Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – The Orlando Magic kept up their bid for an automatic playoff berth with an 123-107 upset over the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons on Monday. Paolo Banchero scored 31 points and Desmond Bane added 25 as six Orlando players finished in double figures to overpower a Detroit side still missing the injured Cade Cunningham. Jalen Duren and Daniss Jenkins led the Detroit scoring with 18 points apiece, but the Pistons, who have already clinched the top seeding from the East, were shut down by the Orlando defense.
“Everything with our team starts on the defensive end,” Bane said. “When we get stops, we get out in transition. The way we’ve been sharing the ball — a lot of different guys contributing up and down the roster.” Orlando’s victory left them tied with the Charlotte Hornets and Philadelphia 76ers — all three teams are on 43-36 with four games of the regular season remaining. The Magic, Sixers, and Hornets are all half a game behind the Toronto Raptors, who occupy the sixth and final automatic playoff berth in the Eastern Conference standings.
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Philadelphia missed the chance to move level with the Raptors on Monday after suffering a 115-102 defeat on the road against the San Antonio Spurs in Texas. Superstar Victor Wembanyama suffered an injury scare for San Antonio, leaving the game early in the second quarter to undergo treatment for what the team said was a left rib contusion. The Frenchman, who is in the running for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award, checked back in to play a few more minutes at the end of the first half but sat out the second half.
“I think it would be a positive that he felt like he could come back and he played the last four or five minutes of the half,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said of Wembanyama. The Sixers’ Joel Embiid scored a game-high 34 points, but San Antonio bagged their 60th win of the campaign with another trademark all-round offensive effort that saw six players post double-digit points totals.
Elsewhere, Jalen Brunson scored 30 points with 13 assists as the New York Knicks rallied to secure a wild 108-105 road win over the Atlanta Hawks. Brunson’s tally included 17 points in the fourth quarter to steer the Knicks to a win which edges them closer to securing the third seed in the East. The game ended in dramatic fashion with Atlanta’s CJ McCollum launching a three-pointer from inside his own half on the buzzer that would have forced overtime at 108-108. But replays showed McCollum had just failed to get the ball out of his hands before time expired, and the score did not stand.
In the late game, the Denver Nuggets edged ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers in the race for the Western Conference third seeding with a come-from-behind 137-132 defeat of the Portland Trail Blazers in overtime. Nikola Jokic finished with 35 points, 14 rebounds, and 13 assists as Denver fought back from a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit to secure a victory which saw them improve to 51-28, just ahead of the fourth-placed Lakers who have a 50-28 record.
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