An additional 10 minutes were needed to decide a winner between the No. 7 seeds in the East and West when the Magic met the Suns inside Mortgage Matchup Center on Saturday night.
Both Phoenix and Orlando took double-digit leads in regulation but found themselves tied at 96 following four quarters of action and then tied again at 103 after the first five-minute overtime period.
Ultimately, it was the Suns who finished on top in double overtime 113-110 thanks to a Jalen Green buzzer-beating corner 3-pointer.
With 56 seconds left in regulation, Anthony Black stole the ball away from Grayson Allen and dunked it on the other end to tie the game at 96 points and eventually force overtime. Paolo Banchero (26 points) tied the game again at 103 with a driving dunk with just over a minute left in the first overtime period.
After Jevon Carter sunk a corner 3 to tie the game at 110 with 1.1 seconds left in the second overtime period, Green punched right back and delivered a thrilling victory for Phoenix.
“Jalen Green hit a hell of a shot,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said after the three-point loss.
The Suns did a solid job of taking advantage of extra opportunities when they held a 23-13 edge in second-chance scoring with 22 offensive rebounds. Phoenix also scored 22 points off 16 Orlando turnovers.
“They got 117 shots — that’s the game right there,” Mosley said. “Twenty-two offensive rebounds, it’s hard to overcome when they have that many possessions.”
While the Suns (33-24) were without Devin Booker (right hip strain), the Magic were missing Jalen Suggs (back spasms) and Franz Wagner (left high ankle sprain injury management) on Saturday.
The Magic (29-26) have a quick turnaround when they travel to Los Angeles to take on the Clippers on Sunday night.
The Bane event
Desmond Bane came out firing when he knocked down his first seven shots from the floor, including his first three 3-pointers.
After a 14-point first quarter, the Magic guard kept it up in the second by scoring 22 of Orlando’s first 37 points. The 22-point first half was Bane’s eighth 20-point half of the season.
Bane scored in a number of ways whether it was penetrating the paint, hitting from distance or getting to the free-throw line when he scored 30-plus points for the eighth time this season.
Bane, however, fouled out less than a minute into the first overtime period and was off the court for much of the extra time.
“Our guys fought to the end minus bodies, but we’ve got to make sure we continue to do the little things,” Mosley said.
Banchero boost
After a 1-for-5 start from the floor in the first quarter, Banchero found his footing on offense in the second quarter. The 6-foot-10 forward scored seven points in the second frame alone to have 11 by the half.
Banchero did a little bit of everything when he neared a triple-double with 14 rebounds and eight assists to go with four blocks in 47 minutes.
“Here’s a young man that continues to get downhill, created double teams, got a lot of guys wide-open looks,” Mosley said about Banchero’s performance. “We’ve got to step in and knock those down.
“He attacked the basket a ton,” Mosley added. “Wasn’t getting the call necessarily going his way, but I loved the way that he was attacking downhill, being aggressive in those situations.”
Banchero and Bane combined to scored 60 of the team’s total 110 points.
Carter’s contribution
Carter scored in double figures for a second game in a row while coming off the bench first for Orlando again.
Despite starting 1-for-6 from 3-point range, Carter didn’t let that slow him down when he scored 12 points in his first 14 minutes in reserve. His biggest shot of the night came at the end of the second overtime.
He added two rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks, but also turned the ball over twice.
Phoenix’s bench outscored Orlando’s 58-28.
Suggs update
Mosley said before the game Suggs’ back was “bothering him a little bit” during the practice before Thursday’s game at Sacramento.
Suggs still played 20 minutes when he recorded nine points, three rebounds and three assists with three turnovers, but he only saw nine minutes of action in the second half against the Kings.
“He went into the game and you could just see him kind of laboring a little bit as the game went on,” Mosley said. “And I think after halftime it tightened up on him. So, that’s what’s kind of giving him problems.”
Rookie watch
Second-round pick Noah Penda entered late in the third quarter but was held scoreless in six minutes with one rebound and an assist.
First-round pick Jase Richardson didn’t see the floor.
Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com
Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero shields the ball from Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks and guard Collin Gillespie (12) during the first half on Saturday in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)