Beede’s Breakdown: Magic wrap up home slate with 4th straight win vs. Wolves
Magic coach Jamahl Mosley made it clear at shootaround that he wanted his team to piece together a performance that Orlando fans would enjoy during the final home game of the regular season against the Timberwolves on Wednesday night at Kia Center . Although the Magic made some miscues on offense and weren’t as sharp as they would have liked to have been on defense, Orlando still took care of business in a 132-120 victory during Minnesota’s lone trip of the season to Central Florida. Paolo Banchero (20 points), Desmond Bane (18) and Franz Wagner (17) combined for 55 points in the 12-point victory, which marked Orlando’s fourth in a row and its sixth in its last eight.
Playing on the second night of a back-to-back after securing a top six seed in the West on Tuesday, Minnesota (47-33) was without Anthony Edwards (right knee injury maintenance), Rudy Gobert (rest), Mike Conley (rest), Julius Randle (right hand soreness) and Ayo Dosunmu (right calf injury maintenance) against Orlando. Neither side took care of the ball when the Magic scored 26 points off 16 takeaways and the Wolves racked up 19 points off 17 Orlando turnovers. Finishing the regular season 25-15 at home, the Magic (44-36) travel for their final two games of the regular season, starting Friday at Chicago, as they continue to push for postseason positioning.
Banchero buckets The Magic forward didn’t waste much time making his mark on the game by make his first three shots from the floor and posting nine points in the opening frame. Banchero made six of his first eight shots to reach 13 first-half points and added four rebounds and three assists before the break. He continued to make plays for his teammates in the second half, finishing with eight rebounds and six assists.
The performance marked the 25th time this season and 81st time in his career that Banchero has totaled 20-plus points, five-plus rebounds and five-plus assists in a game. Wagner scare Franz Wagner scored 11 points in 13 minutes before he went down to the floor two minutes into the third quarter and grabbed at his left knee. Wagner, who has already missed 48 games due to a left high ankle sprain, was able to walk off the court on his own power and head straight to the locker room.
Later in the third, however, he returned to the Orlando bench, rode a stationary behind the bench for a few minutes and re-entered the game with 2:44 left in the quarter. Earlier in the night, Wagner sunk his first 3-pointer since he returned from injury against Atlanta a week ago. In his fourth game back, the German forward continued to play mostly 3-4-minute stints under a minutes restriction.