If the first quarter of Thursday’s game between the Magic and Kings at Golden 1 Center was an example of Jamahl Mosley‘s squad at its worst, then the final three frames showed what the team looks like at its best.
Across the opening 12 minutes, Orlando totaled just 18 points on 20.8% shooting from the floor, recorded five assists with five turnovers and trailed by 10 points at Sacramento, an opponent that entered with the worst record in the league.
And although the Magic made four 3-pointers in the first 12 minutes, they still shot 30.8% from outside the perimeter and an even worse 1-for-11 inside of it to start the game.
But by the end of the night, the Orlando hit a franchise-record 27 3-pointers, notched 130-plus points for the sixth time this season and won by 37 points, 131-94, over the Kings.
“It’s a great start,” Mosley said about the win that opened a four-game trip on the West Coast. “It’s something we can learn from. There are some things that we can clean up obviously, and we’ve got a tough Phoenix team coming up that we’ll have to be ready for.
“But I love how our guys started this trip and the energy that they provided, knowing that we’re going to have to continue to work and take it one game at a time,” he added.
Trailing by 12 points early in the second quarter, the Magic went on a 24-9 run in the second quarter to take a 50-47 lead with four minutes left in the frame. Behind by nine points at the break, Sacramento used an 8-0 run in the third quarter to cut its deficit to one point.
Orlando responded with a 28-9 run that spanned from the end of the third and to the start of the fourth, and saw its lead only grow from there.
“It really was our defense,” veteran guard Jevon Carter said when asked what clicked to turn the tide of the contest. “Playing off our defense, just picking up the pace, playing faster, playing together … That’s really what changed it.”
Following a woeful first quarter, the Magic outscored the Kings 113-66 across the final three frames by scoring 22 points off 13 Sacramento turnovers, hitting 62.2% of their 3-pointers (23 for 37) and scoring 28 points in the paint in that stretch.
And Paolo Banchero was a big help in those efforts.
After scoring five points on 1 for 7 shooting in the first quarter (including 1 for 3 from 3), the 6-foot-10 forward shot 9 for 14 (64.3%) from the floor the rest of the night and knocked down all four of his remaining 3-point attempts to lead all scorers with 30 points alongside five rebounds, six assists, one steal and one block in 32 minutes.
“(I was) just trying to come out, impose my will (and) be aggressive,” Banchero said about his sixth 30-plus point performance of the season. “(There are) a lot of important games coming up so I think everybody on the team understands that, just coming out doing whatever we’ve got to do to win these games.”
Perhaps just as important as Banchero stepping up after Orlando fell down early was the fact that he didn’t do it alone.
Third-year pro Anthony Black hit four of his own 3-pointers for 20 points while Desmond Bane knocked down a trio of triples for 17.
That’s not to mention Orlando’s bench — which was powered by Carter’s 14 points, Jett Howard’s 16, Tristan da Silva’s 12 and Moe Wagner’s 11 — produced 53 points, the fourth-most scored by the team’s reserves this season.
“That’s always a good sign when the bench is going,” Banchero said. “Guys coming off the bench coming into the game just being aggressive, looking for their shots — That’s what we want those guys doing. And then also keeping the standard up on the defensive side of the ball as well.
“Guys did a good job of subbing in and just bringing great energy,” he added.
Of course, the performance was far from perfect, and the Magic know that.
Orlando was still outrebounded 48-41, turned the ball over 10 times for 14 Sacramento points and was outscored 44-30 in the paint.
They’re also aware that the win came against a team that lost a franchise-record 15th straight game, only had 12 wins on its regular season resume and was without two of its top scorers in Zach LaVine (right hand surgery) and Domantas Sabonis (left knee surgery).
But for a Magic squad that learned less than 48 hours earlier it would be without rising star forward Franz Wagner for an indefinite amount of time as he manages a left high ankle sprain, they’ll take it.
With the win, Orlando (29-25) moved within half-a-game of No. 6 Philadelphia (30-25), which lost its third straight on Thursday night. Tougher competition, however, awaits the No. 7 Magic when it travels to Phoenix (32-24) on Saturday to face a Suns squad that sits in the same spot as them in the West.
“We all understood that coming out of the break, we’re in a tight race in the standings,” Banchero said. “Not trying to be in the Play-In, we’re in the seventh (spot) right now, so we’re just trying to take it one game at a time. We know that this is a big road trip as well, facing some good Western Conference teams.
“So, it was good to start it off with a win and we just have to go to Phoenix and replicate the same effort and be even more locked in,” he added. “(The Suns) are a good team so we’ve just got to be ready for that challenge.”
Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com
Up next …
Magic at Suns
When: 5 p.m., Saturday, Mortgage Matchup Center
TV: FanDuel Sports Network Florida, NBA TV