{"id":655694,"date":"2026-03-13T05:07:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T05:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/655694\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T05:07:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T05:07:55","slug":"orlando-magic-notch-fifth-win-in-a-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/655694\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic notch fifth win in a row"},"content":{"rendered":"

Entering Wednesday\u2019s game between the Magic<\/a> and Cavaliers<\/a> on ESPN, Orlando<\/a> owned the top defensive rating in the league since the NBA All-Star break<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even Cleveland<\/a> coach Kenny Atkinson said Jamahl Mosley<\/a>\u2018s squad was playing much better and with more confidence since the sides last met in late-January.<\/p>\n

But the third meeting of the season between the sides was far from a defensive battle inside Kia Center in front of a national TV audience.<\/p>\n

In a high-scoring affair that included 12 lead changes, the Magic staved off a Cleveland comeback late thanks to clutch shooting from beyond the arc and at the free throw line to capture a 128-122 victory, marking Orlando\u2019s fifth in a row.<\/p>\n

After Cleveland pulled within two points of Orlando with less than a minute to play, Desmond Bane (35 points) sunk a 3-pointer with 18.3 seconds left in the game.<\/p>\n

Bane then hit two free throws after Cleveland was forced to foul late and Tristan da Silva (23) added one at the charity stripe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinner,\u201d Mosley said when asked to describe Bane. \u201cWhatever it takes, he is going to do (it). And that\u2019s about the best word that describes him because he embodies so much of it. Winner and leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

James Harden (30 points) and Donovan Mitchell (25) combined to score 55 points, but Cleveland (40-26) turned the ball over 10 times for 12 Orlando points.<\/p>\n

After the Cavaliers won the first two meetings in late-January, Orlando\u2019s win Wednesday allows the team to potentially end up splitting the regular-season series. The Eastern Conference foes face each other in the regular season a fourth and final time March 24 at Cleveland.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just talks about the resiliency of this team,\u201d Mosley said about the six-point win. \u201cWe\u2019ve said it before. There\u2019s going to be different ways to win games and we keep finding those ways. Games are going to look different but it\u2019s taking it one game at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Magic (36-28) return to Kia Center on Thursday night when they host the Wizards on the second night of a back-to-back.<\/p>\n

Banchero\u2019s impact<\/p>\n

The Magic forward missed his first two 3-pointers but nailed a pair from distance to post 17 points in the first half.<\/p>\n

And when his shot wasn\u2019t falling early, he was finding teammates for baskets, including Tristan da Silva who slammed down a one-handed dunk off a lob. Banchero notched four of his five first-half assists in the opening frame.<\/p>\n

Banchero got the third quarter going with a two-handed driving dunk before he finished with 25 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.<\/p>\n

The performance was Banchero\u2019s 75th career game with 20-plus points, five-plus rebounds and five-plus assists, tying him with Penny Hardaway for second all-time in franchise history.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to be locked in and this was a great team effort,\u201d Banchero said in the locker room.<\/p>\n

Rest of starters<\/p>\n

In addition to the early dunk, da Silva scored an efficient eight points in his first nine minutes of the game. The third-year pro hit a pair of triples late in the fourth quarter and scored nine in the final frame.<\/p>\n

Bane also scored eight points in the first quarter, having early success driving to the basket. Converting five of his first six shots from the floor, the Magic guard had 12 points before the break, but picked up his third foul with 4:45 left in the second quarter.<\/p>\n

Bane didn\u2019t let early foul trouble slow him down when he pieced together a 12-point third quarter. Wednesday\u2019s game marked his 12th time this season scoring 30-plus points thanks to scoring 11 in the fourth.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than anything, I just liked our process,\u201d Bane said. \u201cTristan was saying it coming off the court, like, this is fun. We\u2019re playing a fun brand of basketball on both ends of the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jalen Suggs penetrated the paint early and made his way to the free throw line, where he made three attempts. But the Magic guard didn\u2019t score between the second and third quarters after a seven-point first frame.<\/p>\n

His triple with 5:28 left in the game put Orlando ahead by 13 points late to help him total 12 points with four assists.<\/p>\n

Wendell Carter Jr. recorded his ninth double-double of the season by way of 11 points and 11 rebounds.<\/p>\n

Battle of benches<\/p>\n

Missing Anthony Black (left lateral abdominal muscle strain), Orlando\u2019s bench was in need of an offensive boost.<\/p>\n

That came in a combined effort from Jett Howard and Jevon Carter.<\/p>\n

Howard hit the team\u2019s first 3-pointer off a kickout from Banchero late in the first quarter and slammed down a one-handed driving dunk. Picking up four fouls, he ended with eight points and four rebounds in 22 minutes.<\/p>\n

Carter missed his first four triples but converted on his fifth long-range attempt. He scored nine points in 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

On the other side, Cavs guard Keon Ellis scored 20 points with five 3-pointers while backup big Thomas Bryant notched 12 points.<\/p>\n

Cleveland\u2019s bench outscored Orlando\u2019s 36-22.<\/p>\n

Rookie watch<\/p>\n

Second-round pick Noah Penda entered the contest late in the first quarter. The French forward started the fourth as well, finishing with four points and two rebounds in 11 minutes.<\/p>\n

Although he was available after missing the past two games due to back spasms, first-round pick Jase Richardson didn\u2019t see the floor.<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Entering Wednesday\u2019s game between the Magic and Cavaliers on ESPN, Orlando owned the top defensive rating in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[7,306,305,193,3846,165,6,76,1412,80939,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-655694","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-cavaliers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cavaliers","10":"tag-cleveland","11":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","12":"tag-clevelandcavaliers","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-orlando-magic","16":"tag-social","17":"tag-social-sports","18":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116220140154842909","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655694","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=655694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}