The Magic’s 112-101 upset victory in Game 1 of their first-round series against the Pistons may have surprised some people but not themselves.
“I think everybody knows we have a really talented team,” forward Franz Wagner said. “Obviously, we didn’t have the regular season that we wanted, but that’s how it goes sometimes. I think we showed (Sunday) that we belong here and it has to be consistent, though. One game doesn’t win the series. That’s got to be our mindset going forward.”
Coach Jamahl Mosley felt that the fact his team had two play-in tournament games last week while the Pistons had the week off played a role in the upset.
“They’ve been off. We found a little bit of rhythm playing so many games, so that always plays a part in it,” he said. “But I’m still just happy that our guys came out and defended the
right way. We were intentional in how we executed our offense. I think those are the things that we talked about being able to do against a great team like this. How they turn you over, how they defend, how they rebound the basketball – all those small things within the game. I was happy that we accomplished that with this group.”
Here’s more on the Magic:
- Paolo Banchero led the offense with 23 points. He also supplied nine rebounds and four assists. “I thought Paolo’s dominance in his approach to the game was excellent,” Mosley said. “His voice, his command on the floor, his court presence was special. I think that’s how the team follows. When he has that presence, it’s something to be seen. His aggression downhill, attacking, stepping into a shot with a high level of confidence, finding the matchups that he wanted, all those small things within the game, the guys fed and read off of that.”
- Banchero feels the team has put aside its uneven regular season and believes it can continue to make noise in the postseason. “There’s nothing you can do to go back and change what happened. At the end of the day, we’re here in the playoffs, and we have a chance to go and do what we set out to do since October,” he said. “You can’t get too caught up in what happened in the regular season and the frustrations. You have to just come together, realize that we’re fully healthy right now, and we feel like we’re clicking as a group. We found something against Charlotte with our defense and our energy and our communication. We know that if we just reciprocate that, we give ourselves a chance every night no matter who we’re playing. It’s definitely a new season and a new energy.”
- Jalen Suggs seemed to be all over the court, contributing 16 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals before fouling out in the late going. Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link) said Suggs was favoring his left knee at times but came out of the contest “feeling solid.”
- In his breakdown of the contest, Beede provides his insights into the upset, including the fact that Desmond Bane played 35 minutes despite dealing with an illness.