The Magic came back from their European stint with a clear message from head coach Jamahl Mosley: start games stronger. But on Thursday night at Kia Center, that message didn’t quite translate onto the hardwood.
Facing a Hornets squad playing on the second night of a back-to-back, Orlando came out flat and never really recovered. The Magic trailed by 15 after the first quarter and were down by as many as 33 before falling 124-97 to Charlotte - a tough home loss that exposed some of the same issues Mosley had been trying to address.
“We let our offense impact our defense,” Mosley said postgame. “Shots didn’t fall, we stopped guarding. It’s unacceptable.”
With starters Franz Wagner (left ankle soreness) and Jalen Suggs (right knee MCL bruise) sidelined, the Magic were already shorthanded. And it showed. Orlando only led for 38 seconds - right after Desmond Bane hit the game’s opening shot - and from there, it was all Charlotte.
This marks the 18th time this season the Magic have allowed 120 or more points. They’re now 6-12 in those games, a stat that underscores the challenge this young team faces when it can’t get stops.
Charlotte, meanwhile, spread the wealth. Six Hornets scored in double figures, led by rookie Brandon Miller, who poured in 20 points. Despite the back-to-back, the Hornets looked fresher, sharper, and more connected - especially from deep.
The three-point disparity told a big part of the story. Charlotte came into the night ranked top-10 in three-point percentage and lived up to that billing early, hitting 9 of 14 threes (64.3%) in the first quarter alone. They cooled off slightly in the second but still finished 17 for 36 (47.2%) from beyond the arc.
Orlando, on the other hand, came in 29th in the league in three-point shooting - and it showed. They hit just 5 of 19 in the first half (26.3%) before finishing 14 for 37 (37.8%). Those numbers improved late, but the damage was already done.
Paolo Banchero led the Magic with 23 points, seven rebounds, and five assists, but also had four turnovers and finished the third quarter with a team-worst plus-minus of minus-25. He was candid after the game.
“They just came out and jumped on us,” Banchero said. “We weren’t necessarily organized and just let the game get away.
You can’t go down big in the first quarter and expect to come back just because we did it once. It’s hard to win that way in the NBA.”
Desmond Bane added 21 points in 32 minutes, but the rest of the starting lineup struggled to keep pace. Through three quarters, no other Magic player had scored more than five points, and Orlando’s starters were outscored 69-55 by Charlotte’s first unit.
With Suggs and Wagner out, rookies Anthony Black and Tristan da Silva were thrust into the starting five alongside Banchero, Bane, and Wendell Carter Jr. It was a tough assignment, and the growing pains were evident.
Still, there were a few bright spots off the bench. Second-round pick Noah Penda brought some energy with a pair of highlight-reel dunks - the first off a steal late in the first quarter, the second in transition early in the second. The French forward also knocked down two threes and finished with 13 points and four assists in 19 minutes.
First-rounder Jase Richardson had a quieter night, going 1 for 5 from the field for just two points in 23 minutes.
The loss drops Orlando to 23-20 on the season and 5-5 in their last 10 games. They’ll stay home to host the Cavaliers on Saturday - the first of four meetings between the two teams this season.
Mosley’s message after the game was clear: this isn’t about individuals, it’s about collective accountability.
“It’s on all of us,” he said. “We are in this together.
There’s no them, they, that … it’s us. It’s ‘we.’
We all have to fix it because we all get the L. We get the W.
Not they, them, or anybody else. It’s on us.
So, we have to fix it.”
For a Magic team that’s shown flashes of promise this season, the challenge now is consistency - especially on the defensive end. The talent is there. But as Thursday night showed, the margin for error in the NBA is slim, and slow starts can bury even the most talented rosters.