Everybody In: Orlando Magic TRUSTS Paolo Banchero & Franz Wagner to DELIVER in Playoff Thriller

It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

Hey everyone, this is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network.

Thank you for being here because your support means everything.

And if you're looking for another way to support the show that you love, while getting

something awesome in return, check out the Every Day or Club.

You get ad free episodes of your favorite Lockdown show, access to a member's only group

chat for fans of your team, and you can even jump into the national chats and talk about

whatever's happening across the league.

Tap the Every Day or Club link in the show notes to learn more.

The Orlando Magic slogan for the last three playoffs has been everybody in.

And it took everybody and trusting everybody to get a game three victory today on Lockdown

Magic.

You are a Lockdown Magic, your daily Orlando Magic podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast

Network, your team every day.

Hey, and you are indeed a Lockdown Magic today is April 25th that will eventually be

April 26th, 2026.

My name is Philip Ross.

I'm the senior writer over at Orlando Magic Daily.com on today's episode of Lockdown Magic.

This wasn't just about one player, it wasn't just about one play, it wasn't just about

anything else.

It took everybody to win game three and retake control the series to one how the Orlando

Magic's trust has been built to deliver the series.

We all hope they'd have plus Halloween care on front song are also really good in the

fourth quarter and and kept the magic in the league.

We'll talk about how star power is still the factor to watch in this series.

We'll get to that coming up here in just a moment.

But first today's episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to my game time download the game

time app, create and account use code locked on.

If you want to be in the Kia Center Monday night, you can get $20 off your first purchase.

And blazing everywhere in the building here at the Kia Center is the slogan everybody

in.

That nice little little slogan is a nice little kind of playoff moniker.

It's meant to aspire to the kind of collegial atmosphere that the magic have built under

Jamal Mosley and this kind of togetherness that this team has.

It is cute.

But in so many of the magic playoff successes over the last three years, it has become not

just this cute little saying in this cute little phrase and this nice marketing slogan that

maybe you like, maybe you don't.

It's actually been the most important thing.

And game six, two years ago against Cleveland Cavaliers, yeah, Palo had a great game and

a big shot.

But it was the coal Anthony put back offensive rebound that clinched that game.

Similarly, it took everybody and it has taken everybody for the magic to overcome what

is despite what this series looks like at the moment, a very good Detroit Pistons team,

a 60 win Detroit Pistons team.

I know y'all hate me for giving the other team a lot of credit, but this is a really good

Pistons team that the magic are outworking, outtuffing, out physically, out Mosley and

just plain beating.

They don't have the best player in the series.

That is Kate Cunningham and I do want to talk a little bit more about him later on in the

show as well as a little bit more on him on Monday's episode, the four game four.

Kate Cunningham is by far the best player in the series.

And he is and has shown himself very capable of taking over games and giving the Pistons

their chances and both game one and now in game three.

It was Kate Cunningham who led the rally that got the Pistons into the lead by one point

after trailing by 15 early in the fourth quarter.

It was Kate Cunningham that had everybody probably in the world believing, oh, there's

the same old Orlando magic.

But this is what the magic did during the timeout when the game was tied at 104 and the

Pistons did eventually take a 104 lead because the magic didn't score out of that timeout.

The magic kind of looked each other in the eye and said zero, zero, four minutes to play.

And from then on, the magic dominated after after fouling Kate and giving him and the

Franz was kind of a cheeky foul, but after fouling Kate, they gave a nine oh run.

They gave this team the finish that they needed and wasn't because of one player, although

Franz had five of those nine points.

Palo had three of them on a three that bounced way high off the back of iron and in late

in the game.

I'm going to talk about what Palo and Franz it because what they did was important.

But it was more about the defense because the magic did score the last nine points of

the game.

They got down and they defended ugly defense blocking a cage shot late, digging out a rebound,

making these ugly, ugly plays and at the end of the day, like everything the magic

are doing is built on trust.

That Franz Wagner three is only three point make of the game came because Palo drove to

the middle lane and kicked it out to France didn't try and force something.

I don't want to talk more specifically about Palo's game in a minute because Palo had

a really like a not like an old time or playoff game, but a really good playoff game.

Doing almost exactly what the magic need from him on his bad shooting games and he could

have bet I'm the star I'm going to force that shot, but instead he trusted his teammate.

Trust is everywhere with this team and that's why it is everybody because everybody on this

team had a part to play in getting this victory and we're going to go through the box

score and get to all that stuff, but it was, you know, Palo's consistency, it was Desmond

Bay hitting seven of nine from three, which probably gets buried because he didn't make

many of them in the fourth quarter, magic needed to get him more involved.

We could get into all that.

It was when no Carter grabbing 17 rebounds and making Jalen Durham look completely

unplayable during recovery and that is a bit a bit of concern, but they made them put

Paul read it because Jalen Durham couldn't do anything.

It was Jamal Cain coming off the bench for seven points, making a huge tree and probably

adding another which didn't get taken off the board.

