After losing their first play-in games earlier in the week, the Magic and Suns bounced back in impressive fashion on Friday, winning home games against the Hornets and Warriors, respectively, to clinch their spots in the playoffs. Orlando and Phoenix will enter the first round as No. 8 seeds, with the Magic taking on Detroit in round one and the Suns facing Oklahoma City.
The Magic ran out to a 22-point lead by the end of the first quarter in Friday’s early game and expanded that cushion to 31 points by the end of the second quarter. Their defense set the tone early by allowing the Hornets to make just 5-of-20 (25.0%) shots from the floor in the first period and 13-of-41 (31.7%) in the first half. Orlando maintained that significant lead in the second half, winning by a score of 121-90.
“When you play with a sense of desperation and urgency, when you know you’re either going home or extending your season, that’s what it looks like,” head coach Jamahl Mosley said after the game, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “There (are) no second chances.”
Paolo Banchero contributed 25 points and a team-high six assists to lead a balanced offensive attack that saw all five of the Magic’s starters score in double-digits. Franz Wagner added 18 points and matched Banchero’s six assists, while Desmond Bane was a team-best plus-30 in his 35 minutes of action despite scoring just 13 points on 4-of-14 shooting.
In the late game, the Suns emulated the Magic by building a big lead in the first quarter, though Phoenix gave most of that 18-point edge in the second quarter before putting the win away in the second half by a score of 111-96.
Suns guard Jalen Green, who struggled in his first taste of playoff action with Houston a year ago, was excellent in this week’s play-in games, scoring 35 points in Tuesday’s loss and then pouring in 36 more in Friday’s win over Golden State. Green made 14-of-20 shots, including 8-of-14 from beyond the arc, and also contributed six rebounds, four assists, three blocks, and two steals. His eight three-pointers matched a career high.
The Suns also did an admirable job holding Warriors star Stephen Curry in check after he went off for 35 points in Wednesday’s win over the Clippers. Curry made just 4-of-16 shots from the field in Phoenix and had as many turnovers as assists (four apiece).
The Suns and Thunder will tip off their series in Oklahoma City at 3:30 pm Eastern time on Sunday, with Game 1 of the Magic/Pistons matchup to follow in Detroit at 6:30 pm.
While Phoenix and Orlando will enter the series as massive underdogs, their regular season results against their first-round opponents offer a sliver of hope — the Suns went 2-3 against the Thunder, while the Magic went 2-2 vs. the Pistons.
So much for the Hornets shooters bouncing back, that was fugly.
GSW accomplished the better draft pick strategy loss, it will be interesting to see how the lottery goes for them.
Pistons and OKC in 5.
Looks like HoopsRumors readers got it wrong
link to hoopsrumors.com
You gotta stop thinking of basketball based on vibes and who you like and dislike. Charlotte played at home against Miami, barely made any turnovers, which is very uncharacteristic of them, injured the opponent’s best player in the 1st quarter, and still only scraped into overtime because White made some crazy 3s. But the vibes were great, sure.
And Orlando have been disliked by most because of the Bane trade and because of other things which I honestly can’t even articulate. Again, why do folks dislike Orlando? Does anyone care to explain?
Anyway. So people voted for Charlotte. But that’s not how basketball works, folks.
The moment I heard that Diabate had an injury, I thought “Orlando’s got this”. And when I saw him move poorly in that 1st qtr yesterday, it was clear Charlotte had no chance.
I appreciate your “Saturday morning revelation” regarding your Orlando Magic pick prior to Friday’s game. Well done !!
It would be real impressive if you told us NOW what will happen later TODAY in the NBA.
Or if you’re not feeling any of the games today, you can tell us what will happen Sunday in the NBA.
My prediction is that all the home teams win today except for the Lakers. Which is consistent with the Vegas odds.
There were some good reasons why Vegas and the people voting thought that the Hornets would win, based on how the teams played post allstar break.
Hornets were 18-9, and that was with losing both games in their B2B vs playoff teams Rockets and Cavs starting the post ASB schedule. Their longest losing streaks down the stretch were 2 games.
Magic were 17-12, and had a 6 game losing streak that included losing to the Hornets by 19.
I hadn’t heard that Diabate was injured when I voted. For the play-in games, I went 3-1.
What direction does GSW take? Run it back or rebuild?
Run it back? Some will argue that the 2025-26 failure was just bad luck. Steph to get healthy be an MVP candidate, Draymond is ageless, Porzingis will get healthy, Butler and Moody return at full strength by March, and they’re a still a contender.
Rebuild? It’s time to start over. Steph alone isn’t enough, and he’s showing his age. Contract obligations to Butler and Green preclude building a competitive roster in 2026-27. Make 2026-27 year 1 of a rebuild. Get a dynamic young coach, and make the painful trades to acquire more draft picks and youth. Keep Steph and hope he’s ready next season when $100M of cap space appears.