Magic crush Hornets, tap into the team everyone expected just in time

Go back and look at all the NBA preseason predictions. Just about everyone had the Orlando Magic being a top-four team in the East and a legitimate threat to win the conference. They had the star duo of Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero. They had the defense. The depth. They made the big trade for Desmond Bane, sending four first-round picks to the Memphis Grizzlies in a clear signal that they, too, believed this was their chance to rise in a wide-open East.

It did not exactly go according to plan.

Orlando struggled all year to establish any sustainable momentum. Injuries hit them pretty hard. Jalen Suggs (to whom Orlando’s lineup successes are highly connected) and Wagner combined to miss 73 games. But it was more than that. The team was just off.

Banchero became a punching bag for his inefficiency and dumb decisions, even though the numbers were remarkably similar to past seasons. As expectations rise, so does frustration, and even when Banchero had solid stretches, the Magic were still a blah team.

2026 NBA playoff bracket: Matchups, schedule as Magic advance to face Pistons

Brad Botkin

They wound up in the Play-In Tournament and lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in the 7-8 gamelargely in the same uninspiring fashion they displayed all season. It made it seem like Friday night’s do-or-die game vs. the Charlotte Hornets was a forgone conclusion. The Magic would lose, slink into the offseason, fire Jamahl Mosley and start looking at potential trades for Banchero.

That also did not go according to plan.

Instead, the Magic obliterated the Hornets, who showed up expecting to put on their usual circus act, only to realize the Magic were there for a demolition derby.

It was the version of the Magic that everyone expected to see from the start this season, especially with the physical, at times straight-jacket, defense. Banchero was superb with 25 points, taking and making efficient shots and making quick decisions to get downhill and finish with force.

And again …

And again …

And when Charlotte managed to cut the drive off, he did this:

This was superstar stuff from Banchero, who was hesitant in all the wrong ways on Wednesday against Philly. The Magic looked fantastic. And sure, maybe you can say it was a desperation effort at home against a whatever Hornets team (even though they were one of the better teams in the league over the last few months).

Is this version of the Magic a threat to the Pistons?

There’s no saying this will carry over against the top-seeded Detroit Pistons in the first round. But there’s also no saying it won’t. Again, this is the team the Magic were supposed to be all along. Banchero has had sustained stretches of this kind of play. He’s a superstar-level talent. Bane has been good all season. Wagner is rounding back into form. Suggs is a beast. This is about as talented as a No. 8 seed team can be in the Eastern Conference, and they are facing something of a mirror-image opponent in the Pistons.

Both teams smother you with physical defense that is officiated way more leniently in the playoffs; this stands to be an absolute street-fight series. Both teams struggle to shoot. The Magic don’t have a creator like Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, but you could make a case that Orlando’s big three of Banchero, Wagner and Bane represent more star power than Cunningham and Jalen Duren.

Both teams do the bulk of their damage inside. Nobody gets to the free-throw line more than the Magic, but the Pistons are close. Orlando is a good offensive rebounding team, but Detroit is better. Everything about a series like this screams slugfest, which might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it could be fun nonetheless.

Can the Magic beat the Pistons? Probably not. When you have a whole season’s worth of evidence against a single game, go with the former. But don’t completely rule out the Magic, who are not your typical No. 8 seed in terms of talent.

If they bring the fight like they did Friday night, the team everyone expected to show up all season might actually stick around a little longer.