The Orlando Magic will try to find a way to turn first-half promise into second-half performance when they host the Washington Wizards on Tuesday.
Orlando turned a position of strength into a 106-92 loss to the visiting Detroit Pistons on Sunday.
The Magic led by seven at halftime, before being outscored 31-18 and 25-17 in the last two periods.
“Twenty-six points of pain,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley lamented, referring to the amount of points his side conceded from its 19 turnovers. “That’s what (the Pistons) did. We talked about it before the game, we showed the film — they reach, they grab, they swipe at the ball.
“We were too loose with it at a lot of these moments, but you’ve got to give Detroit a ton of credit — that’s the reason why they’re the No. 1 team in the East. They get after it physically, they get after it defensively.”
Paolo Banchero’s 24 points and 11 rebounds were offset by a whopping nine turnovers, while Tristan da Silva scored 19 points.
The meltdown against Detroit came on the heels of a five-point home loss to Houston, highlighted by a 21-0 third-quarter Rockets run that wiped out a 19-point Orlando lead.
da Silva shared his frustration, as well as his determination to get it right this time.
“Obviously it stings,” he said following the Pistons game. “Everybody feels like we’ve been giving games away now — two in a row that we had in control for a good amount of time. It doesn’t necessarily discourage us for the remainder of the season. I don’t think that’s an issue or that’s a problem. I think the guys are very locked in and very focused on the next game.”
Washington’s losing streak stretched to five after the Wizards succumbed 123-118 to the visiting Rockets on Monday.
The Wizards got off to a hot start, shooting 8 of 11 from 3-point range in the opening quarter, at the end of which they led 30-26, before being battered for the duration.
Houston outrebounded Washington 59-27 and outscored the Wizards in the paint 62-40.
“You’ve got to give (the Rockets) credit,” Washington coach Brian Keefe said. “We were undersized, but that’s no excuse — they beat us to some second shots, for sure. They’re pretty physical, like I said. Our crashing wasn’t exactly where it would (ideally) be.”
The Wizards trailed by as many as 19 points before rallying late despite the absence of several key personnel, headlined by Anthony Davis (finger), Trae Young (quadriceps), Alex Sarr (hamstring) and D’Angelo Russell (not with the team yet).
Tristan Vukcevic (thigh) and Anthony Gill (illness) also did not suit against Houston, while Kyshawn George is listed as day-to-day after sustaining an elbow injury in the third quarter against the Rockets.
Those gaps have created opportunities for others, and Bilal Coulibaly is one who took advantage.
The third-year guard from France scored 23 points and sank five 3-pointers, both season highs.
“He’s been doing this a little bit lately, but I’ve seen the amount of work that he’s putting in,” Keefe said of Coulibaly. “I always trust him when he’s open. I tell him to shoot it — let it fly — because he’s probably putting up more shots in our gym than anybody.
“He puts a massive amount of time into it and I have great faith in him. That work is starting to pay off.”
While Young, like Davis, has yet to play for his new team after an in-season trade, he showed on Monday that he is ready to fight for the Wizards. Even though he was in street clothes, he was ejected from the contest for stepping on the court to argue a call.
Young won’t be active at Orlando, but he is expected to make his Wizards debut on Thursday against the visiting Utah Jazz.
