Black details the Magic's aggressive defensive surge and renewed team identity, boosted by Wagner's return, securing a crucial win.
On the defensive intensity ramping up in the second half to pull away:
"Just the second half making a decision to pick the pressure up and be more physical. That was something we talked about at halftime and I think we did a good job."
On what has changed defensively over the last three games, holding opponents under 100 twice and regaining identity:
"Yeah, I think we just playing a little harder. We having less lapses, better communication, and we're just doing a good job covering for each other. And that's allowing us to pressure the ball a little bit more."
On what Franz Wagner's return does for him personally and the team's confidence with the group healthy:
"A lot. One of our best wing defenders, obviously one of our best offensive players. So just having him back gives us a lot of confidence. It just makes us able to do a lot on defense having him out there, being able to switch down the line one through five, having him, having Wendell, just different dudes who could switch and just having him out there to just get a bucket when we need it. You seen he had hit a big step back three today. He's just big in big moments and we're glad to have him back."
On responding to the Bucks saying they'll be more competitive on Wednesday in the second game of the series:
"Just trying to see the things that we did a good job of capitalizing those things and then watching the film trying to cut down on defensive mistakes and just things that didn't work on offense."
On the mentality shift in the second half to maintain defense despite first-half shooting struggles:
"For the most part, we were taking good shots, touching the paint, spraying out, and we were just missing open looks. So I think today we did a good job of staying with our process and playing really good defense no matter what was going on in the game."
On the big dunks tonight and who had the better one—his tomahawk or Jalen Suggs' 360 alley-oop—and thoughts on Suggs in the dunk contest:
"I'll say 360 for sure. Yeah. For the dunk contest coming up, I think Jase is gonna surprise some people though. Just seeing some of the reactions to him doing the dunk contest. It's just probably a lot of people that don't know what he's got in his bag. So I'm excited to watch that. He's been practicing and he got a lot of nice dunks. So to answer your question, is probably nothing I could tell him that he don't know."