One team in Friday’s elimination game entered the season as a presumed Eastern Conference contender. The other was an afterthought.
For the first time in a long time, each teams’ play fit those descriptions Friday night inside the Kia Center in Orlando.
Riding a suffocating defense that set the tone from the opening tip, the Orlando Magic squashed the upstart Charlotte Hornets’ hopes of ending a decade-long playoff drought with a 121-90 victory in the Play-In Tournament. The win keeps alive what has largely been a disappointing season for Orlando, which oddsmakers had pegged for 50-plus wins following the acquisition of high-scoring guard Desmond Bane from Memphis.
Orlando bullied one of the NBA’s best offenses over the second half of the season, limiting Charlotte to just 37 points on 13-of-41 shooting in the first half. Forward Paolo Banchero, big man Wendell Carter Jr. and point guard Jalen Suggs combined for 40 first-half points on 16-of-23 shooting to lead Orlando to a 31-point halftime advantage that was never challenged. Banchero finished with 25 points to lead a balanced Magic scoring effort.
After overcoming an off night from 3 (32 percent) to beat Miami in overtime in Tuesday’s Play-In opener, the Hornets’ shooting struggles continued in Orlando. Rookie of the Year candidate Kon Knueppel, who set a franchise record with 273 3-pointers this season, hit his first 3 with 10:35 left in the second quarter. Point guard LaMelo Ball, who was just behind Knueppel with 272 3s this season, scored just two points in the first half. The result: a franchise that appeared to be turning a corner will miss the playoffs for the 10th consecutive season.
The Magic advance to a playoff series against the top-seeded Detroit Pistons, with Game 1 scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday in Detroit. Here are three key takeaways from our writers.
Magic go back to their roots
When Jamahl Mosley’s Magic teams have been at their best during his five years as their head coach, they played tenacious, suffocating defense.
The Magic’s defense Friday night, facing elimination, was as tough and as hard-nosed as it’s ever been during Mosley’s tenure. In the first half alone, the Magic forced 14 Hornets turnovers, including shot-clock violations on consecutive Hornets possessions. Carter said it during the morning shootaround: He and his teammates wanted to impose their physicality from the opening tip. That’s exactly what they did, and that defense is why the Magic are moving on.
Orlando will enter its series against Detroit as the clear and deserved underdog. Although the Magic enjoyed some nice moments during the regular season, they finished 13th league-wide in defensive rating. The defense was inconsistent, and “inconsistent” is a polite word. At times, it looked unfocused and lackadaisical.
But if the Magic can come close to duplicating their defensive effort from Friday against the Pistons, the Magic could make the series interesting.
Banchero, Franz Wagner and Suggs have yet to win a road playoff game (though it should be noted that Suggs missed last year’s playoffs following knee surgery). If they can break through with a win in Game 1 or Game 2 in Detroit, who knows what might happen?
Here is one prediction you can count on: Because the Pistons have based their success on physicality, the series has the potential to be one of the more rugged first-round series we’ve seen in several years. — Josh Robbins, NBA senior writer
That’s the Banchero the Magic need
Banchero took a lot of heat for his brutal performance in the Magic’s loss to the 76ers on Wednesday. Frankly, he’s taken plenty of heat for his uneven season, his stagnant development and for the Magic underachieving. Heat that, if we’re being honest, is at least somewhat deserved.
So when Banchero comes out like he did tonight, bullying his way to the bucket over and over in a must-win game for his franchise, it speaks volumes.
The Banchero we saw tonight is the Banchero that many of his detractors wish we saw all the time. Instead of dribbling aimlessly side-to-side into contested midrange jumpers, Banchero immediately attacked the smaller Hornets defenders and got downhill at will. Instead of grinding Orlando’s offense to a halt with slow decision-making, Banchero was decisive in getting to his spots. His 12 first-quarter points set the tone and ensured the Hornets would never have a chance in this game.
While Banchero’s style isn’t always aesthetically pleasing, it does have a history of translating well in the playoffs. It’s easy to forget he went for 29 points per game against a 60-win Celtics team last season, or that he put up a 38-point, 16-rebound line in a road Game 7 in Cleveland the season before. Now that the Magic are in the playoffs for real, Banchero has a chance to redefine his reputation. — Mike Prada, NBA senior editor
Hornets learn how they need to improve
Since Jan. 1, the Hornets have gone 33-16. Their .673 win percentage was the sixth-best in the NBA in the 2026 calendar year. In the final three and a half months of the regular season, they posted the NBA’s best offensive rating (120.7) and the fifth-best defensive rating (110.2). Their net rating, plus-10.5, was the league’s best during that stretch as well, per NBA.com.
All of those markers suggested the Hornets should not only have made it out of the Play-In Tournament but might also then have the ability to make a deep postseason run.
Instead, they didn’t meet the moment in their Play-In games. Despite being one of the best stories in the NBA this season, the Hornets will be watching the playoffs from home.
While the ending doesn’t take away from the team’s performance in the final three-and-a-half months of the season, it does highlight what the team must add to take the next step in the future. The Hornets’ starting five of Ball, Miles Bridges, Moussa Diabaté, Knueppel and Brandon Miller was the NBA’s best five-man unit this season (plus 27.4 per 100 possessions, per Cleaning the Glass). While it features above-average size at the guard and wing spots, it is small in the frontcourt. The speed and shooting of that unit blitzed the league to close the season but couldn’t handle the physicality and intensity of postseason defenses in its two Play-In games.
While this season was a massive step forward for an organization that has been aimless for the last three seasons, it must build on it to avoid having the same thing happen to them that occurred after the 2021-22 season. They won 43 games then, lost in the Play-In Tournament and immediately regressed to being a 27-win team the following season. This team’s foundation is better, especially with Knueppel’s incredible rookie season, but they need to keep growing. — Eric Nehm, NBA staff writer
