When the Magic lost to the Mavericks by 23 points in the seventh game of the season, it was just their second without Paolo Banchero, who went onto miss 34 with a torn right abdominal muscle.
Thursday night at Kia Center, Banchero put on full display what Dallas missed in November when the Magic forward led all scorers with 35 points.
Despite Banchero’s best efforts, the Mavericks (36-38) snapped Orlando’s three-game winning streak, 101-92, thanks to 22 points from Jaden Hardy off the bench.
Dallas’ reserves outscored Orlando’s 57-19, which fell to 3-23 when failing to crack 100 points.
The result is sigifnicant for both sides who entered with the same record while fighting for a Play-In spot in their conferences with less than 10 games remaining in the regular season.
The Magic (35-39) continue their homestand Saturday against the Kings.
What went wrong
The Magic, who have dealt with third-quarter issues throughout the season, saw Dallas close out the frame on a 20-2 run.
Orlando, which led 68-57 with 5:12 left in the quarter, called timeout after the Mavs cut the deficit to 3.
But that stoppage didn’t slow down the Mavs when Orlando committed a shot-clock violation, got called for offensive fouls and continued to turn the ball to fuel their run.
The Mavs outscored the Magic 34-20 to take a 7-point lead entering the fourth.
Banchero committed a team-high 6 turnovers. Magic lost the ball 17 times, leading to 22 points for Dallas.
To make matters more difficult, Banchero, Wendell Carter Jr. (12 points) and Cory Joseph (6) each had at least 3 fouls with 11 minutes left. Carter picked up his fourth shortly out of halftime.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the Magic’s biggest offseason signing, failed to score in 33 minutes. He shot 0-for-4.
What went right
After a 1-point first quarter, Banchero posted 17 in the second when he played all 12 minutes, shot 6 of 7 from the field and converted 5 of 6 foul shots.
Despite picking up his third foul three minutes before halftime, Banchero recorded his fifth consecutive game with 30-plus points.
His big second quarter combined with 10 first-half points from Franz Wagner put Orlando ahead by 7 at the break.
And Banchero didn’t slow down in the third quarter when he quickly added 7 points in the first five minutes out of intermission. Scoring on all three levels, Banchero made up for two missed free throws when grabbed his own rebound and slammed it halfway through the third.
He joined Tracy McGrady and Shaquille O’Neal as the only players in franchise history to have 30-plus in at least five consecutive outings.
Difference from distance
Entering the night with the worst 3-point percentage in league (31.2%), Orlando lived up to its reputation whenit shot 5 of 30 (16.7%).
In comparison, Hardy on his own made 5 triples.
He powered Dallas which shot 11 of 23 from from deep (47.8%), well above its season average (36.7%).
Rookie watch
Tristan da Silva returned to the rotation when he came off the bench late in the first quarter. He was a healthy scratch Tuesday at Charlotte when he missed his first game since late October.
The rookie got to the free throw line once for 2 points but missed all 4 shots from the field, including a pair of triples.
He joined Black (14 points), Gary Harris (0), Caleb Houstan (0), Goga Bitadze (3) and Jonathan Isaac (0) among the reserves used.
Jason Beede can be reached at [email protected]
Originally Published: March 27, 2025 at 9:30 PM EDT
