With each team looking to flush disappointing losses, the Orlando Magic host the Portland Trail Blazers in interconference play on Monday.
After Franz Wagner powered Orlando to a 13-point victory over Boston on Friday, the Magic fell 111-107 to the Celtics on Sunday. Orlando has dropped six of nine since winning its season opener.
“I like to think we stay with our process regardless of the results,” Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley said. “We don’t want to go with the highs and lows. The team understands that things happen when guys are in the right spots, when we push the pace, the stops that we need in order to get out and run. Those are process pieces and that’s what we’re continuing to do.”
Paced by Paolo Banchero’s 22.8 scoring average through 10 games, Orlando will need to see the production from its star player continue in the team’s third game in four nights.
“You can’t say enough about him and his ability to create for others,” Mosley said of Banchero, who scored 28 points on Sunday. “The draw he has every night, with guys coming at him, there are three guys coming at him each time he touches the basketball. He’s making the right play, trying to find the right read, trying to find guys spaced out to knock shots down.”
Wagner adds 22.3 ppg, followed by Desmond Bane’s 14.2.
Portland has dropped two of three, falling 136-131 at the Miami Heat in its first of a five-game road trip. The Trail Blazers have gone 5-3 since head coach Chauncey Billups was placed on leave as part of an investigation into illegal gambling on Oct. 23.
Portland forward Deni Avdija has enjoyed life under interim head coach Tiago Splitter, as the 24-year-old is averaging a team-high 25.3 points along with seven rebounds and 4.9 assists per game through nine contests.
Avdija has posted consecutive double-doubles, just missing out on his third career triple-double on Saturday, going for 33 points, 11 rebounds and eight dimes against the Heat. He had 26 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in a 121-119 home win over the defending league champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.
“I’m just trying to box out and help the guys create stops,” Avdija said of his recent rebounding surge. “At the end of the day, if the ball lands in my hands or somebody else’s, it doesn’t matter. We get the stop, get the rebound and go the other way.”
Portland, which has won 13 of 17 over Orlando since February 2017, will put an emphasis on avoiding falling behind early. Splitter’s group has trailed at halftime in three of its last four games.
“We need to start the games better,” Splitter said. “I think lately we’ve had to get punched in the face first and then wake up and start to play in the second half. That’s not enough. This league is too tough to wait for that. Hopefully, from the get-go, we are ready to play the way we want.”
Behind Avdija’s team-leading scoring clip, forward Jerami Grant has chipped in 20 points per game off the bench, while starting guard Shaedon Sharpe averages 18.4.
–Field Level Media
