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Mar 3, 2025 5:07 pm

Magic sticking together, aiming for revenge on Raptors

caldwell-pope magic

The Orlando Magic will hope to dust themselves off and snap a three-game losing skid on Tuesday when they host the Toronto Raptors.

The teams will be meeting for the second time in three days.

The Magic put forth a spirited comeback before Franz Wagner was unable to convert a layup with two seconds remaining in a 104-102 setback to the visiting Raptors on Sunday.

Wagner hit his season average by scoring 25 points in that game. Paolo Banchero added 23 for Orlando, which nearly overcame a 19-point deficit in the fourth quarter before falling to 1-4 on its seven-game homestand, which ties a season high.

“It’s tough,” Banchero said. “We made some huge plays in those last 2 1/2 minutes. We gave ourselves a chance to win the game at the end, but you can’t point to the last play and say that’s why we lost.

“(There) was a whole three quarters before that you can point to, but (I was) just impressed with how we came back in those 2 1/2 minutes.”

While Banchero wasn’t pointing fingers, one could surmise the Magic needed better interior play at both the ends of the court. Toronto enjoyed a 58-38 advantage in points in the paint while also securing 12 offensive rebounds, six by Jakob Poeltl alone.

“We’re together. We win together. We lose together. No one is breaking off, you know, just being to themselves,” guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said of the morale in the Orlando locker room. “Everybody is still trying to uplift each other. We’re still trying to get out of this slump together. That’s all it is. Uplifting your brothers in the locker room.”

Toronto’s Immanuel Quickley rebounded from a sluggish first half to score 17 of his 24 points after intermission.

“Just mental toughness. When you’re not making shots, what else you can do to help the team win,” Quickley told Sportsnet. “Resilient players, great players, they just keeping shooting. … Defensively, just tried to try to keep up my energy and try to find other ways to affect the game.”

RJ Barrett contributed 22 points and Poeltl had 16 to go along with 11 rebounds for the Raptors, who snapped a three-game losing skid.

Barrett also scored 19 points to lift host Toronto to a 109-93 win over Orlando on Jan. 21. The Raptors have won two of three meetings in the four-game season series against the Magic.

Scottie Barnes made just five of 12 shots to finish with 10 points on Sunday.

Barnes boasts team-best averages in assists (6.1) and steals (1.4). His 19.8 points per game trail only Barrett (21.7) for top honors with the club.

Toronto’s Gradey Dick received numerous injuries on one play after he was on the wrong end of a collision by teammate Barrett and Magic guard Cole Anthony. Dick stayed down on the court before retreating to the locker room. He did not return for the second half.

Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic told reporters that Dick had passed concussion protocol but had suffered some hyperextension on his knee, a “sitting-bone contusion” and a split lip. He has been ruled out for Tuesday’s game.

–Field Level Media

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