The Orlando Magic took a 1-0 lead over the Detroit Pistons in their first-round playoff series with a commanding 112-101 win on Sunday, and much of their success came from the play of Paolo Banchero.

The performance by Banchero, in which he scored 23 points on 53.3% shooting from the field, earned the praise of Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony.

“You know, I think this version of what we saw from Paolo today, I personally think that he really announced himself in this postseason,” Anthony said on NBC’s NBA Showtime. “He did it against the Detroit Pistons team, a very good Detroit Pistons team, defensive team. He just played the whole game, a complete game today.

“He took advantage of the mismatches,” Anthony added. “He took advantage of the double teams. He passed out the double teams. He took his shot. He didn't force a lot of shots. But the most important thing, he played most of the game from 15 feet in.”

After struggling through the final regular season game and the Magic’s first game of the NBA Play-In Tournament, Banchero has vastly improved. With Game 2 on Wednesday, he remains focused on the larger goal.

“Yeah, I would say it's a step in the right direction for the team, for this group, obviously with our past track record on the road in the playoffs,” Banchero told the media after Sunday’s win. “And yeah, I mean, we just got to get ready for Wednesday, see what we did well, what we can clean up. Obviously, expect them to come out with a lot of energy and we just got to be ready for it.”

After defeating the Charlotte Hornets on Friday to punch their ticket to the playoffs, Banchero and the Magic understood the type of energy and effort it would take to compete against Detroit on the postseason stage.

“Yeah, I think it's something we just really harped on the days before the game, just what it was going to take in terms of just our communication and how together we were coming in here on the road,” Banchero said. “And I just thought we did a great job of just having huddles, talking in the timeouts, and just being on the same page. Whenever stuff started to go a little left,we just came together and got back on track.”

Despite the regular season not going as planned, Banchero and his teammates did not dwell on the past and instead looked to make the most of the opportunity in front of them.

“I mean, there's nothing you can do to go back and change what happened,” he said. “At the end of the day, we're here in the playoffs, and we have a chance to go and do what we've set out to do since October. 

“So like I said, you can't get too caught up in what happened in the regular season and the frustrations. And you've got to just come together, realize that we're fully healthy right now, and we feel like we're clicking as a group.”

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