Magic 'Rolling With The Punches', Taking Lumps After Suspensions

ORLANDO - It's not easy playing an NBA game with just eight players, and the Orlando Magic learned that the hard way in Friday night's 119-100 loss against the Washington Wizards at home.

The team was stripped to the bare minimum after the league suspended nine players after Wednesday night's fight against the Detroit Pistons.

In order to field the necessary eight healthy players for the game, only six players (Cole Anthony, Mo Bamba, Wendell Carter Jr., R.J. Hampton, Gary Harris and Moe Wagner) served their suspensions for Friday's game. The other three players (Kevon Harris, Admiral Schofield and Franz Wagner) will serve their one-game suspensions, along with Moe Wagner, who was suspended two games, in the team's next contest against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.

While the Magic had good communication playing with a limited crew, shots struggled to fall against the Wizards, and the team paid the price.

"I think we had good energy coming out," rookie Paolo Banchero said. "I feel like we just couldn’t get shots to fall early and then we just had started having to play from behind. That’s pretty hard when you have eight players.

"We had a lot of good looks. They just didn’t fall. I think we’ve just got to roll with the punches sometimes and move on."

The Magic struggled out of the gates against the Wizards, but completed a 16-0 run in the second quarter to take a five-point lead. But then Washington ran away with it, building a lead as large as 30.

For a young team still trying to find its identity, there are positive takeaways even in a difficult loss.

"Brought all [of] their energy tonight and obviously it’s not an easy task," Franz Wagner said. "I think that you saw that in the third quarter a little bit but I think we made some strides in the right direction. Obviously, not entirely the game that we wanted but like I said, I think we can take some things from this.”

The Magic will enjoy some time off before returning to the court Wednesday to face the Oklahoma City Thunder at home. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

You can follow Jeremy Brener on Twitter @JeremyBrener.

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