'Beat Up' Magic Not Making Excuses For Poor Performances
ORLANDO - Nobody in the Orlando Magic organization is in the business of making excuses.
Even when the team finished Sunday night's loss against the Philadelphia 76ers with just seven players - five on the court and two on the bench.
"I haven't seen anything like these," head coach Jamahl Mosley said. "We had seven guys coming down the stretch, whether that's because of injuries or because guys are getting sick, it's something different.
"It's not an excuse, trying to find rotations, trying to find guys that will not burn down on minutes because you got a back-to-back, those are situations that you have to continue to take into consideration."
As the old saying "the best ability is availability," goes, Orlando's 5-15 record up to this point can directly be pinned on several players missing significant time this season.
But according to Mosley, the 30-point loss had nothing to do with six players getting the night off, including Jalen Suggs (knee) and Markelle Fultz - who were both last-minute scratches.
"It was more effort based than anything," Mosley said. "Yes we're bodies down, we're beat up, we're losing guys left and right, but at the end of the day the guys that are on the court have to make sure they're willing to step in there and play. Play the right way, play hard, play for one another."
As of November 21st, Orlando was by far the most injured team in the association according to ManGamesLost with 95 games lost from players, with the Milwaukee Bucks coming in second with 67 games. That number has continued to increase over the last week.
"Of course it's frustrating don't get me wrong to be shorthanded, but everybody is," Magic center Moe Wagner said postgame Sunday. "You gotta keep grinding, you gotta seize it as an opportunity. Especially on a young team, because on winning teams some of us might not get these minutes."
Despite several players going down with injuries over the past week, such as Wendell Carter Jr (plantar fascia) Mo Bamba (back spasms) and Terrence Ross (illness), the team has received the services of Gary Harris, who missed the first 16 games of the year, and Paolo Banchero, who missed seven games with an ankle sprain.
The short-handed Magic is back in action tonight against the Brooklyn Nets.
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