Magic can’t sustain early lead, fall late to Hornets, 120-111

Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley wanted to see more physicality and better ball security out of the Magic, and he saw both early against the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday. The two teams battled back-and-forth before the Hornets came away with a 120-111 win.

Five Magic players scored in double digits, led by Cole Anthony’s 24 points and Wendell Carter Jr.’s 20. Mo Bamba had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Terrence Ross added 18 points off the bench.

Miles Bridges led the Hornets with 31 points and Gordon Hayward added 24.

Orlando came out with a much more aggressive defensive philosophy with two early steals by Anthony and Bamba as the Magic (1-4) built a 20-10 lead before Charlotte (4-1) went on a 21-11 run to tie the game at 31 after one quarter.

“We talked about being physical early, which is what you saw and I think we turned them over a few times,” Mosley said. “They ended up having 17 total turnovers for 24 points. Our ability to get into the ball, active hands and get a couple of deflections in there, that’s the positive. The carryover from that side is really good just to start the game. There was a high level of energy early and we’ve got to just make sure we continue to sustain it.”

The physicality that Mosley sought was evident. Rookie Franz Wagner took an elbow to the face by LaMelo Ball that drew an offensive foul on the Hornets guard. A few moments later, Wagner hit a 3-pointer and pumped his fist as the Magic extended their lead in the first quarter.

But much like had been the case through the first four games, Orlando had to weather a scoring run as the Hornets built their biggest lead at 64-58 before the Magic were able to cut it to a 3-point difference at the half.

“I feel like as a team, we didn’t handle their runs very well,” Carter said. “We tried to do a lot of quick hitters after they made like two or three shots in a row. We can’t just come down and take the next shot because that fuels their next run.”

Charlotte entered the game ranked 8th in the NBA in fast-break points (15.8 per game), which has been a concern for the Magic, who had been turnover-prone. The Hornets converted 17 Orlando turnovers into 24 points.

“I had two super careless turnovers — maybe three — in the second half,” Anthony said. “I did that, and the effects started to trickle down and other people started to turn it over. The good part about it is that it’s easily correctable and we can fix that next game.”

Through the first four games, Orlando has played against some of the more physical teams in the NBA. Those teams have been able to assert their will on the Magic, particularly during long stretches. It’s a trend that Mosley hopes will cease.

“I want our guys to understand how physical teams have been,” Mosley said before the game. “Talk about two very good defensive teams in Miami and New York and the one most noticeable thing was their physicality. I want our guys to understand our physicality can be turned up just the same, no matter what scheme or coverage you’re in. That physicality changes everything.”

Early on, Orlando has faced New York’s Julius Randle, Miami’s Jimmy Butler (and Bam Adebayo and P.J. Tucker) and San Antonio’s Jakob Poeltl. It’s been a challenge some nights as these more experienced players take advantage of the younger Magic players, particularly rookies Jalen Suggs and Wagner as they learni to adapt to the NBA game.

Mosley wants to see more force on the defensive end.

“We talked about being a disruptive team,” said Mosley. “We talked about making people uncomfortable, and that physicality makes guys uncomfortable because that’s what we’re going have to continue to hang our hat on.”

Orlando is off to its worst start since the 2015-16 season when the Magic lost five of their first eight games before finishing 35-47.

This was a matchup between two of the youngest teams in the NBA.

Charlotte has a league-leading 11 players on the roster who are 23-and-under. The Magic, who debuted the youngest opening game starting lineup since the NBA began tracking starting lineups in 1970-21, has nine players 23-or-younger.

Orlando sets off on a three-game road trip that tips off with a set of back-to-back games against Toronto (Friday) and Detroit (Saturday) before wrapping things up against Minnesota (Monday).

This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Matt Murschel at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @osmattmurschel.