It was again, all five starters and double figures for Orlando, a very big key, all five

starters for the magic with a positive plus minus.

It was the magic keeping their turnovers low and digging in defensively, running a switching

scheme on Cade Gunning M that mostly bottled him up and mostly made his life very, very difficult

even if he had little pockets where he could score.

That doesn't happen because one player is great.

That doesn't happen because the team is fractured and all over the place.

That happens because there's been three years of trust built with this team and maybe

the one advantage we haven't talked enough about in this series is that for the most part,

this magic team has more playoff experience than the pistons.

Like yeah, the pistons took the next to six last year.

But this magic team has been through these battles before and for whatever criticisms

that people want to lay at the pistons, and certainly national criticism of the pistons

is that it's just Cade, it's only Cade.

The magic do have more, they can find a way to deploy their offensive weapons correctly.

They do have more, but that's been kind of the problem all season.

It's not just that they don't deploy their offensive weapons correctly.

It's that there has been some fracture.

This team hasn't always been on the same page.

This group hasn't always been able to execute the way that they need to execute.

And when things get hard, they do tend to like go into a ball.

That's what happened in game two.

This magic team wants to be a lot better.

Like again, even through all the worst parts of this season, you could tell they were trying

to figure out and just maybe not finding it completely.

But now that the chips are down, everyone was oh no, last week.

Now that the chips are down, now that the playoffs are here, that trust, that belief, that

camaraderie, that whatever you want to call it, is all there.

And it has led the magic to this a one 13105 victory where they led by as much as 17 in

the fourth quarter, where they were in control for most of the game, outplaying out physically

one of the most physical teams in the league, making them extremely uncomfortable, still

making a ton of mistakes, but not letting that waver their defensive effort, not letting

that take them down as much as anything else.

As Franz Wagner said after the game, they felt leaving game two that that was more about

their mistakes than what Detroit did and I tend to agree, not that Detroit's bad, Detroit's

very, very good.

But that was about the magic's mistakes and how the magic let those mistakes compound.

That did not happen one bit in game three.

And so all that trust, all that experience together, all of that came to the front.

And I got the magic humongous win to stay up in this series and have the potential to go up

three one on their home four on Monday. Of course, it was a close game.

It did require some clutch finishing and we did see some of those familiar magic frustrations.

But this time, Palo and Franz stepped up how the magic's two stars delivered coming up here

in just a moment.

But first, today's episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to my friends over at Indeed Workplace chaos,

deadline stacking up inbox overflowing in the one position you have to fill, still sitting open

when the pressure's on and you need the right hire. This is a job for sponsor jobs. Indeed,

sponsor jobs helps you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for, skills,

experience, location. So you're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles across your post.

And here's a staff that says it all in the minute that I'll be talking to you today.

Companies like yours may 27 hires on Indeed, according to Indeed Data Worldwide.

So if you're hiring, spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check

all your boxes with Indeed sponsor jobs because when you need the right person to cut through the chaos,

that is a job for Indeed sponsor jobs. And listeners of the show will get a $75 sponsor job credit

to help get your job. The premium status it deserves at Indie.com slash podcast.

Just go to Indie.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed

on this podcast. Indie.com slash podcast terms and conditions apply need to hire. This is a job

for Indeed sponsor jobs. Today's episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to

our friends over at Fandall. The NBA playoffs are here where every possession matters,

every matchup is magnified and every game can swing a series. And right now Fandall is giving

new customers a great way to get in on the action. Here's what I like about it. You can bet just

$5 and get 250 in bonus bets if you first bet wins. The app makes it easy to follow the actual

player stats, trends and matchups all in one place. So during the playoffs that extra insight

really matters. We're looking at stars, role players and key moments. It just makes the entire

playoff experience that much better. I don't know if we're going to have the line out quite yet

for game four. I'm going to check it real fast. It is still Saturday afternoon, but game four line

is out actually. And the pistons are once again favored by two and a half. The scene amount

they were favored by entry today's game. So if you want to jump in and say, Hey, the magic

we're going to win straight up. We're going, we're going up three, three, one. This is just

you have to do it. Head to Fandall.com to get started. Fandall play your game.

You want to thank you again for making Lockdown Magic part of your day every day. We want to

thank you for helping make the Lockdown podcast. I work the number one sports podcast now.

Or if you haven't done so already, go check out our every day or club because who knows,

maybe the season's going to last a little longer than we thought. With the every day or club,

you get access to the ad free audio feed of this show as well as access to our to our Lockdown

Discord server. We can chat with other NBA and other magic fans. A lot of activity in the Lockdown

Magic server today as the magic one game three. Appreciate all of you for jumping in plus.

If you're in that server, you get access to my three thoughts after every quarter. I should kind

of share what I'm thinking about, what I'm watching, what I'm noticing. As the game is going on,

that is not public. That is only four by subscribers. You can check it out today at lockdownmagic.supercast.com.

