Getting healthy has presented some unexpected challenges for the Orlando Magic.
Orlando has dropped six of its past seven games despite having its stars back in the mix, but the Magic feel like a turnaround is imminent as they head into a meeting with the host Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night.
It was a rough start to the season for Orlando, which lost Paolo Banchero to a torn oblique on Oct. 30 before Franz Wagner went down with the same injury on Dec. 6. Banchero returned on Jan. 10 and Wagner came back 13 days later.
Having Banchero and Wagner on the floor again hasn’t translated to winning basketball, though, with Wagner attributing some of Orlando’s struggles to the recent lineup changes.
Still, Wagner has seen flashes of the Magic’s full potential, even in a 125-119 double-overtime loss to the Miami Heat on Monday night.
“I thought we had great stretches in the game,” Wagner said. “Moving the ball really well, creating open shots for all kinds of people. … I think we’ll be fine. We just gotta improve there and get better at it and work at it and we’ll be just fine.”
Wagner finished with 29 points and eight rebounds against Miami, while Banchero crawled to 17 points on 7-of-21 shooting. Reserve Tristan da Silva also netted 17 points for Orlando.
The Magic are now just waiting for Jalen Suggs to be good to go. Suggs missed 10 games due to a back injury and returned for a win over the Detroit Pistons on Saturday, but now he’s dealing with a quad contusion that held him out of the loss to the Heat.
Suggs is listed as questionable for Thursday.
One of the setbacks during Orlando’s rut came against Portland, a 101-79 decision last Thursday. The Trail Blazers have been on a roll with February fast approaching, winning five of their past six games.
Portland most recently beat the Milwaukee Bucks 125-112 on Tuesday night to spoil Damian Lillard’s second game in Portland since he went to Milwaukee. Deni Avdija went off for 30 points and nine boards for the Trail Blazers, who also got a double-double from Deandre Ayton (21 points, 14 rebounds) and 25 points from Anfernee Simons.
Avdija feels like Portland is really starting to hit its stride. The Blazers are 18-29 on the season, only 6 1/2 games removed from a play-in tournament spot in the Western Conference.
“I just feel so much different since the beginning of the year in terms of how we play, how we share the ball, how we bond together,” Avdija said. “It’s just a different team right now, so I’m happy.”
Both the Magic and Blazers have a reason to look forward to All-Star Weekend in just over two weeks, as Orlando’s da Silva and Portland’s Scoot Henderson have been selected to participate in the Castrol Rising Stars showcase.
da Silva, a rookie, is averaging 8.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists this season, while Henderson, a second-year man, is putting up 12.3 points, 3.0 boards and 5.2 assists per game.
