The Magic seem to be coming together late in the season, with all of that young talent starting to mesh. The latest example came Monday night when they defeated the Pistons 119-112 at Little Caesars Arena.
Magic center Mo Bamba stepped up huge off of the bench with 22 points on 9 of 15 shooting, and also grabbed 15 rebounds. He’s always had the potential to have games like this. Bamba spoke on his mindset and his team’s mindset as the 2020-2021 season winds down.
“We want to win,” Bamba said. “We don’t necessarily want to take any excuses that we’re down a man or anything. At the end of the day, we’re a young, hungry team that wants to win.”
The Magic were without coach Steve Clifford for the sixth straight game. However, Clifford cleared COVID-19 protocols and will be returning to the bench next game against Boston.
Assistant coach Tyrone Corbin has held down the fort very well in Clifford’s absence. It will be good to see Clifford healthy and back on the bench.
Meanwhile, the Magic got most of their big scoring contributions from their bench players vs. the Pistons. Chasson Randle scored 18 points and Ignas Brazdeikis scored 14 points and grabbed three rebounds.
Rookie R.J. Hampton scored 16 points, grabbed seven rebounds and passed for 10 assists.
So the Magic had strong performances from some unusual suspects. However, this will prove to be beneficial moving forward.
The Magic play their next game on Wednesday against the Celtics at home. Tipoff is 7 p.m. EST.
