{"id":238116,"date":"2026-04-19T19:30:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T19:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/238116\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T19:30:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T19:30:19","slug":"orlando-magic-lean-on-past-playoff-experience-vs-pistons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/238116\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic lean on past playoff experience vs. Pistons"},"content":{"rendered":"

DETROIT \u2014 Two years ago, the Magic<\/a> earned themselves six days of rest between clinching their spot in the playoffs and Game 1 of Orlando<\/a>\u2018s 2024 first-round series against Cleveland.<\/p>\n

Last year, the number of rest days dropped to five after the Magic beat the Hawks in the play-in and had to face the Celtics in the opening round.<\/p>\n

This season, however, time wasn\u2019t on the Magic\u2019s side ahead of late Sunday\u2019s first game against the top-seeded Pistons<\/a>. In fact, No. 8 seed Orlando only had 47 hours between Friday\u2019s tipoff against Charlotte in the win-or-go-home play-in game and Sunday\u2019s start time at Detroit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the Pistons entered the series with a clear rest advantage, Magic guard Jalen Suggs<\/a> viewed the situation differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a couple extra games but I think all that is just reps, which we\u2019ve needed down the back stretch, especially getting everybody back and trying to put things together,\u201d Suggs said at Sunday morning shootaround inside Little Caesar Arena<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To Suggs\u2019 point, Friday\u2019s play-in game that the Magic won by 31 points over the Hornets was only the eighth game back for forward Franz Wagner, who returned April 1 after missing 17 straight contests and 48 total in the regular season because of a high left ankle sprain.<\/p>\n

And it was only the sixth game back for guard Anthony Black, who missed 16 straight because of a left lateral abdominal strain.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously (the Pistons) are going to come out with a lot of energy and a lot of hype, so you\u2019ve got to expect that and be ready for that, but we\u2019ve been playing a lot of basketball so I think guys are fresh and guys are in rhythm,\u201d Magic star Paolo Banchero said.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s playoff series is the third for most of the Magic, including Banchero, Wagner and Black.<\/p>\n

The only players on the Orlando roster that had more playoff experience entering Sunday were Desmond Bane, Jonathan Isaac and Jevon Carter. Bane played in 27 postseason games with Memphis, Carter in 22 with Phoenix and Milwaukee and Isaac in 17 because he was a part of the 2019 Magic squad that fell in the first round to eventual-champion Toronto.<\/p>\n

Bane was added to the injury report for Game 1 on Sunday morning because of an illness, but he was expected to be available when he was listed as probable by the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve talked to him throughout the season about some of his experiences in Memphis,\u201d Banchero said of Bane. \u201cHe\u2019ll be ready to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the 23-year-old forward has proven he\u2019s capable of performing in the postseason, Banchero\u2019s perspective entering this year\u2019s playoffs is different than the past because of that prior experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a new season so I\u2019m coming in with a clear head,\u201d Banchero said. \u201cNothing that happened before matters. All that matters is that we \u2026 eventually win this series. It\u2019s just a singular focus.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while Suggs wasn\u2019t able to participate in last year\u2019s postseason because of left knee surgery, he too learned a lot watching from the bench and playing against Cleveland two years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cRuns are huge,\u201d Suggs said. \u201cBoston was so good at recognizing when a run could be made and capitalizing on that to carry the momentum. For us, it\u2019s being dialed in, killing those runs before they happen, searching for ways we could find our own and then not getting too high or too low in the game. You need to stay even-keeled.<\/p>\n

\"OrlandoFans cheer on the Magic during Friday’s play-in game against the Hornets, a 121-90 victory. Orlando faces Detroit in a first-round playoff series, with Game 3 in Orlando on Saturday. (Stephen M. Dowell\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the biggest thing, especially on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Magic will get two days to rest before Game 2 at Detroit, which tips off Wednesday night on ESPN. Thanks to the experiences of the last two seasons, Orlando\u2019s players are aware that the level of intensity between playoff games only increases as they get deeper into a series .<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the most fun basketball,\u201d Banchero said. \u201cIt\u2019s the most high stakes basketball but it\u2019s also the most fun to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic at Pistons, Game 2<\/p>\n

When: 7 p.m., Wednesday, Little Caesars Arena<\/p>\n

TV: ESPN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014 Two years ago, the Magic earned themselves six days of rest between clinching their spot in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238117,"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-238116","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\/238116","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=238116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}