The Orlando Magic defeated the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday in the first game of the NBA Play-In Tournament. The Magic have secured the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference and will play a best-of-seven series against the Boston Celtics in the first round of the 2025 Playoffs.
Wendell Carter Jr. led the starters with 19 points seven rebounds and two blocks. Carter was aggressive inside the paint and made the Hawks pay for not paying close attention to him. All-Star forward Paolo Banchero had 17 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Banchero didn’t have the best shooting performance and only knocked down 30.8 percent of his shots from the field.
However, the big story for Orlando was the offensive outburst of Cole Anthony. He came off the bench and had 26 points and six assists on 58.8 percent from the field. A significant amount of his points came from the fourth quarter when he scored 13 points on 60 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Anthony wasn’t the only player who came off the bench and made a sizeable contribution.
Anthony Black played 27 minutes off the bench and had 16 points on an 85.7 percent shooting clip. Black also had four rebounds and four assists against Atlanta.
During the fourth quarter, Hawks’ Trae Young was ejected from the game after he passed the basketball to one of the referees. This came after he sliced through the defense and made a floater inside the paint. Young passed the ball to the official as it was the Magic’s turn to have the offensive possession.
However, the official didn’t like how Young passed the ball and gave him a technical foul, his second. That automatically sent him out of the game.
Fans react to the Orlando Magic’s upcoming first-round matchup against the Celtics
The Orlando Magic has a tough task in the first round of the postseason. They’ll play against the defending champions, the Celtics. With their upcoming seven-game series, fans couldn’t help but reveal their thoughts. Here are some of what the fans said about the Magic-Celtics series.
“Orlando will take boston to 7 games just like they did to the cavs last year bookmark it!” a fan said.
“Celtics will let them win one just to be generous,” another fan commented.
“Celtics in a snooze fest sweep. Magic may lose by 5 in game 3,” one fan said.
Celtics in a snooze fest sweep. Magic may lose by 5 in game 3
— . (@TheRealSageBell) April 16, 2025
“Deuce Tatum bouta watch daddy get swept by Paolo and Co”
“Lol they struggled all season just to meet the Celtics???😭😭😭”
“Celtics bench could beat Orlando in 4”
Celtics bench could beat Orlando in 4
— jakeirish.eth (@jakeirish_) April 16, 2025
“Nice run, Orlando. But the Garden isn’t where fairy tales end well.”
“congratulations to the Magic on a hard earned 7 seed. Celtics in 4”
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
