{"id":245361,"date":"2026-04-24T21:59:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T21:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/245361\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T21:59:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T21:59:17","slug":"orlando-magic-key-in-on-adjustments-against-detroit-pistons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/245361\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic key in on adjustments against Detroit Pistons"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last two years the Magic<\/a> returned from the road in the first round of the NBA playoffs<\/a>, the team trailed 2-0 twice.<\/p>\n

In both instances, Orlando<\/a> found a way to win Game 3 against the Cavaliers in 2024 and the Celtics last year to remain competitive and avoid backbreaking 3-0 holes.<\/p>\n

This time, however, a Game 3 win Saturday inside Kia Center<\/a> against the top-seeded Pistons<\/a> would actually give Jamahl Mosley<\/a>\u2018s squad a crucial 2-1 series lead after the Magic split the road games at Detroit<\/a> to open the best-of-seven series.<\/p>\n

Teams that lead a best-of-seven series 2-1 win the series 78.9% of the time, according to the NBA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first time for this group and I think we\u2019re in a good spot,\u201d Franz Wagner<\/a> said after practice Friday inside the AdventHealth Training Center. \u201cWe kind of feel like we let Game 2 slip away a little bit in that third and didn\u2019t play our best basketball at all. But those games are over now.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019re just focusing on (Saturday), trying to play the best 48 (minutes) that we can,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The reason the eighth-seeded Magic believe they let Game 2 \u201cslip away a little bit,\u201d was largely due to Detroit\u2019s physicality. Coming out of halftime, the Pistons turned defense into offense, outscored Orlando 38-16 in the third quarter and never relinquished control.<\/p>\n

Beyond that third quarter, however, the Magic have outscored the Pistons in five of the eight quarters played in the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it was schematic,\u201d Wagner said about Detroit\u2019s adjustment in Game 2. \u201cIt was just more great energy, more effort than we brought to the game and being really physical on defense. That got us out of our rhythm a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orlando spent Friday\u2019s practice focusing on ways to respond to Detroit\u2019s defensive pressure after the Pistons scored 18 points off 19 takeaways in Game 2.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a lot of ways, you\u2019ve got to use the pressure against them,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cSometimes when you get sped up, you start to \u2026 panic a little bit more, but (it\u2019s) our ability to stay calm, use that pressure against them versus just trying to speed up and be out of control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, there\u2019s a delicate balance between making quick decisions and playing chaotically.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to play with pace,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cYou want to combat some of that aggression (by) playing with pace in the half-court, as well as full-court, but it\u2019s also being able to understand where your reads are. So, that\u2019s why we talk about the spacing on the floor being so important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the Magic find themselves tied 1-1 with Detroit rather down 2-0 as in the past two playoffs, the players said their mindset doesn\u2019t change.<\/p>\n

\u201cProtect homecourt like we\u2019ve done in the past,\u201d Wendell Carter Jr. said about Orlando\u2019s goal. \u201cWe protect homecourt, it\u2019ll give us a good chance to win the series. Winning our first road playoff game in the first game of the series was big, but we understand that now it\u2019s just about protecting homecourt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OrlandoThe Magic hope to get guard Desmond Bane (3) untracked. While he’s hustling and playing with energy, his shooting has been off and he’s only hitting 29% of his field goals through the first two games of the playoff against the Pistons. (Duane Burleson\/AP Photo)
\nMagic diaper drive<\/p>\n

Magic guard Jevon Carter and his wife, Taylor, along with his \u201cTreadmill Mentality Foundation,\u201d will host a diaper drive before Games 3 and 4, the team said. The Magic are encouraging fans to bring unopened packages of diapers to Kia Center prior to the games.<\/p>\n

The Carters will match each donated diaper \u2013 up to 20,000 diapers. All donations will benefit the Central Florida Diaper Bank.<\/p>\n

Bins will be labeled and located in the Threatlocker Garage and at Fan Fest on Church Street, which opens two hours prior to tipoff, the team said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince arriving in Orlando, Taylor and I have felt the love from the team, community and all of these incredible fans,\u201d said Carter, who signed with the team in early February. \u201cThis is a small way to show our thanks to the Orlando community.\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":"The last two years the Magic returned from the road in the first round of the NBA playoffs,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245362,"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-245361","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\/245361","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=245361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}