{"id":244354,"date":"2026-04-24T05:57:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/244354\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T05:57:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:57:27","slug":"orlando-magic-head-home-after-splitting-pair-with-pistons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/244354\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic head home after splitting pair with Pistons"},"content":{"rendered":"

DETROIT \u2014 Although the Magic<\/a> made a season-low 26 shots from the field to score a season-worst 83 points during Game 2 of Orlando<\/a>\u2018s first-round playoff series against the top-seeded Pistons<\/a>, the team feels confident about its ability to bounce back as the series shifts to Kia Center<\/a> for Game 3 on Saturday.<\/p>\n

In their minds, Wednesday\u2019s 98-83 loss to Detroit<\/a> inside Little Caesars Arena<\/a> boiled down to three things: A failure to convert extra scoring opportunities, a lack of shotmaking and an inability to take care of the ball.<\/p>\n

Compared to Orlando\u2019s Game 1 road victory, the Magic scored seven fewer second-chance points, shot 16% worse from the field (49% FG vs. 33% FG) and committed seven more turnovers during its Game 2 loss.<\/p>\n

But now the pressure is on the eighth-seeded Magic to protect homecourt. Teams that win Game 3 of a 1-1 best-of-seven series go onto win the series 73.7% of the time, according to the NBA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had good opportunities \u2014 multiple chances of putbacks, multiple chances of daggers 3 \u2014 and some nights you just don\u2019t make shots,\u201d Magic guard Desmond Bane<\/a> said in the locker room. \u201cI anticipate us making more shots throughout the series.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Bane\u2019s point, Orlando shot 8-for-32 from 3-point range and an even worse 0-for-11 in second-chance scoring situations. The team\u2019s five second-chance points all came at the free-throw line.<\/p>\n

While Detroit only made six 3-pointers, it also took six fewer attempts from distance compared to Orlando and it shot 6-of-16 for 13 second-chance points. Plus, the Pistons controlled the paint 54-34 and beat Orlando 57-42 on the glass.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou got to give them credit,\u201d Paolo Banchero<\/a> said about the Pistons. \u201cI thought we had some good looks in the first half. They met us at the rim a few times, and they brought the intensity on defense. But we got good looks, and nobody really had a great night shooting the ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo not a game that you\u2019d expect to win after looking at the stat sheet,\u201d he added. \u201cBut I would say it\u2019s nothing that\u2019s discouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tide turned when Detroit went on a 30-3 run to open the third quarter, a frame that it eventually won 38-16 to capture full control.<\/p>\n

Although the Magic actually forced more turnovers (23) than Detroit did (19), the Pistons forced timely ones out of the break. In the third quarter specifically, Orlando only came up with three turnovers, compared to Detroit\u2019s seven.<\/p>\n

As the mistakes piled up, the Magic were unable to respond the same way they did in Game 1. Banchero missed all five of his third-quarter attempts, while Jalen Suggs<\/a> shots 1-for-4 from the floor in that stretch.<\/p>\n

On the other end, six different players scored at least five points for the Pistons in the quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot having that same poise that we had in Game 1,\u201d Magic guard Anthony Black<\/a> told the Orlando Sentinel<\/a> about what led to Orlando\u2019s disorganization on offense Wednesday. \u201cLetting the fans, the run, play a part. We know we\u2019ve got to be better when they go on those runs, and we\u2019ll fix it, for sure, for Game 3.\u201d<\/p>\n

Should the Magic find a way to bounce back in Game 3, it\u2019ll require them to play with more aggression. The Pistons sent Orlando to the free-throw line much more in Game 2 (32 free throws) than they did in Game 1 (19), signaling they were willing to disrupt the Magic on offense, even if it meant a chance at free points for the opposition.<\/p>\n

The plan worked in Detroit\u2019s favor when the Magic ended up missing nine free throws, including seven in the first half.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one main key from (Wednesday) that I think that\u2019s what they did better,\u201d Franz Wagner<\/a> said about Detroit\u2019s physicality. \u201cI think just being ready for that, embracing that physical style \u2026 Other than that, I don\u2019t think we played a terrible game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the other three quarters were pretty solid,\u201d he added. \u201cThey didn\u2019t score 100 points, that\u2019s not easy to do in this league. So, not all bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Magic are hoping they can bring what worked well in those three quarters into Game 3 given its importance to the series. There have been nine best-of-seven series in Magic history that have been tied 1-1 after Game 2, and Orlando is\u00a04-5 in those series.<\/p>\n

Wagner believes Orlando can lean on its postseason experience against the Pistons. The Magic have gone 6-1 at home in the postseason the past three years under coach Jamahl Mosley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Orlando won three home games during its 2024 first-round series with Cleveland, the Nos. 7-8 play-in game when it hosted the Hawks last year, Game 3 against the Celtics in the opening round a year ago and this year\u2019s win-and-in play-in game over Charlotte.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe playoffs are way different, and it definitely helps to have been there before and just kind of know how the flow of a series goes,\u201d Wagner said. \u201cIt\u2019s still early in the series. Also, (we know) that margins will decides these games. That\u2019s the beauty of the playoffs and that\u2019s why it\u2019s important to play every possession really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also helps the Magic that they are heading home not only for one game but two over the course of the multiple days after spending much of the past two weeks on the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get a chance to go and play in front of our fans,\u201d Bane said. \u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019s going to be a good crowd so I\u2019m looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Wagner: \u201cWe\u2019re really confident at home. I\u2019m really excited to go back home, play some playoff games there and hopefully play a little bit more consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic vs. Pistons, Game 3<\/p>\n

When:\u00a01 p.m., Saturday, Kia Center<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0Peacock\/NBC Sports Network<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014 Although the Magic made a season-low 26 shots from the field to score a season-worst 83…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244355,"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-244354","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\/244354","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=244354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}