Orlando, FL – In a nail-biting clash at Little Caesars Arena, the Orlando Magic pulled off a 112-109 victory against the Detroit Pistons after nearly slipping their lead in the game’s dying moments.
Paolo Banchero faced some challenges throughout the game. He was going down the lane and into the paint like he always does, but his shots weren’t falling. Detroit added some size at the trade deadline, proving to be effective at locking down the paint more than before.
Someone who didn’t mind the extra size was Wendell Carter Jr., who fought down low defensively and recorded a double-double. Offensively, WCJ was part of the three-point ensemble that Orlando put on. The Magic are turning their poor shooting season around and impressed from beyond the arc yet again, hitting 50% of their three-point attempts.WCJ, Gary Harris, Jalen Suggs, and Jonathan Isaac displayed their sharpshooting abilities and kept the Pistons’ defense on their toes.
In typical Magic fashion, everyone shined in the game with a balanced scoresheet to reflect this all-around effort. Eight players reached double digits in the game and Orlando was able to keep throwing different options at the home team, making it very difficult to defend. Once Coach Mosley realized that Paolo wasn’t giving the output he usually does, he began to run plays for different players and it worked like a charm. Of course, the star player still had Mosley’s trust in the dying moments of the game. After a timeout, the Magic drew up a play for Paolo, where he stepped back from about 18 feet away and drilled the shot over Jalen Duren, who fouled the all-star and sent him to the line, which just about wrapped up the game.
In this hard-fought game against the Detroit Pistons, the Magic once again proved that this unit deserved to stay together and they could win games as a team. With Atlanta coming up on a back-to-back, Orlando will look to stuff the Hawks farther down the Eastern Conference standing and boost themselves out of the Play-In tournament.