Magic vs Pistons Recap: NBA February 23rd, 2023

In a game between two teams that have struggled this season, the Orlando Magic hosted the Detroit Pistons on Thursday. The Magic, who might still have some ambitions of making the play-in tournament, won the game in a contest that was close as time expired.

They put up a single-possession margin of victory in the game, winning by 2 points on Wendell Carter Jr. tip-in at the buzzer. The final score was Detroit 106, and Orlando 108 as the Magic got a key win to open their post-All-Star break campaign.

Pistons @ Magic Thursday: Jaden Ivey scores 25

With the loss, the Pistons are now 15-45 overall on the season. The top scorer in the game was Jaden Ivey, the team’s point guard. He had a very good 25 points in the contest in 31 minutes of play. The Pistons are now playing just .250 basketball on the season and they are one of the four teams that basically cannot entertain serious hopes of making the NBA playoffs this spring.

Meanwhile, the Magic improved to 25-35 with the 2-point victory. While the team is 10 games below .500, they’ve played as a perfectly credible team for the long term.

Since starting the season 5-20, they have gone five games over .500 with a 20-15 record in their last 35 games. The question with Orlando is if they waited too long before they figured out where their A-game is. But the depths of the play-in tournament may still be accessible for this team as the 9th and 10th seeds in the east have just 28 wins following Thursday’s action.

Orlando Magic: Recent Form Alert

• Orlando Magic were 5-20 (December 6th, 2022)
• Following Thursday’s game, they are 25-35
• The Magic are 20-15 since their terrible start to the season

Further reading: NBA Power Rankings