{"id":209837,"date":"2026-03-28T18:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T18:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/209837\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T18:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T18:54:08","slug":"orlando-magic-travel-to-toronto-raptors-for-key-matchup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/209837\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic travel to Toronto Raptors for key matchup"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Magic<\/a> head to Toronto<\/a> on Sunday, Orlando<\/a> understands there\u2019s a lot at stake.<\/p>\n

Not only will each and every of the final nine games of the regular season affect the race for the NBA playoffs<\/a>, but Sunday\u2019s matchup will also determine the winner of the three-game season series between the Eastern Conference foes.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the Raptors<\/a> won the first meeting of the season at Scotiabank Arena<\/a> on Dec. 29 by overcoming a 21-point deficit and the Magic punched back with a 10-point win roughly a month later at Kia Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If Orlando and Toronto end the regular season with the same record \u2014 the No. 9 Magic (39-34) entered Saturday\u2019s slate of games only two games back of the No. 5 Raptors (41-32) \u2014 the winner of Sunday\u2019s game will own the head-to-head tiebreaker in the standings.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the type of advantage that could potentially serve as the difference maker between securing a guaranteed playoff spot as a top-six seed in the East or falling down into the Play-In Tournament. Seeds 7-10 in each conference compete in the Play-In for the Nos. 7 and 8 seeds in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Bottom line, Sunday matters. A lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a monumental game,\u201d Magic guard Desmond Bane<\/a> said. \u201cTwo teams fighting for playoff seeding on the road \u2014 I\u2019m excited for the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Magic coach Jamahl Mosley<\/a>: \u201cYou\u2019ve got to find a way. You\u2019ve definitely got to find a way in that situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

That challenge includes Toronto\u2019s top three scorers in Brandon Ingram (21.4 points), RJ Barrett (18.9) and Montverde Academy grad Scottie Barnes (18.5), who\u2019ve helped the Raptors lead the league in fastbreak scoring this season (18.5 fastbreak points per night topped NBA.com<\/a> entering Saturday).<\/p>\n

Another area on offense where the Raptors have success comes in the paint, which could cause problems for Orlando\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n

Toronto scores 45.7% of its nightly points in the paint (a percentage that\u2019s fifth-most<\/a> in the league) and they average 52.1 paint points per contest, which ranks tied-sixth league-wide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Allowing 50.9 points in the paint per game, Orlando\u2019s defense ranks 17th in opponent paint scoring<\/a> and 18th in opponent fastbreak<\/a> scoring (15.4 fastbreak points allowed per night).<\/p>\n

Still, much like Magic, the Raptors have gone on a bumpy ride since the NBA All-Star break.<\/p>\n

Toronto is 9-9 in their 18 games since the league break, while Orlando is 11-9 after it snapped a six-game losing streak against the Kings on Thursday. The Raptors, who took down the Pelicans on Friday, are 2-3 in their past five games with losses against the Nuggets, Suns and Clippers in that stretch.<\/p>\n

The Magic will still be without Franz Wagner (left high ankle sprain injury management), Anthony Black (left lateral abdominal strain) and Jonathan Isaac (left knee sprain) on the road again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a tight race, and we\u2019ve put ourselves into a tough position losing six in a row,\u201d Magic forward Paolo Banchero said. \u201cSo, we\u2019ve got to dig ourselves out of it. We don\u2019t want to be in the Play-In but that\u2019s where we\u2019re at right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we\u2019ve got to find a way to get out of there and get some momentum going into the playoffs,\u201d he added. \u201cWe\u2019ve got nine games left to do that, and we\u2019ve just got to be on our Ps and Qs every night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic at Raptors<\/p>\n

When:\u00a06 p.m., Sunday, Scotiabank Arena<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0FanDuel Sports Network Florida<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Magic head to Toronto on Sunday, Orlando understands there\u2019s a lot at stake. Not only will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209838,"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":["post-209837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nba","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-magic","tag-orlando-news","tag-social","tag-social-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209837","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=209837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}