The Orlando Magic defeated the Charlotte Hornets 121-90 on Friday in the Kia Center. The Magic handed the highest-rated net team in 2026 their largest loss on the season and largest in play-in history to clinch Orlando’s third-straight playoff appearance.
“You either had a chance to end your season, or you start a new one, and these guys made the commitment to each other, to our staff, that we want to keep playing basketball,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “It showed up, first and foremost, on the defensive end.”
Paolo Banchero led the game with 25 points, five rebounds, and six assists, while LaMelo Ball led the Hornets with 23 points. In 15 playoff and play-in games, Banchero has averaged 26.4 points, eight rebounds, and 4.4 assists.
“I can’t say enough about the young man [Banchero is],” Mosley said. ”I don’t think people will get how much he wants to work and how much he wants to win. It’s easy to always say things when things aren’t going the right way, but he just put his head down, and he worked. That’s what he’s always done. He finds a way to respond. That’s the young man that he is.”
All five Magic starters ended with double digits and all Charlotte starters but Moussa Diabate ended with 10+ points. Rookie of the year front-runner Kon Knueppel shot one for six from three, as the Hornets were held to 27% from beyond the arc.
Orlando started the first quarter on a 10-0 run, which Charlotte answered with a 5-0 run. The Magic then scored 13 unanswered points on their way to a 38 point quarter while containing the Hornets to only 16 points.
“Great players gotta respond,” Banchero said. “That’s what they pay you to do. You can’t just settle for subpar performances, especially in situations like this, do or die, win or go home. You gotta show up for your teammates and set the tone. I thought I did that. I thought Jalen did that, Anthony Black, Desmond Bane, everybody. I thought we all set the tone coming in, Wendell hitting two threes. I think it was just a full team effort.”
The second quarter was much the same, as the Magic held the Hornets to only 37 first half points. Orlando’s 31 point halftime lead was the team’s largest of the season. After 24 minutes of play, Charlotte had more turnovers than made shots (14 turnovers to 13 field goals made).
“That defense in the first half was probably about his elite that we’ve seen in a while,” Mosley said. “Anthony Black and Jalen Suggs were high level, high level, high level defensively.”
In the third quarter, Ball played all 12 minutes and helped the Hornets with 21 points. However, the Magic did not let up, equalizing Ball’s performance with 34 in the quarter.
Hornets head coach Charles Lee saw enough, emptying his bench with more than half of the fourth quarter remaining. Mosley did the same, and the Magic cruised to their second-largest win of the season.
“One reason why we got this win in more ways than one was our fans,” Mosley said. “They were absolutely unbelievable, and they’ve been unbelievable through the ups and downs, the highs, the lows. They propelled us to get this win. The energy that they brought brought the energy for our group. And we can’t say I can’t say enough. We can’t say enough about this fan base, and the way that they support us, and got this thing going in the right direction.”
Next up:
Orlando is set to face the No. 1 seed Detroit Pistons, with game one starting Sunday in Little Caesar’s Arena. In the regular season, the teams split the series 2-2, with Orlando winning most recently.
“I know the number one priority in a lot of ways is Cade Cunningham, and that’s the priority of that team,” Mosley said. “Now they’re a very tightly knit together team. They defend at a high clip, they turn you over, they make it tough to score. So we’ve got to make sure we’re doing all the little things, just like in this game against them, but that’ll be a lot of game planning, a lot of film, a lot of walkthrough in the short time that we have. But our guys will be prepared, you know, for what we’re gonna see on Sunday.”
Tip-off against the Pistons is set for 6:30 p.m. on April 19.