On Tuesday night, the Orlando Magic had a golden opportunity to test themselves against the toughest imaginable opponent in today's NBA – the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Paolo Banchero played his heart out, scoring 32 points on 12-21 shooting from the field, and the rest of the Magic's starters did their part – Wendell Carter Jr. recorded a game-high plus-19 on the night.
However, Carter did not play 48 minutes. Unfortunately, the Magic had to play their bench that night, which did not perform well at all against the Thunder. Somehow, in just 13 minutes of play, Carter's backup Mo Wagner was minus 28 in a five-point loss to the Thunder, 113-108.
To put it mildly, the Magic bench did not play well at all and a large portion of the blame for his team losing the game during his minutes should fall on his shoulders. And after the game, head coach Jamahl Mosley was not at all happy with his bench team, as evidenced by his answer when asked how tough their night was.
"You see it," Mosley said, according to Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel.
The advantage is that come playoff time, the bench doesn't have to play as much. But Mosley losing confidence in some of his bench players is not promising for the team's progress for the remainder of the season.
Magical confidence in Franz Wagner's eventual return from injury
Young Wagner's eventual return from an ankle injury will help the Magic. Additionally, the team is missing Anthony Black, forcing Tristan da Silva to start – further thinning the team's bench core.
There is only less than a month until the playoffs start, so the Magic should have time to better configure their rotation after their bench hampered them in their loss to the Thunder.
