LAS VEGAS — The Magic hit the court inside T-Mobile Arena for practice ahead of Saturday’s NBA Cup semifinal against the Knicks in Las Vegas, and coach Jamahl Mosley believes his team is prepped for a high-stakes matchup with New York.

“The energy’s great,” the Orlando coach said Friday afternoon. “These guys are feeling and seeing what it’s like (with) all the media attention, the different focuses that will try to distract you, but our guys are really locked into what it is for the game plan playing New York again. They feel good about it.

“I’ll keep talking about the chemistry and camaraderie that keeps being built each and every single day and Vegas being able to provide that,” he added.

The amount of media both on a local and national level in attendance, along with additional lights and cameras inside the gym, compared to a typical practice back in Orlando wasn’t lost on the Magic players themselves either.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity to play on this stage,” Paolo Banchero said after practice. “You can just tell by all the stuff going on. It’s a big stage, and as a team we want to take advantage of the opportunity and just go out there and do our best to get the win.

“It’s a fun environment,” he added. “Everybody is excited to be here.”

Saturday’s semifinal between Orlando and New York features an earlier 5:30 p.m. tip-off time on the East Coast when it streams exclusively on Amazon’s Prime Network.

Magic travel plans

Should the Magic (15-10) win on Saturday, they’d remain in Las Vegas for three extra days through the Cup championship that’s held on Tuesday night.

They’d then have one day off to head to Denver to begin a previously-scheduled four-game West Coast trip next Thursday that includes stops at Utah, at Golden State and at Portland.

But what happens if the Magic fall short in the semifinals?

Orlando seemingly would return home for a couple of days before hopping back on a plane to face the Nuggets at Ball Arena following a four-day break.

“We’ve talked about it as a staff, our travel party, knowing what we think about doing,” Mosley said. “You stay for a moment but if you don’t get it, then you have to get back home because that’s a lot of time away from family.

“Then we’ll go back out to Denver after that,” he added. “But what we’ve really tried to focus in on is, let’s take care of Saturday and then see what happens from there.”

Bane’s ball

The last time the Magic faced the Knicks (17-7), Orlando guard Desmond Bane fired a loose ball in the direction of New York forward OG Anunoby midway through the fourth quarter of last Sunday’s game at Madison Square Garden.

Bane was fined $35,000 for “throwing the game ball with force at an opponent in an unsportsmanlike manner,” according to the NBA.

“I thought it was a good basketball play in the moment,” he said Friday. “When I go and watch the slow-mo on this, it still wasn’t a bad one. I just think I threw it a little too hard.”

The play resulted in.a close friend of his joking that MLB’s Cincinnati Reds should give him a call.

“If y’all (are) watching this, invite me to training camp or spring training this summer,” Bane said about the Reds. “Come check it out. … Yeah, there was no foul play intended.”

Money on mind

It didn’t take long for Bane to answer what he’d do with the extra cash if the Magic won the Cup. Players on the winning team each receive $530,933 via the prize pool.

“It’s a good question,” he said. “Probably break off a couple people that have helped me early in the season and probably go buy a new boat, honestly.”

While Bane is playing on the second year of his nearly $200 million, five-year rookie contract extension he originally signed with the Grizzlies before Orlando acquired him, half-a-million dollars would go a long way for other members of the Magic, especially around the holiday season.

“Everyone on the team, we’ve got a lot of young guys, got a lot of guys that could really use the money, including myself,” Banchero said. “So, when you are playing for something extra like that, you want to go after it.”

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com