The first half of Tuesday’s game between the Magic and Wizards had disaster written all over it for Orlando.
Facing a 16-win Washington team that was playing on the second night of a back-to-back and didn’t get to its hotel until after 3 a.m., Jamahl Mosley‘s squad trailed early in the second quarter, only led by three points at the break and made a single 3-pointer by the end of the first half.
Was Orlando really about to repeat the outcome from its Jan. 6 loss to the then nine-win Wizards, on the heels of dropping two straight at home?
Fortunately for the Magic, Paolo Banchero (37 points) and Desmond Bane (25) had other plans when they scored nearly half of the team’s points (62) in a 126-109 victory at Kia Center behind a big third quarter.
“I thought we locked in on defense,” Banchero said when asked about what changed in the second half. “We got out and ran, got some easy buckets, and just focused on getting stops.”
Added Bane: “It’s something that we’ve talked about, how we came out these last couple third quarters. And I was happy with the way we came out, both sides of the ball.”
During that third quarter, Orlando shot 5-for-5 from 3-point range, held Washington to 2-for-6 from distance on the other end and scored 18 points in the paint on 9-for-12 shooting near the basket.
Bane and Tristan da Silva both made a pair of triples while Banchero penetrated the paint, scoring eight of his 13 points during the quarter in the restricted area.
By the end of the night, Banchero finished 13-for-14 in the restricted area, 6-for-7 at the free-throw line and only turned the ball over twice, which was seven fewer times than he did against the Pistons two nights earlier.
“Against Detroit in the first half, we touched the paint a ton and in the second half, we didn’t,” Bane said. “So, that was something that we stressed and kind of like, I told the guys, it’s something that we’ve got to be better about talking about during the game. If we feel like we haven’t gotten to the paint a couple of times, ‘Hey, let’s make sure we touch the paint before we let one go.’ You know, make sure we’re getting a good look.
“So, I thought we were really intentional getting there tonight and that’s got to be our M.O.,” he added. “I mean we scored 126 points, that’s good basketball.”
That good basketball, however, came against a bad team.
Washington recorded its 45th loss of the season in its 61st contest while falling to 2-23 when not cracking at least 110 points.
And at times, Orlando appeared to play down to the level of the Wizards, who turned the ball over 14 times for 23 Magic points.
“Sometimes when things come too easily in games like this, you tend to take it for granted,” Mosley said after the 17-point win. “We got a little loose and it was that last four minutes of the second quarter, that’s when we saw the lull. So, we talked about (it) at halftime, just don’t get bored with the simple things. And that’s what this game was about. Can you keep doing the simple things over and over again and not get bored with it?
“They were beating us on the glass, the hustle stats and the hustle areas, and the guys took it personally in that second half to be able to come out the right way,” he added.
Orlando will face a similar challenge Thursday when it wraps up a four-game homestand against the 21-win Mavericks.
No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg, who ended his high school career at Montverde Academy, has missed the past eight games with a left midfoot sprain, but Dallas coach Jason Kidd said this week the rookie is “ramping up” toward a return on the team’s six-game road trip, according to Mavs.com.
The Magic are dealing with their own key injuries as well. Anthony Black (right quad bruise) missed his second game in row Tuesday while Wendell Carter Jr. (left ankle soreness) was a late scratch.
That’s not to mention Franz Wagner, who continues to manage an extended rehab of a left high ankle sprain. Wednesday marked two weeks since Orlando said he’d be out indefinitely, and he’s still a week away from being re-evaluated on March 11.
Regardless of who’s available, the Magic don’t have much room for error with only 22 games remaining on their regular-season schedule.
Entering Wednesday’s slate of games, Orlando (32-28) sat half-a-game back of No. 6 Philadelphia (33-28) but in a virtual tie with No. 8 Miami (33-29) and only two games ahead of both No. 9 Charlotte and No. 10 Atlanta, the latter of whom were both 31-31.
Certainly a second-quarter lull similar to the one against Washington is something the Magic want to avoid in the future.
“Basketball’s a game of runs, but you don’t want to give teams life early in the game because sometimes that can carry over,” Banchero said. “I thought we did a good job of just withstanding that and then coming out in the third quarter guarding better.
“Maybe against Dallas or another team, you don’t want that same thing to happen because guys can get hot and get confident if you let them,” he added. “So, it’s something that we can watch and just get better at, and be ready for the next game.”
Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com
Up next …
Magic vs. Mavericks
When: 7 p.m., Thursday, Kia Center
TV: FanDuel Sports Network Florida