

The Orlando Magic used a massive fourth quarter surge to overcome a double-digit deficit to defeat the Toronto Raptors on Friday, 130-120.
The Magic entered the fourth quarter down by 13 points before administering an offensive onslaught to outscore the Raptors, 44-21, in the final 12 minutes. According to the Magic’s PR team, Orlando’s 44 points fell just shy of tying its franchise record for the most points in the fourth quarter, which was 45 set on Dec. 30, 1990, and Jan. 26, 1994.
“I thought we were just competing,” Bane said after leading his team with 32 points after hitting 7-of-10 3-point attempts. “I think we, I mean, we switched everything one through five for pretty much that whole quarter.
And it was like, guard your yard, take on that challenge, you know, guarding whoever's in front of you, and you know, they say party on the other end. And I thought that was our motto that whole fourth quarter.”
Bane had plenty of help on Friday night, as each of the Magic’s starters finished with 14 or more points. Guard Anthony Black added 25 points, 14 of which came from a perfect night at the free throw line; center Wendell Carter Jr. scored 23 and Paolo Banchero added 20 points.
It was the first time since Feb. 10, 2020, the Magic have had four players with 20-plus points in the same game.
“They were just finding each other, finding the right things,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said after the game. “If you notice in moments, one time it was AB, one time it was Jalen, one time it was Paolo, one time it was Des.”
Mosley also heaped praise on Carter Jr., who notched his third 20-plus point game of the season.
“And then the unsung hero to me in this is Wendell Carter Jr,” Mosley said. “Didn't say a word, guarded how he needed to guard, rebounded when he needed to rebound, and then he got rewarded just for being under the basket.
But he never said a word. He just did his job, which he does every single night consistently. And that's what we continue to need from him.”
For Carter Jr., the performance he provided was rooted in just doing what was necessary to win.
“I'm just doing what was needed to get the win,” he said. “You know, it's kind of been the topic of just getting back in that winning column, you know, dropping two, winning two, winning one, losing one. So, I just went into this game, no matter if I was scoring points, getting rebounds, blocking shots, I just was setting good screens for others.
You know what I'm saying? I just told myself coming to this game, I'm going to do whatever is needed to get this win tonight.”
The Magic have won consecutive games for just the second time in the last two months, and to Mosley, it is indicative of what the team’s potential is.
“I think it just continues to say what we're capable of doing. You look at the other night; we held them to 20 and scored 40. I think it's those things, when you understand exactly how good you can be in these moments, what you have to do. We can sit and watch this and learn from it what we're capable of doing.”
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