ORLANDO — The Orlando Magic continued to gain momentum toward the end of the regular season by defeating the Detroit Pistons on Monday for their third-straight win. After the game, coach Jamahl Mosley met with the media.

Mosley first discussed Orlando’s ability to withstand two separate runs by the Pistons in the fourth quarter and the Magic’s ability to respond with a late 14-2 run of their own to seal the deal with a 123-107 win.

“I like the fact that we responded to that,” Mosley said. “You know, I think they made their push.

They came back, a couple of possessions by us, let them off the hook. They did a great job of speeding us up and not allowing us to get into our stuff. 

“And that's the time that we've got to continue to settle down, find our poise,” he added. “And then the other side of it is that we get stops to get out and run to get to easy baskets.”

The win improved the Magic to 43-36, and with three games remaining, they now sit in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. For Mosley and the team, finding momentum at this critical juncture of the season is the goal.

“Well, we said we want to be playing our best basketball around this time,” Mosley said. “You know, winning four out of the last six, that says something about what we're doing. And it may not always be pretty in every game, but we've got to find ways to win.

Doing this on the second night of a back-to-back, I think you've got to give our guys a ton of credit for responding that way. 

“And, again, it's going to take the moments where we have to do that through film, we have to do it through practice, because, you know, A.B. does come back, Franz is coming back.

And so, all those pieces being put back together in the puzzle, we've got to make sure that we're communicating at the highest level and playing our style of basketball.”

The Magic welcomed Anthony Black back to the lineup on Monday after he had missed over a month with an abdominal strain. He led the bench unit with 14 points in his return.

“I think [he’s] just trying to find his rhythm,” Mosley said about Black’s return. “You know, I think playing the stints that he played is never easy to do in these moments, but just trying to find a rhythm.

“You know, first it was defensively turned up, you know, gave us a couple steals, got out in transition, being able to get to the basket, you know, a little bit just knocking the rust off.”

Mosley also highlighted the Magic’s ability to execute the small details in order to achieve wins recently.

“I think it's the small pieces within the game,” he said. “And you look at it at the end of quarter, how do we execute? You know, at the end of the game, how do we, you know, stop a run? What are we going to do? 

“All of those little small pieces within the game are very important,” Mosley added. “And I think that's what it looks like down the stretch. And the guys found a way to do that tonight.”

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