Franz Wagner has made his comeback for the Orlando Magic. However, this did not bring any improvement. The Magic suffered a painful 101:130 defeat against the Atlanta Hawks, meaning direct playoff qualification is now a distant prospect.
After a break of almost two months or 22 games, Wagner finally made his comeback, but the Berlin native was only able to help his team to a limited extent. In just under 20 minutes, the Berlin native scored twelve points (5/13 FG) and two assists, but missed all six of his attempts from distance.
Most of them were just short stints of three to four minutes, but the Magic still looked their best in those phases. Otherwise, 24 hours after the narrow win against Phoenix, not much went right. As a team, the home side shot below 40 percent, hit just six threes and conceded 19 turnovers. After taking the lead in the first quarter, they conceded the second period by 26:47, after which the game was more or less over.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 17 of his 32 points (11/16 FG, 5/9 threes), while Jalen Johnson (18, 14 rebounds, 8 assists) and Dyson Daniels (15, 13 rebounds) also impressed. Orlando again conceded too many fast-break points (25) and the Magic were ultimately without a chance. Paolo Banchero (11, 3/9, 8 rebounds) remained inconspicuous, while Jamal Cain (17) was the best scorer coming off the bench.
Wagner comeback: Magic remain in ninth place
Tristan da Silva (9, 2/5, 6 assists) also returned to the second line for Wagner, while Moritz Wagner (2) only came on with the score at 89:1110 with 7:30 minutes remaining and played until the end. Shortly before that, center Goga Bitadze had caused a stir with a hard foul on Daniels; the Georgian was sent to the dressing room for his tear against the Australian.
The defeat means Orlando slips back to ninth place and is now two games behind the last playoff spot (with six games to go), which is now held by the Philadelphia 76ers after a win at the Washington Wizards. The Hawks are fifth – with a cushion of 1.5 games. Orlando’s next opponent is Dallas on Saturday night, followed two days later by the New Orleans Pelicans.
