San Antonio Spurs @ Orlando Magic
Thursday, February 8, 2024 at 7:00 PM ET
Kia Center, Orlando, FL | Game ID: 22300734
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
ORL 23 38 37 29 127SAS 20 24 41 26 111
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Franz Wagner leads Magic past Spurs, who get 30-point second half from Devin Vassell
ORLANDO, Fla. -- — Franz Wagner scored 34 points and the Orlando Magic weathered a 30-point second half by San Antonio's Devin Vassell to beat the Spurs 127-111 on Thursday night.
After going scoreless in the first half, Vassell hit all nine of his shots in a 23-point third quarter, helping the Spurs get within 10 points after trailing by 23.
Coach Gregg Popovich spoke to Vassell at halftime and urged him to play more aggressively.
“I said: ‘Dev, I don’t want to be too pushy or anything, but if you want to go ahead and score a little bit and play a little bit better, that'd be fine,’” Popovich said.
The Magic put the game away with an 8-0 run led by Jonathan Isaac early in the fourth.
Jalen Suggs added 17 points for the Magic, and Paolo Banchero had 16 points, five rebounds and six assists.
Rookie Victor Wembanyama , playing 23 minutes in the second game of a back-to-back, finished with 15 points, one rebound, three blocks and five turnovers for the Spurs, who lost their sixth straight.
“It's a new experience for him,” Popovich said. “He'll get a certain period where he'll run out of gas and then he gets it back again. Who doesn't? It's a new thing playing four games in a week.”
Vassell said he tried to make things easier for the 7-foot-4 rookie.
“Everybody has these high expectations for him and he makes these crazy plays and does crazy stuff every game, but he just turned 20. He's learning,” Vassell said. “We’ve got to help him out, too. We can’t just throw him in the fire and expect him to win the game. ... We have to make the game easier for him.”
The Magic made 16 of 27 3-pointers (59.3%) after coming into the game with the NBA's second-lowest percentage (34.4) and the fewest 3s (10.73) per game. Only the Spurs had a poorer percentage (34.1) from beyond the arc.
Wagner, who had seven rebounds and seven assists, hit a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer, then opened the second half with another 3 and a dunk to give the Magic their 23-point lead.
After committing six turnovers in a loss at Miami, Wagner had just one in 28 minutes.
“I thought I'd try not to throw it away as much,” he said.
He made 13 of 17 shots, including 3 of 4 threes.
“I think I’m doing a better job of getting close to the basket, but any time you try to do something different there’s going to be ups and downs,” Wagner said. “I’m obviously not immune to that so I’ve just got to keep keep working at it. But the most important thing is making the right play for the team. I’m not going to get caught up too much in the other stuff.”
Orlando shot 59.8% overall, had a 39-27 rebounding advantage and had 34 assists on 49 field goals.
SAS KarmaHide StintsShow StintsHide PMShow PMHide KarmaShow KarmaHide ScoresShow Scores
Who
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
SASBW B. Wesley
CO C. Osman
DV D. Vassell
JC J. Champagnie
JS J. Sochan
KJ K. Johnson
MB M. Branham
TJ T. Jones
VW V. Wembanyama
ZC Z. Collins
ORLAB A. Black
CA C. Anthony
CH C. Houstan
CO C. Okeke
FW F. Wagner
GH G. Harris
JI J. Ingles
JI J. Isaac
JS J. Suggs
MF M. Fultz
MW M. Wagner
PB P. Banchero
WC W. Carter Jr.
SAS/ORL the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur