ORLANDO - Just before the seven-minute mark of the second quarter of the Orlando Magic’s regular-season finale against the Milwaukee Bucks, Bobby Portis drilled a 3-pointer that gave the Bucks an 11-point lead.
From there, everything changed. The Magic’s intensity cranked up to the max; their attention to detail got sharper; and, on a much simpler level, their shots started dropping.
Orlando rode that momentum the rest of the way to win 113-88 and clinch its first playoff berth since 2020.
“It means a lot to everybody,” Franz Wagner said. “We looked at this as a do-or-die game. Most guys haven’t been in the playoffs. Most guys that are on the team (have played on teams with) 20-win seasons and stuff like that…Obviously, (it means a lot) to the coaching staff too. We came in three years ago and I think it means a lot to the whole group. It’s good to enjoy this today, but we don’t just want to make the playoffs. It was a lot of fun today and hopefully we can have more games like that.”
Next up for the No. 5-seeded Magic will be a first-round best-of-seven postseason series matchup with the No. 4-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs lost to the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday after choosing to rest all of their starters and main rotation players down the stretch.
It will be the second time the Magic and Cavs will square off in the playoffs. The other time was in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals, won by Orlando in six games.
The Magic and Cavs split their regular season series this year, each winning two of the four meetings.
In Sunday’s win over the Bucks, Paolo Banchero and Franz each came up big. Banchero flirted with a triple-double with 26 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, while Wagner, playing in his second game since spraining his right ankle a week ago, racked up 25 points, five rebounds and three assists.
“I think we all expected it,” Banchero said. “After last year, we felt like we were good enough to make that jump to this year. It was just a team-wide expectation. We are sitting here now, so I think we are all proud.”
Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley, with Wendell Carter Jr. questionable entering the game with back spasms, started Jonathan Isaac for the second time this season, and what a job the 6-foot-10, 230-pounder did in his 26 minutes, scoring 10 points, grabbing eight rebounds and playing smothering defense against everyone he guarded.
“For us being such a young team, it really does speak to our maturity, especially with the last few games that we’ve had. We struggled,” Isaac said. “When really the rubber meets the road and everything is hanging on this game about where we are going to seed and all the different stuff, for us to respond in this way after going to Milwaukee and losing and having a tough loss (in Philadelphia and) to do this it really speaks to who this team is, our maturity and growth, and our ability to really put it together when it matters.”
Carter did end up jumping into the action. In his 14 minutes off the bench, he made all three of his floor shots, finished with seven points and two rebounds, and was a plus-27.
The Magic held the Bucks, who were playing without Giannis Antetokounmpo (calf) for the third straight game, to just 40.5 percent overall shooting and 25.9 percent 3-point shooting. Damian Lillard connected on just two of his 14 shots and missed all four of his 3-pointers. Portis and Khris Middleton led Milwaukee with 17 points apiece.
The No. 3-seeded Bucks will play the No. 6-seeded Indiana Pacers in the first round.
Orlando finished the regular season with 47 wins, a 13-win jump from last year. They went 29-11 at Kia Center, including a perfect 18-0 against sub-.500 teams. Their 40-1 record when leading going into the fourth quarter ranked No. 1 in the league.
The Magic-Cavs series schedule will be unveiled later Sunday night.