Magic Have No Answers for Jokic, Porter Jr. in Blowout Loss to Nuggets

The Orlando Magic's 22-point loss to the Denver Nuggets brought a 1-4 West road trip to a close Thursday night. Orlando failed to score 100 points for the 23rd time this season and dropped to 3-20 in such games.

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) shoots against Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) in the second quarter at Ball Arena. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

The NBA trade deadline came and went Thursday afternoon without any moves from the Orlando Magic. Which means the players who faced the Denver Nuggets Thursday night essentially will be the same group trying to rescue the regular season.

They'll hope the 112-90 blowout loss isn't a precursor of things to come in the season's final third.

Orlando dropped to 25-28, eighth place in the East. The outcome was the 23rd time this season and the fourth time during this Western road trip that the Magic failed to score 100 points. Orlando is 3-20 in those games.

In the 19 games played in 2025, the Magic have lost 14 of them – 10 by double digits.

An offensive explosion Wednesday in Sacramento proved to be an anomaly as the Magic regressed to their norm on the second night of the back-to-back. They shot 36.9 percent from the field and made just five of 31 threes — a joint season-low that the Magic have registered five times.

"It's something that we work on every day. It's out job," said Wendell Carter Jr. of the Magic's consistent shooting struggles. As a team, Orlando is shooting just 30.3 percent from three.

"It looks like we don't know how to shoot but I think a lot of guys, from top to bottom, are all great shooters," Carter Jr. continued. "Some days we're red-hot, [on] fire, making all our shots, and then we just have a really bad cold spell where we can't even hit a coin in the ocean.

"We've got to find that even-keel. When the threes aren't falling, find other ways to get easy baskets or feet-set threes and then go from there."

Denver's leading contributions came from three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, who posted his 24th triple-double this season with 28 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists, and Michael Porter Jr., who scored at least 30 points for the third straight game.

Wendell Carter Jr. led the Magic with 19 points off the bench. Paolo Banchero (18 points) and Franz Wagner (14), the only other Orlando players in double figures, shot 12-of-31 from the field.

Denver dominated the glass, outrebounding Orlando 61-47. The Nuggets outscored the Magic 60-40 in the paint, 14-7 on second chances, and 24-12 on the fastbreak.

Jalen Suggs sat for his sixth straight game while dealing with a left quad contusion, while Denver's Jamal Murray missed the game with left knee inflammation.

Ten of the Magic's next 11 games are at the Kia Center, with three-game and seven-game homestands sandwiching the All-Star break.

"It's a great opportunity for us to steal a couple games, get our mojo back, our swagger back," Carter Jr. said.

Up Next

The Magic host De'Aaron Fox, Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday evening for the first of three home games before the All-Star break. Tipoff is 7 p.m. ET at the Kia Center. Full Schedule

Related Stories on the Orlando Magic

• HOW MAGIC'S SPIRITED STARS SNAPPED LOSING SKID: Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner took the onus upon themselves to get out of their recent funk.
• HEAT'S RECENT DEALS ADD TO MAGIC'S CHALLENGE: While the Magic have stood by, other teams surrounding them have made upgrades in the tight East race. CLICK HERE
• BANCHERO'S FIRST PLAYER-EXCLUSIVE SHOE TO HIT SHELVES: Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero will have his first-ever publicly available shoe released by Jordan Brand on February 17. CLICK HERE

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