The Orlando Magic, even without All-Star forward Paolo Banchero, were a far more capable team compared to the wounded group Brooklyn faced Monday night in Memphis. In a 108-81 loss Tuesday night inside Kia Center — a game where Ben Simmons and Cam Thomas sat — it did not take the Nets long to figure that out.
After trading a few buckets with Orlando early, Brooklyn’s last lead of the night came with 10:48 left in the first quarter, a 5-3 advantage. Gary Harris made a 3-pointer about a minute later and the Magic never trailed again.
Without one of their top scorers in Thomas and their best distributor in Simmons, the Nets never found their rhythm offensively. Quality looks were few and far between. When Brooklyn attacked the paint, it was met with far more resistance compared to Monday night.
Still, the sloppy execution was inexcusable. The team played disjointed and allowed the Magic to speed them up. Yes, the Nets were short-handed on the second night of a back-to-back set. But the Magic were missing their best player in Banchero and their effort was never questioned.
Nine first-half turnovers led to 18 points for Orlando. The Nets were outrebounded 21-14, outscored in transition 11-3 and surrendered 32 points in the paint — in the first half alone. With Banchero out, Franz Wagner was the only true-scoring threat Brooklyn had to worry about. The 6-foot-10 forward, who entered the night averaging 20.8 points per game in his first 50 appearances this season, scored 17 of his game-high 21 points in his first 19 minutes on the court.
The Nets trailed by 14 points at halftime. And to worsen matters, Mikal Bridges went 0-of-6 from the field through the first two quarters of action, and eventually finished with a season-low four points (2-for-14) in 29 minutes.
“They made it tough blitzing and stuff,” Bridges said. “I had a couple of turnovers trying to make the right play, but they were just trapping a little bit.”
Orlando’s lead grew to 19 just 53 seconds into the third quarter. A Caleb Houstan 3-pointer pushed it to 21 with 10:03 left in the period, and the Nets — who fell to 22-36 this season — displayed little fight as their opponents’ lead continued to grow.
Brooklyn shot just 39.7% in the loss and allowed Orlando to shoot 52.7%. The Magic turned 22 Nets turnovers into 29 points. The Nets’ 81 points scored set a new season low, and was the third-fewest scored by an NBA team this season.
Brooklyn has now lost three of its last four games by 26 or more points.
“It’s not time to make excuses,” interim head coach Kevin Ollie said. “These guys work hard, they’re professionals, and when somebody goes down we expect them to step up.
“Unfortunately we didn’t step up enough tonight to get a win.”
At least Dennis Schröder picked up where he left off Monday night, finishing with 15 points and three treys. Trendon Watford, thrown into the rotation with Thomas and Simmons out, added a team-high 17 points and six rebounds off the bench.
The Atlanta Hawks beat the Utah Jazz 124-97 on Tuesday night and are now four games up on Brooklyn for 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings. The Nets will face Atlanta on Thursday and Saturday at home.
At least one win over the next two games will keep Brooklyn in striking distance for the Play-In Tournament. However, if the Hawks win two straight at Barclays Center and go up by six games, it may create too deep of a hole for the Nets to climb out of.
Brooklyn will have 22 games left following Saturday’s matchup.
“I feel like every game is super important,” Bridges said. “So it’s not really looking at any other game, it’s just, our next game is our toughest game, no matter what the issue is or who we play. But we just have to go out there, play hard and get the win.”
