Orlando Magic Bench 'Did Our Thing! in Win vs. Houston Rockets
The Orlando Magic enjoyed a 116-86 season-opening win over the Houston Rockets at Amway Center on Wednesday.
While the win was an all-around effort from a group that's young and hungry, the play of Orlando's bench helped the Magic experience what it has rarely had over the past few seasons: a blowout victory, which just so happened to be the largest margin of victory in an opening-night win in team history.
On an opening night that probably couldn't have gone any better, it was Orlando's bench that made arguably the biggest difference by outscoring Houston's bench 59-27. Magic guard Cole Anthony came in as a sub and led all scorers with 20 points and eight rebounds.
“We did our thing,” Anthony said. “We came in and I thought we brought great defensive intensity. I feel like as a unit we changed the game early, got us out to a good lead..It just felt good to be on that side of the court, the winning side.”
Cole Anthony
USA TODAY
In an era where NBA teams can score 100 and still lose by 30, the Magic showed a very promising effort on defense by holding the Rockets well below the century mark. Though it won't show up in the box score every night, the return Orlando forward Jonathan Isaac is a major reason why the team's defense already looks improved. He came in off the bench as well on Wednesday, finishing with 11 points and one block.
“I would say extremely (proud),” Isaac said. “Our mindset is just how are we moving forward? Can we keep that level of intensity and focus the entire 48 (minutes)?”
The Magic will look to show off its depth and talent even further during the second game of the season at the Moda Center tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers. Tipoff is set for 10 p.m. ET.
