{"id":234524,"date":"2026-04-16T17:39:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T17:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/234524\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T17:39:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T17:39:06","slug":"orlando-magic-on-brink-of-elimination-hosting-hornets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/234524\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic on brink of elimination hosting Hornets"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA \u2014 The Magic<\/a> face a straightforward situation when Orlando<\/a> hosts the Hornets<\/a> on Friday night in the NBA play-in tournament<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Win-and-in.<\/p>\n

A win against No. 9 Charlotte<\/a> sets up a first-round playoff series against the top-seeded Pistons<\/a>, and a loss ends a grueling season that delivered its latest gut check Wednesday night against the 76ers<\/a> at Xfinity Mobile Arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just another game, it is do-or-die,\u201d Magic guard Jalen Suggs<\/a> said in the locker room after Orlando fell 109-97 at Philadelphia<\/a> in the Nos. 7-8 play-in game. \u201cIf you\u2019re not excited for it, something\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all want to play,\u201d he added when asked about the idea of Orlando extending its season past Friday. \u201cNobody wants to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Had the No. 8 Magic not lost Wednesday night, they\u2019d be headed to No. 2 Boston<\/a> for a first-round series that opens Sunday afternoon at TD Garden. Instead, that\u2019s where the Sixers will travel after they outscored Orlando 10-2 across the final 3 \u00bd minutes in front of a rowdy home crowd.<\/p>\n

Despite the 12-point loss that puts them on the brink of elimination and turns up the heat further on coach Jamahl Mosley, the Magic believe they played better Wednesday night compared to other losses this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get another chance to do, learn from it and try to be better the next game,\u201d forward Franz Wagner said in the locker room. \u201cBut I think if we played 82 games like (Wednesday) I think we would have a better record than what we had.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Wagner\u2019s point, the Magic outrebounded the Sixers (41-40), recorded more assists than them (19-17) and scored more points in the paint (44-38) as well as the fastbreak (15-12) than Philadelphia did.<\/p>\n

Still, the Sixers shot the ball far more accurately from distance, making 12 3-pointers vs. the Magic\u2019s 7, and they were sharper at the free-throw line (where the Magic missed seven attempts compared to the 76ers\u2019 four).<\/p>\n

The difference in those margins, combined with clutch shooting from Sixers star Tyrese Maxey (31 points), Kelly Oubre Jr. (19) and rookie VJ Edgecombe (19), were enough to put Philadelphia on top.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just feel like we weren\u2019t able to get as many stops as we wanted to,\u201d Magic guard Anthony Black said in the locker room. \u201cMaxey hit some tough shots \u2026 and they just made some timely plays down the stretch. We didn\u2019t do a good enough job finishing out possessions and getting good looks on the other end.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Maxey had help from others, Magic guard Desmond Bane did not. Bane led all scorers with 34 points by finishing 4 for 6 from beyond the arc and 10 for 11 at the free throw line.<\/p>\n

Paolo Banchero (18 points) and Franz Wagner (12) totaled 30 points while shooting a combined 12 for 30 from field and 0 for 7 from distance. Suggs struggled mightily, ending 1 for 9 from the floor (and 1 for 6 from 3) with just four points in 37 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got to be better, I\u2019m not going to lie,\u201d Suggs said in the locker room.<\/p>\n

For Banchero, it was his second straight game shooting 7-for-22 (31.8%) from the floor, 0-for-5 from 3-point range and recording six turnovers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I had some looks at the start of the second half that I didn\u2019t shoot, and when you do that, I think the basketball gods aren\u2019t going to reward you,\u201d Banchero said at the podium. \u201cBecause then I had another couple shots that felt good that didn\u2019t go in. Just a frustrating night for sure for me. Coming in Friday you\u2019ve got to come in with a clear mind and go do what you\u2019ve got to do to win the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day I\u2019ve been through slumps before, and so you\u2019ve gotta be able to respond in a way where it results in a win,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

A win against Charlotte won\u2019t come easy. The Hornets avoided elimination on Tuesday night by taking down the No. 10 Heat at home 127-126 in overtime.<\/p>\n

The Hornets (44-38) handled the Magic (45-37) in the regular season, winning three of their four meetings by an average margin of 20.3 points. Orlando won the first matchup of the year by 16 points on Oct. 30, but Charlotte has been in control since then.<\/p>\n

After starting the regular season 16-28, the Hornets used a 27-point win over Orlando on Jan. 22 to jumpstart a second-half run. Charlotte went onto win its next eight games and close out the regular season 28-10.<\/p>\n

Charlotte\u2019s win over Miami was its first in the postseason in a decade. While the Magic are fighting to return to the playoffs for a third straight season, the Hornets haven\u2019t reached the playoffs since 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve kicked our (expletive) this year,\u201d Banchero said about the Hornets. \u201cSo we\u2019ve got to be ready. I\u2019ve got to be ready. And we\u2019ve got to be locked in from the jump. I thought we played hard (Wednesday), but it wasn\u2019t enough. And so it\u2019s going to take even more of an effort, and it\u2019s going to take me playing better, as well, for us to get the win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Wednesday\u2019s loss at Philadelphia means the Magic still haven\u2019t won on the road in the postseason under Mosley, home is where they\u2019ve had success the last two years.<\/p>\n

The Magic are now 0-8 on the road in the postseason, but they\u2019ve gone 5-1 inside Kia Center between their series against Cleveland in 2024, last year\u2019s play-in win over Atlanta and last year\u2019s series against Boston.<\/p>\n

Tickets for Friday\u2019s play-in game at Kia Center, which can be purchased at OrlandoMagic.com\/postseason<\/a>, went on sale Thursday afternoon, the team said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps a lot and we earned that,\u201d Wagner said about having homecourt advantage vs. Charlotte. \u201cIt\u2019s good to have the fans to support us.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to win as badly as anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic vs. Hornets, play-in tournament<\/p>\n

When: 7:30 p.m., Friday, Kia Center<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0Prime Video<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 The Magic face a straightforward situation when Orlando hosts the Hornets on Friday night in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234525,"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-234524","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\/234524","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=234524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}