Orlando Magic stars Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner entered the NBA game game on Tuesday with an average of more than 60 points combined against the Atlanta Hawks this season. But, while the two struggled to find their offensive, the Bank of Magic took a step forward and took them to a 120-95 victory.
Cole Anthony left the bank to lead Orlando with 26 points and six assists, while Anthony Black scored 16 points in 6 of 7 shots, and was a higher in the game in 28 minutes. With the victory, the Magic will advance to play in a series of first round playoffs against the Boston Celtics from Sunday in Boston.
After jumping to an early two -digit advantage, it seemed that the magic would pass to that seed of 7, but the Hawks left the half -time rest. They cut the margin to 71-68 with three minutes stirring in the third quarter, since Orlando’s offensive cooled. It is common for magic to have poor offensive duration games and that will be a problem to advance. He almost knocked them down on Tuesday, but they started and did not let Atlanta capture the advantage, before taking out the Hawks out of the water in the last quarter.
Magic tends to compensate for its lack of offensive with one of the best defenses in the NBA. That was exhibited on Tuesday when you have Hawks to 38.1% of shots from the field and 19% from the range of 3 points. While bringing Young ended with 28 points, it was an inefficient 8 of 21 and the magic got under his skin to the point that he kicked the ball with anger and obtained a technical foul in the last quarter.
Banchero ended with 17 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, but Orlando will need more of him if it is a possibility of Boston.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
Why great stories delivered directly to your entrance tray? Create or log in to your Fox Sports account, follow the leagues, teams and players to receive a custom newsletter every day!
Get more from the National Basketball Association Follow your favorites to obtain information about games, news and more
