{"id":624851,"date":"2026-02-25T22:30:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T22:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/624851\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T22:30:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T22:30:22","slug":"orlando-magic-flex-clutch-muscles-against-lakers-on-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/624851\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic flex clutch muscles against Lakers on road"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trailing the Lakers<\/a> by one point with 10.5 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of Tuesday\u2019s game inside Crypto.com Arena<\/a>, Paolo Banchero<\/a> missed a 13-foot jumpshot from the right elbow.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for Banchero, who otherwise had a stellar night with 36 points, 10 rebounds and six assists on the road, his teammate Anthony Black<\/a> grabbed the offensive rebound and shoveled the ball forward to a nearby Wendell Carter Jr.<\/a> in the paint.<\/p>\n

Surrounded by defenders, Carter immediately brought the ball back up and scored off the glass, putting Orlando<\/a> ahead of Los Angeles<\/a>, 110-109, with 6.7 seconds left.<\/p>\n

The Magic wanted to celebrate, but knew they couldn\u2019t just yet. The message was clear in the huddle as the Lakers called timeout: Get one more stop.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s just what Jamahl Mosley<\/a>\u2018s squad did.<\/p>\n

After Luka Doncic<\/a> (22 points and 15 assists) passed up a decent look from 3-point range, LeBron James<\/a> (21 points) missed a fadeaway triple from the left wing that would have won the game as the buzzer sounded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were hyping me up, everybody was happy but the game wasn\u2019t over,\u201d Carter said about the final sequence. \u201cSo we did a really good job of getting a great stop to end the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The win not only meant the Magic went 3-1 on a crucial four-game West Coast road trip out of the NBA All-Star break<\/a>, but it also moved Orlando to 5-1 in games decided by one point this season. The five one-point victories are the most in franchise history (the Magic previously had four wins by one point in 1995-96 and 2004-05).<\/p>\n

In addition, the Magic improved to 10-3 in games decided by three points or less this season. Entering Wednesday\u2019s slate of games, Orlando\u2019s 10 wins in that situation were the most in the league.<\/p>\n

As the old adage goes, practice makes perfect.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just stuck together,\u201d Banchero said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been in a lot of close games this year since the start of the season, so I think just having that experience, winning some, losing some, has helped us a lot just to stay poised and everybody realizing that they can make a play at any moment in the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just shows you (that) everybody was ready in the moment,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The one-point victory over the Lakers (34-23) also came just two days after the Magic beat the Clippers<\/a> by two points at Intuit Dome<\/a>. The pair of wins mark the fifth time in franchise history that Orlando has beat both teams in Los Angeles in the same season, and the first time since 2012-13.<\/p>\n

Capturing both wins seemed unlikely given the fact that the Magic were without starters Franz Wagner<\/a> (left high ankle sprain injury management) and Jalen Suggs<\/a> (back strain) for a third straight game.<\/p>\n

But similar to Orlando finding ways to win close games this season, overcoming injuries isn\u2019t new for this group either.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been there before, unfortunately,\u201d Carter said. \u201cEver since I was traded here, we\u2019ve had numerous injuries with some of the best players on the team going in-and-out of the lineup. Lineups have changed so much over the course of the 82-game season every season since I\u2019ve been here. So, we\u2019re kind of used to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have that next-man-up mentality,\u201d he added. \u201cAll 15 guys have to be ready to go, and that\u2019s something that coach Mosley has done a really good job of just telling everyone that you never know when your number is called, and when it\u2019s called, you better be ready. I give all the credit to all the guys just (for) being ready to step up in those moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wednesday marked one week since the team announced<\/a> Wagner would be out indefinitely and not re-evaluated until March 11.<\/p>\n

In a pre-game conversation with Dan Savage of OrlandoMagic.com<\/a>, the Magic forward described the situation as \u201cvery frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I want to be out there and help the team,\u201d Wagner said. \u201cSo, (I\u2019m) disappointed in how it\u2019s been going, the process. But everything\u2019s now about just getting fully healthy and making sure once I come back I\u2019m really healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even before the Magic upset the Lakers, Wagner was encouraged by what he saw during the team\u2019s first three games out west.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery game from here on out is really important for us,\u201d he said. \u201cThe way the season has gone, it\u2019s not how we wanted it before the year (began) but I think we\u2019ve still got a lot of things in our own hands and I think that\u2019s always a good thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo for me, the main thing is to get healthy and then hopefully do my part,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

While Wagner remains out, Suggs is considered questionable to play Thursday.<\/p>\n

With or without the dynamic duo, the Magic are hoping to carry the momentum gained from the West Coast and into their meeting against the Rockets<\/a> at Kia Center<\/a>. Orlando fell by four points in overtime at Houston<\/a> in mid-November.<\/p>\n

Returning to Central Florida for a four-game homestand<\/a>, the Magic (31-26) recognize how tight the margin is in the East playoff race with only 25 contests remaining in the regular season.<\/p>\n

Orlando sat half-a-game behind No. 6 Philadelphia<\/a> (32-26) and one game ahead of No. 8 Miami<\/a> (31-28) entering Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the first thing that we said in the locker room after this win,\u201d Banchero said of the team\u2019s momentum. \u201cIt was just a great win, hell of a trip and we\u2019ve got to take this momentum back home to Orlando and just build off of this stretch.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, just bringing that same energy home in front of the fans \u2026 They\u2019re going to help carry us in those close games. Hopefully they\u2019re not all close games, but just bringing that momentum that we\u2019ve built on this trip back home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic vs. Rockets<\/p>\n

When:\u00a07:30, Thursday, Kia Center<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0Prime Video<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trailing the Lakers by one point with 10.5 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of Tuesday\u2019s game inside…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3779],"tags":[7,165,48,6,47,76,3883,1412,80939,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-624851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando-magic","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-magic","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-orlando","13":"tag-orlando-magic","14":"tag-orlandomagic","15":"tag-social","16":"tag-social-sports","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116133640519113079","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}