Magic Coach Jamahl Mosley 'Proud' of Effort, Energy on Road Trip
The Orlando Magic may not be coming home with as many wins as it had hoped on its five-game west coast road trip, but there's a lot of value coming in.
After taking the Western Conference-leading Denver Nuggets to the wire, and losing on a buzzer beater from reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, the Magic fell back to 12 games under .500, but there's a lot of pride from head coach Jamahl Mosley.
"I wanna say how proud I am of this group," Mosley said. "Their effort, their energy, their will, to be on the back end of a five-game road trip and to give that intensity and that effort coming down the stretch where an MVP-type player made an MVP-type play."
It was a tough road trip for the young Magic squad. The team traveled on its longest road trip of the season, and apart from the blowout loss against the Sacramento Kings last Monday, Orlando was in every game and came out with victories against the Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers.
The wins were encouraging, but the losses also brought lessons that the team can take moving forward.
"I think if we can understand that if we have to play that hard each night, we have to defend that well in the second half each night, we have a chance," Mosley said.
The Magic still has playoff aspirations this season as the team sits just four games back of a play-in spot. While Orlando needs to play better and hope that teams ahead in the standings stumble, the Magic is growing and showing progress as a group.
"This is a great test for us and our guys to see what it really takes to get over the hump," Mosley said.
While the Magic may not be over the hump yet, games like the last two against the Utah Jazz and Nuggets show that the team can break through if the progress continues.
The Magic will get some much-needed rest this week before returning home to face the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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