{"id":42090,"date":"2025-11-11T05:52:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T05:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/42090\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T05:52:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T05:52:11","slug":"heartbreak-in-orlando-magic-beat-trail-blazers-on-desmond-bane-buzzer-beater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/42090\/","title":{"rendered":"Heartbreak in Orlando: Magic beat Trail Blazers on Desmond Bane buzzer-beater"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> played yet another thriller Monday night. <\/p>\n

But this one ended in heartbreak. <\/p>\n

Desmond Bane swished a deep three-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Orlando Magic<\/a> to a dramatic 115-112 victory before 17,989 at the Kia Center in Orlando.<\/p>\n

The improbable game-winner came after a wild late-game flurry that featured a big Blazers run, an impressive out-of-timeout play call by Portland interim coach Tiago Splitter<\/a>, a clutch three-point play from Jerami Grant<\/a>, multiple missed free throws from the Magic and a stunning turnover by Jrue Holiday<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In the end, it added up to a painful defeat for Portland, which \u2014 for the sixth consecutive time \u2014 played a game that was separated by just five points in the final five minutes. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis one was hard,\u201d Splitter told reporters after the game.<\/p>\n

Yes, unlike in their clutch wins<\/a> over Utah, Denver and Oklahoma City, the Blazers (5-5) couldn\u2019t close the door against the Magic (5-6). <\/p>\n

For most of the final period, it seemed like the Blazers were headed toward a lopsided loss, as the methodical Magic plodded and trudged their way to a 13-point fourth-quarter lead. Orlando slowed down the Blazers\u2019 fast-paced offense by leaning on their half-court style, eating up chunks of shot clock nearly every possession and eliminating nearly every chance for a Portland fast break. <\/p>\n

When Bane completed a driving layup with 3:32 left, the Magic held a 110-101 lead and it looked like they were cruising toward a decisive home win. <\/p>\n

But with a couple Deni Avdija<\/a> three-pointers here, a Toumani Camara<\/a> drawn charge there, and a little Shaedon Sharpe<\/a> in between, the Blazers managed to fight back. And when Paolo Banchero missed a pair of free throws with 11.6 seconds left, the Blazers only trailed by one, 110-109, and had the ball. <\/p>\n

Splitter asked for a timeout to craft a play and he drew up a beauty, calling for Camara to toss a cross-court alley-oop lob to Grant out of a side inbounds. It worked to perfection. <\/p>\n

Grant darted from the baseline corner toward the perimeter, slipped around a screen from Holiday and beelined back toward the hoop. Bane and Banchero seemed to have some miscommunication at the point of the screen as Grant looped around Holiday, and Grant made them pay, elevating near the rim to snare Camara\u2019s pass and bank in a stunning shot while Banchero committed a foul. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat was one of the options,\u201d Splitter told reporters of the impressive play. \u201cIt worked out, credit to Toumani\u2019s pass and JG to catch it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Grant made the ensuing free throw with 10.6 seconds left and, just like that, Portland had erupted for an 11-0 run to take its first lead of the second half at 112-110.<\/p>\n

But it didn\u2019t last long. <\/p>\n

On the next possession, Banchero collected a pass on the perimeter and bulldozed past Camara to the hoop for a layup, tying the game. Banchero was fouled on the play, giving the forward a chance to redeem his earlier missed free throws. Instead, Banchero bricked another one. <\/p>\n

Splitter called timeout again to draw up a play, but this time it didn\u2019t go as planned. When Sharpe tossed an inbounds pass to Holiday, Banchero bottled up the Blazers\u2019 starting point guard and pried the ball loose, snatching away a steal with 1.9 seconds left.<\/p>\n

That set up the last-second drama. Out of a timeout, Bane gathered an inbounds pass on the perimeter, pirouetted toward the hoop and hoisted a leaning prayer from the Kia Center logo. The prayer was answered with a swish, touching off a wild Magic celebration near the sideline. <\/p>\n

It was Bane\u2019s only three of the night \u2014 he went just 1 for 6 from long-range \u2014 but it was the only one that mattered. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s one of the things that I promised when I got here,\u201d Splitter told reporters after the game, when asked about the Blazers\u2019 heart. \u201cWe\u2019re going to compete. And that\u2019s what the guys are doing. You\u2019re going to win. You\u2019re going to lose some games. But we\u2019ve got to stay together. It\u2019s part of this game, it\u2019s a long season.\u201d<\/p>\n

TOP PERFORMERS<\/p>\n

Sharpe had his best game of the season, scoring 31 points on 12-for-18 shooting, including 3-for-5 from three-point range. The Blazers\u2019 starting shooting guard kept the Blazers afloat for much of the second half until they erupted for that late rally, scoring 20 points after halftime, including 10 in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

It was the first game since the first week of the season that Sharpe, who has been battling a nagging left calf injury \u2014 a season-long shooting funk \u2014 was not listed on the Blazers\u2019 injury report.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first game that I thought he was really himself,\u201d Splitter told reporters. \u201cBeing aggressive, getting to the rim, getting to the free throw line. It looks better. His legs are under the shot, so hopefully we have Shae like this for a long time.\u201d <\/p>\n

Avdija added 27 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Blazers, who played the second game of a five-game East Coast trip.<\/p>\n

Banchero finished with 28 points and nine rebounds and Bane added 22 points and seven rebounds for the Magic. <\/p>\n

NEXT UP<\/p>\n

The Blazers continue their trip on Wednesday, when they visit the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center at 5 p.m.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Portland Trail Blazers played yet another thriller Monday night. But this one ended in heartbreak. Desmond Bane…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3108,272,139,141,140,273],"class_list":{"0":"post-42090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bestof","10":"tag-orlando","11":"tag-orlando-headlines","12":"tag-orlando-news","13":"tag-topix"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42090","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=42090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}