Despite Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun combing for 65 points, the Orlando Magic almost came away with the win against the Houston Rockets on Sunday without the services of Paolo Banchero and Jalen Suggs.

It was a duel that went to overtime, but the Rockets largely came away with the victory thanks to making the most of timely possessions while Orlando failed to convert nine free throws and lost the rebound battle badly. Still, NBA analyst and host of Hoops Tonight Jason Timpf was impressed with the Magic's performance.

"The Magic actually controlled this one throughout," Timpf said. "They played really good defense. They forced Houston into a lot of turnovers and did some damage in transition. Desmond Bane and Franz Wagner were both really good throughout."

The Magic maintained a two-possesion lead for most of the second half and led 90-79 with 9:08 remaining before allowing the Rockets to go on a 16-4 run to take a 95-94 lead with 2:49 left in regulation.

"Houston makes their run in the fourth quarter, and we ended up with a really fun half-court battle between Franz and Desmond Bane, and Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun. And the Magic did some damage there. Desmond Bane was attacking Jabari Smith and switches and was doing some damage. They got obviously out in transition off of some of Houston's mistakes. But Houston looked terrifying down the stretch of that game"

The Magic had another chance to close it out late when Durant fell while trying to corral the inbound pass, allowing Anthony Black to come up with a steal and a transition dunk that became an opportunity for a 3-point play after he was fouled. Black however missed the ensuing free throw, allowing Houston another possession in which Sengun hit a buzzer-beating floater to send the game to overtime.

"It got a little trickier than it needed to be because there was this crazy possession late in the game where it was tied and Houston had a chance to go win it," Timpf added. "It got tougher for Houston than it needed to be. But Ime Udoka drew up a beautiful sideline out-of-bounds play that tied the game and sent it to overtime. It got Snegun really deep post catch versus Jonathan Isaac, where he was able to just catch and immediately turn over his left shoulder and shoot that little patented hook."