The Magic beat the Pistons in Game 1 of their series on Sunday, then were tied halfway through Game 2 and held Detroit to 14 fourth-quarter points on Wednesday. However, a disaster of a third quarter in which the Pistons opened on a 30-3 run and outscored Orlando 38-16 cost the Magic a shot at a 2-0 series lead as they head back home.
“You can’t just flush it and act like nothing happened,” Magic forward Paolo Banchero said after Wednesday’s loss, per Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). “You’ve got to go back and watch it, see what went wrong, both sides of the rock and learn from it, for sure. We know what type of series it’s going to be. It’s going to be an ugly, gritty series, and you just can’t let your guard down and let them go on runs like that.”
As ugly as that third quarter was, the Magic were glad to be able to win one of the first two games in the series in Detroit and still feel confident as they head home looking to take a 2-1 lead in Saturday’s Game 3, as Beede writes in a story for the Orlando Sentinel (subscription required). Franz Wagner told reporters the Magic are very comfortable at the Kia Center, where they went 25-15 during the regular season, while Desmond Bane identified three-point shooting (8-of-32 in Game 2) and second-chance shots (0-for-11) as areas for improvement on Saturday.
“We had good opportunities — multiple chances of put-backs, multiple chances of dagger threes — and some nights you just don’t make shots,” Bane said. “I anticipate us making more shots throughout the series.”
Let’s round up a few more notes on the Magic…
- Orlando’s season appeared to be on life support last Friday as the team prepared to face the Hornets, one of the NBA’s hottest teams, in a do-or-die play-in game for the final playoff spot in the East. Ohm Youngmiusk of ESPN takes a look at how a film session that morning featuring a highlight reel of several Magic players’ big moments in NCAA tournaments helped remind the team of what it’s capable of. “It makes everybody feel a bit better,” guard Jalen Suggs told Youngmisuk. “You remember where you came from. Mose (head coach Jamahl Mosley) is really good at that, giving us reminders of who we are, our complete basketball journey, not just whether it be the frustrations or the heaviness of right now.”
- As a rookie last spring, Tristan Da Silva logged just five minutes in two playoff appearances for the Magic and failed to score a point. This time around, the second-year forward is playing a key rotation role, averaging 19 minutes through the first two games of the series. According to Beede (subscription required), Da Silva said 2025’s brief postseason run was a good learning experience despite his lack of playing time. “Even being really up close last year and being able to see the level of focus, the level of preparation that goes into it and the level of play that’s at hand (and now) being able to experience that first-hand and playing, it’s a fun experience,” he said.
- Magic forward Jonathan Isaac has been sidelined since March 12 due to a left knee sprain, but he was upgraded to doubtful for Game 2 before being ruled out, tweets Beede, which suggests his return may not be off. Even if Isaac is activated, it’s unclear whether he’d play at all during Orlando’s first-round series vs. Detroit after such a long layoff.