The Magic fell apart in the second half, getting outscored 36-18 in the 4th quarter and falling in their group play opener, 124-104.
The Nets pressured the Magic for much of the game defensively, resulting in the offense never clicking, especially in the second half, where the team lost their three point lead that they had heading into halftime.
Orlando finished with 37 rebounds as a team, being outrebounded by Brooklyn and could not come up with as many steals as the Nets had, which allowed Brooklyn to capitalize more on their scoring chances.
This was a game coming in that was a flip a coin type given how high scoring Brooklyn was and they proved to be very offensively late, shooting very well all across the floor.
The younger Wagner led the team in shooting once again in the In-Season Group opener, finishing with 21 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, with Paolo Banchero trailing behind, finishing with 19 points and 6 rebounds.
Orlando now needs to regroup as they head to Chicago for a Friday night clash against the Bulls in the team’s second straight game of group play.
The Bulls are a team that has not been able to get off the ground running early on here in the season, currently sitting at 4-7 in the Eastern Conference, but, with the In-Season Tournament allowing for teams to have a clean slate, this could be a steal game for the Chicago Bulls on Friday, especially with their veteran all-star Demar DeRozan.
The Mgaic will definitely have to be more smart in their shooting on Friday and play more consistently for all four quarters if they want to be able to get back to even in group play heading into next week when the team then reverts back to regular season counting games.
