{"id":712917,"date":"2026-04-18T03:46:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T03:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/712917\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T03:46:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T03:46:50","slug":"magic-rout-hornets-as-final-nba-playoff-spots-decided","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/712917\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic rout Hornets as final NBA playoff spots decided"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Orlando Magic thrashed the Charlotte Hornets<\/a> 121-90 to keep their season alive as the NBA playoffs’ final teams were determined Friday.<\/p>\n

Paolo Banchero top-scored with 25 points to set up a daunting first-round playoff series for the Magic against the Eastern Conference top-seeded Detroit Pistons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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It was Orlando’s last chance to qualify for the post-season via the play-in tournament, having failed at their first attempt against the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The Golden State Warriors<\/a> take on the Phoenix Suns<\/a> later Friday for the Western Conference’s No. 8 seed, after which the full NBA playoff schedule will be finalized.<\/p>\n

A physical, tough Magic outfit outmuscled the youthful Hornets from the tip-off of the win-or-go-home game in front of a sell-out 19,000 home crowd at Orlando’s Kia Canter.<\/p>\n

Banchero bulldozed Charlotte’s defense, scoring 12 in the first quarter alone.<\/p>\n

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Having never trailed by more than a single point, Orlando soon stretched comfortably clear, establishing a giant 35-point lead shortly before half-time.<\/p>\n

Recovering from a sluggish start, LaMelo<\/a> Bell — the hero of the Hornets’ first play-in game against Miami<\/a> on Tuesday — exploded after the break.<\/p>\n

He poured in 21 points in the third quarter alone as he tried to single-handedly extend Charlotte’s season.<\/p>\n

But Orlando’s lead never dipped below 20 points, as the Magic eased to a win against a Charlotte side that had finished the regular season in strong form.<\/p>\n

Victory ensured the Magic have reached the playoffs for the third straight season, while the Hornets’ decade-long wait goes on.<\/p>\n

The NBA playoffs begin Saturday.<\/p>\n

amz\/jgc<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Orlando Magic thrashed the Charlotte Hornets 121-90 to keep their season alive as the NBA playoffs’ final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,473,188,1409,164,8090,295,6,11,76,402,207,472],"class_list":{"0":"post-712917","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-playoffs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-charlotte-hornets","10":"tag-detroit-pistons","11":"tag-eastern-conference","12":"tag-golden-state-warriors","13":"tag-lamelo","14":"tag-miami","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-nba-playoffs","17":"tag-orlando-magic","18":"tag-paolo-banchero","19":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","20":"tag-phoenix-suns"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116423661441222759","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712917","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=712917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}