Expectations are rising for the Orlando Magic.
After the winningest season in well over a decade, Orlando’s first game of the season went exceedingly well, especially in the third quarter.
Now, the Magic attempt to start 2-0 in consecutive seasons for the first time in over 30 years on Friday night when they host the Brooklyn Nets.
The Magic attempt to open with back-to-back wins to start back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons — the first two campaigns of Shaquille O’Neal’s Hall of Fame career.
Last season the Magic won their first two games and were never under .500 en route to 47 wins, their most since going 52-30 in 2010-11 — two seasons after losing in the NBA finals to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Led by Paolo Banchero and an emerging core, the Magic are Southeast Division favorites after taking the Cleveland Cavaliers to Game 7 in the first round of last spring’s postseason. Banchero, who saw his scoring average improve from 20 points to 22.6 in his second campaign, scored 33 points in the 116-97 win over the host Miami Heat on Wednesday when Orlando began the third with a 12-0 run.
Banchero scored 12 points when the Magic shot 66.7 percent (14 of 21) from the floor and outscored the Heat 39-18 in the third to turn a four-point halftime lead into a 25-point margin following a 25-minute halftime ceremony.
“Our coaches did a great job of seeing the things that we were doing both offensively and defensively,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “And credit to the guys for focusing on the game plan and knowing what was working and what was not.”
Banchero had plenty of help as Franz Wagner added 23 points, Gary Harris finished with 18 and Wendell Carter Jr. grabbed 14 rebounds as the Magic shot 42.7 percent from the field and hit 18 of 49 3-point attempts (36.7 percent).
The Nets are attempting to avoid consecutive 0-2 starts for the first time in their NBA history after falling short in a 120-116 road loss to the Atlanta Hawks in Jordi Fernandez’s coaching debut.
Fernandez became the 10th coach since the Nets moved to Brooklyn and watched Cam Thomas score 36 points to start a season where the fourth-year guard is expected to be the team’s top scorer.
Thomas scored 20 points in the fourth quarter when the Nets nearly erased a 10-point deficit in the final six-plus minutes. Thomas’ late flurry occurred after Nic Claxton was ejected for a flagrant-two foul with about eight minutes remaining.
Claxton’s hard foul was among Brooklyn’s 32 fouls, resulting in the Hawks going to the free-throw line 46 times. It was the most fouls by Brooklyn since committing 34 in a five-point loss at Phoenix on Jan. 19, 2023.
“Just showing what we’ve been preaching all camp, all preseason,” Thomas said. “Playing physical, getting up into guys. But at the same time, we got to have a controlled physicality with us. Whether we feel like they were the right calls or not, 46 free throws is kind of unacceptable.”
Brooklyn is also hoping to reduce its turnovers from the season opener. After committing at least 15 in 28 games last season, the Nets had 19 giveaways, including a combined 11 by Dennis Schroder and Ben Simmons, who played 24 minutes in his first game since back surgery in March.
