{"id":180219,"date":"2026-03-06T03:11:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T03:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/180219\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T03:11:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T03:11:06","slug":"orlando-magic-outlast-visiting-mavericks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/180219\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic outlast visiting Mavericks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Searching to finish its longest remaining homestand of the season on a high note after a 1-2 start, the Magic<\/a> found themselves in a tight back-and-forth contest hosting the Mavericks<\/a> on Thursday night at Kia Center.<\/p>\n

Dallas<\/a> led by as many as 14 points in the first half before Orlando<\/a> punched back to take an 11-point lead in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

In a contest that featured nine lead changes, No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg put the Mavericks ahead by four points with 37.3 seconds remaining in the game. Jalen Suggs nailed a 3-pointer out of a timeout to bring the Magic within a point.<\/p>\n

After Flagg missed a jumper, Suggs brought the ball down the court and sent it ahead to Wendell Carter Jr., who dunked down the game-winner with 1.4 seconds left to help Orlando escape on top 115-114 at home.<\/p>\n

Although the Mavericks scored 17 points off 12 Orlando turnovers, the Magic returned the favor on the other end of 15 points off 13 takeaways.<\/p>\n

Unable to get off a shot off before the final buzzer, Dallas (21-41) was outscored 56-38 in the paint.<\/p>\n

After going 2-2 on their four-game homestand, the Magic (33-28) head back on the road for a quick back-to-back Saturday at Minnesota and Sunday at Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

Starting 5<\/p>\n

Anthony Black (right quad contusion) and Wendell Carter Jr. (left ankle soreness) returned to the starting lineup alongside regulars Jalen Suggs, Paolo Banchero and Desmond Bane against Dallas.<\/p>\n

Black, who had missed the past two games due to injury, got off to a slow start when he opened 1 for 8 from the floor in the first half and picked up his third foul with 40 seconds left in the second quarter. He ended with just eight points in 24 minutes.<\/p>\n

Carter, who didn\u2019t play Tuesday against Washington, also found himself in early foul trouble, earning his third foul at the 5:47 mark of the second quarter.<\/p>\n

Despite the fouls, Carter made his first three shots from the floor to finish with 15 points and seven rebounds. His last basket was his most important.<\/p>\n

Bane only took two shots from the floor in the first 20 minutes of the game and didn\u2019t take his first 3-pointer, which he made, until the 3:10 mark of the second quarter. He scored six points late in the second frame to notch eight in the opening frame.<\/p>\n

Banchero failed to take care of the ball with six turnovers but still recorded a double-double by way of 16 points and 12 rebounds.<\/p>\n

Suggs hit a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter, one of which turned into a four-point play, to notch 17 points and seven assists.<\/p>\n

Difference from distance<\/p>\n

Dallas entered the night averaging the second-fewest made 3-pointers in the league (10.5) while shooting the third-worst 3-point percentage (34%).<\/p>\n

The Mavs overcame those poor marks early, shooting 6 for 12 in the opening quarter. Four-time NBA champion Klay Thompson (game-high 24 points) led the charge, hitting three of his first six long-range shots before the break and ending 7 for 12 from distance.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Magic missed their first four triples and made just five in the first half.<\/p>\n

Dallas ended 14 for 33 (42.4%) from distance while Orlando finished 13 for 39 (33.3%).<\/p>\n

Bench boost<\/p>\n

Back to the bench with Black starting, Tristan da Silva made his first four shots from the floor to piece together an 11-point first half. His fourth 3-pointer with two minutes left in the game gave Orlando a 1-point lead late.<\/p>\n

He and Moe Wagner provided an offensive spark when Wagner searched to score in the paint early with six points in<\/p>\n

Veteran guard Jevon Carter hit the team\u2019s first 3-pointer with 2:33 left in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

Orlando\u2019s bench outscored Dallas\u2019 45-41.<\/p>\n

Rookie watch<\/p>\n

Second-round pick Noah Penda entered the game late in the first quarter and his night was highlighted by a cutting two-handed dunk early in the second frame.<\/p>\n

Penda finished with four points and four rebounds across 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

It was a homecoming of sorts for Flagg, who finished his high school at Montverde Academy. With dozens of local Flagg fans making their voices heard, the 6-foot-9 wing did a little bit of everything with 18 points, five rebounds and six assists.<\/p>\n

Magic first-round pick Jase Richardson didn\u2019t see the floor.<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Searching to finish its longest remaining homestand of the season on a high note after a 1-2 start,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,2295,139,141,1239,140,109,76046,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-180219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-orlando","11":"tag-orlando-headlines","12":"tag-orlando-magic","13":"tag-orlando-news","14":"tag-social","15":"tag-social-sports","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}