Last night Orlando recorded his 4th consecutive success and 9th of the season by winning at home against Atlanta (135-124). The Floridians took advantage of the good performances of Bol Bol, but also of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, to get the better of the Falcons.
Why do you want Victor Wembanyama when you already have Bol Bol in your team?
That’s what Magic fans must be thinking after another great performance from Manute’s son (21 points, 7 rebounds, 7/13 shots of which 3/4 from distance, 1 block). The Orlando air definitely seems to be doing him the most good as we recall that in the middle of his first complicated seasons alongside Denver, the Disneyland bubble had been a rare thinning for the former University of Oregon Duck.
A few months after coming close to leaving the Big League, the native of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, seems to have definitively launched his NBA career on the side of Florida.
But then, will you tell us, with such a powerful and increasingly regular giant (2.18m), is there still a question of a Mickey Mouse tank?
Bol Bol are you SERIOUS?? pic.twitter.com/A5yVTPj0eX
—NBA (@NBA) December 15, 2022
The players coached by Jamahl Mosley are however doing what is necessary not to hear more about him, preferring to leave it to the vile Hornets and Pistons (who also faced each other that evening). And Bol Bol is not alone in this work of seeking respect in the NBA.
As is often the case when Orlando performs, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner are not far off, and the win against the Hawks was no exception (20 points for Banchero, 24 for Wagner). The Italian and the German are expected as Magic locomotives this season but also as pillars of the future of the franchise, and the least we can say is that they clearly assume their status (better than their fellow players, for example).
Note that the other Wagner sibling, Moritz (17 points) and Markelle Fultz (16 points) also brought their stone into the building for Stuff the Magic Dragon’s friends to win. On the Atlanta side, we will remember the solid performance of De’Andre Hunter (25 points) to better compensate for the poor form of Trae Young (19 points on 6/15 shooting).
This German-Italian Sudanese frontcourt is definitely going strong this financial year 2022-23. What to walk in the footsteps of another illustrious international Big Three formed from a Virgin Islands interior, accompanied by its Franco-Argentine backcourt (well, well)? Well, maybe we’re getting a little carried away, but we’ll talk about it again in 2028 when the Magic have signed the three-peat with a Finals MVP for each member of the magical trio.
