Congratulations to the Orlando Magic, who won a fun play-in game on Tuesday night against the Atlanta Hawks, and now advance to the NBA Playoffs as the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Now, they get to play the Boston Celtics! Yippee!
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Orlando has the tallest task in first round matchup versus Celtics
The Magic actually have a winning record against Boston this year, winning 2 of 3 matchups, but that comes with some pretty big asterisks; Jayson Tatum didn't play in one of those games, and the second win was just a few games ago when Boston rested basically its entire team while preparing for the NBA Playoffs.
This has been a weird, injury-riddled season for Orlando, which didn't make the leap that fans expected this year. Expectations in October were sky high, then came crashing down in February, and now they're rising a bit as Orlando looks more like the team that started the 2024-25 season 15-7.
Staying competitive with the defending NBA champions would feel like a promising finish to a season, in my opinion. Orlando doesn't have the horses to beat the C's, but stealing a game or two would make the year feel less like a waste and more like a jumping-off point for 2025-26. Just get some more shooting, guys. Please.
Anthony, Magic thrash Hawks to secure No. 7 seed
Orlando's play-in win was a true team effort, and huge performancessfrom some unlikely sources — Cole Anthony (26 points) and Anthony Black (16 points) — propelled the team to a massive fourth quarter in which they outscored Atlanta 41-22 and caused Trae Young to be ejected due to frustration.
The NBA play-in is an odd event because the stakes, frankly, are low. But winning the play-in still feels important. We all become prisoners of the moment, sure... sorry the moment is fun!