Opinion: Jamahl Mosley firing came down to Magic poor play in second half of game six

Jamahl Mosley (Twitter) (left with Rick Carlisle)

For the first four games in their first round series against the Detroit Pistons, the Orlando Magic were on the verge of a dramatic upset. They had a commanding three games to one lead over the best team in the Eastern Conference. The Magic were flying on all cylinders and getting great production from their entire group, as they were outscoring the Pistons 402-392.

The Magic might not have expected to win game five of the series, as Detroit won 116-109. Heading into game six, you could make the argument that the Magic were still the underdog against the Pistons based on their regular season results. Detroit had 15 more regular season wins than Orlando, and that means something.

However, after the first half of game six, people should have expected the Magic to pull off the upset. Their lead on Detroit was by a commanding 22 points. When Orlando’s offense went ice cold in the second half, and Detroit pulled off the magical comeback, the momentum shifted. It was no surprise that the Pistons carried that momentum from the second half of game six into a magical series comeback in game seven. 

So when Magic could not deliver with the upset, they decided to fire head coach Jamahl Mosley on Monday according to the Associated Press. Was it Mosley’s fault in game six? The answer is partially. The majority of the blame was on the Orlando players who only made four of 37 second half field goals. However, Mosley was clearly outcoached by J.B. Bickerstaff at a critical time of game six, and lost his job as a result.