with another strong night, scoring 28 points on 10-of-19 shooting in 31 minutes.
He had 26 by the end of the third quarter and looked comfortable getting to his spots all game long. Booker also finished with 8 assists and 3 steals, shooting 50% from the field and 50% from three on 11-of-22 overall and 4-of-8 from deep.
It was the kind of night where Phoenix’s offense had a clear answer every time Orlando tried to make a push. Booker moved through the game without much resistance, and the Magic’s length never really slowed him down.
What made the result even stranger is that Phoenix came into Thursday ranked dead last in defensive rating. That has been the story of the Suns so far this season, even if their disruption has shown up in one area: turnovers. They entered the night forcing the seventh-most turnovers per possession, and that pressure showed up again, especially before the fourth quarter.
Orlando’s ball security was the real killer. The Magic had already been dealing with turnover issues all season, sitting with the fourth-worst turnover rate, and they gave it away 25 times in this one. Eighteen of those came with 6:36 left in the third quarter, and those mistakes turned into 36 Phoenix points.
Even so, Orlando found a way to hang around on the glass. Against an undersized, under-developed Suns frontcourt of Oso Ighadoro and Khaman Maluach, the Magic piled up 15 offensive rebounds and 15 second-chance points. They finished plus-15 on the boards and plus-nine in second-chance points.
Wendell Carter Jr. led that effort with 13 rebounds, including four on the offensive end. Franz Wagner added eight rebounds, and Anthony Black grabbed seven.
The score ended up looking a little cleaner than the game actually felt for most of the second half. Orlando’s 11 missed free throws didn’t help matters either. The Magic went just 13-for-24 at the line, missing eight in the first half alone.
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