That's lockdownmagic.supercast.com. As much as I want to give love to the role players,

and look, we should. Jalen Sucks had a really good game. Desmond Payne had a really good game.

Wendell Carter had a really good game. Anthony Blapt had some good things. Jamal Cainless

fantastic. We'll get to all of those guys coming up here at our third segment when we go through

the box. We're going to talk a little bit about where the magic are going to continue to hit some

road bumps and why this is still a series. Nothing's won yet. We're halfway there, but nothing is won

yet. Playoff games still come down to your stars. Playoff games still come down to the ability of

your best players to make tough shots and to be factors when the game is online. The magic had

Kate Cunningham in handcuffs all game long. This is as bad as good as you're going to play against

Kate Cunningham. He finished with 27 points. He was just eight for 23 from the fourth, three for 10

from three. He had five rebounds, nine assists, and nine turnovers. Huge credit. I want to talk more

about Franz Wagner's defense on Kate Cunningham on Monday's episode, but just absolutely fantastic

defensive game plan on Kate Cunningham. This series, they had seven turnovers on Wednesday. It is

not a flute that he's starting to ball over. The magic I think are doing a good job mixing up when

they switch when they don't and kind of throwing them off on that front when they switch. They're

very aggressive on their switching. It's been really, really effective. So I do want to give that

it's due course and talk a little bit more about that in the near future.

But he stepped up in the fourth quarter. He got to the foul line. I think he had six free throws,

five five or six free throws in the in the fourth quarter. He was able to get to a spot,

get shots. The magic defense got loose. And frankly, he just beat some pretty good defense.

That's what stars do. And argue with me about it if you want, but Kate Cunningham is the best

player in this series. And it is a truism and is a maxim that if you have the best player in the

series, you have a really good chance of winning. The magic stars have been inconsistent.

Like I hope that's not controversial. Say Frans Vager is still very clearly working his way back

from the injury. Again, it's been a few weeks. He's he's getting better. Like his defense has gotten

back. Like he's back to playing really, really strong defense, which I think is more important.

But offensively, he still looks a step slow. It doesn't quite have the burst and explosiveness that

he's had in the past. And it's been a bit of a struggle.

Palo Bancaro has had this weird up and down season. Like even admitted, like he missed two

dunks in this game and he can't understand why. It's been that kind of a series. It's been that

kind of a season for Palo. And he's been searching all year for the right way to make an impact.

All that matters in these games again, like we could go for the narrative all we want. But

ultimately what determines the narrative of the series and the narrative of each player and each team

is whether you win or not. That is all that freaking matters. Whether you win the basketball,

and that's what the magic did. So obviously we're going to talk about things in

a positive light. I don't think I would have talked negatively about Palo in this game.

If the magic had lost, it would just been like, okay, like he just doesn't have it. Like we saw,

he's close. We saw that he can do some things, but he just doesn't have it.

But those last four minutes with the game in the balance, the magic star stepped up. And it was

really no one else. The magic's two stars took them home. Shot clock winding down, down by one,

Franz Wagner. It's a crazy turnaround jumper over the defense. A shot that you see hasn't been

hidden. Since he came back from the injury, he nails it. And then the next play after the

magic get a stop. And again, the defense was the thing. Magic held the helmet pistons scoreless

after they took the 105-104 lead. After the magic get a stop, they get back out and transition.

Palo isolates, I think Tobias Harris, I think that's who he isolated. Got to the middle lane, got

the defense to collapse, kicked it to Franz. And Franz, who's been struggling from three,

so it's coming back, hits this humongous shot. Now the magic grew up four.

And then Palo falls up with the three that just hung in the air. The basketball gods blessed him

for taking the shot, bounced up in the air and bounced right back in. Even he seemed surprised

that it finally fell in. And the magic have their victory. Game over, because their defense wasn't

given an inch after after that timeout. Their defense wasn't really given much to Detroit and they

bottled up Cade down the stretch. Baker mislead, right? It's for Palo specifically though, it's not

just that late game success. Palo had a weird game. Like you look at the box score, you're not going

to be super impressed. He was six for 17 from four, two for five from three. Not super impressive stuff.

But even when he was struggling to make shots, I think he was three for 13 at one point.

Even when he was struggling to make shots, you could see him like fill in the box score.

He ended with 12 rebounds. He ended with nine assists. This would have been one heck of a triple double.

He was still always aggressive, but never too aggressive. Then he kind of lose the plot or

slow the game down too much. The ball really moved. Like there was a flow to this team,

even though they weren't shooting great, there was a flow to this team. And yeah, making some

threes early that does mean being hit seven threes made his first five in the game.

All of that is super duper important. And yeah, we'll talk a little bit more about

Beth Desherman. All of that is really, really important. But what's important is that Palo kept that

pressure on. Palo did not slow down just because the shots weren't falling. He stayed committed on

defense. I thought his defense was pretty solid today. Still one of the weaker links on the team,

but that's because there's good defensive team. He made plays. He helped with Durham,

like helped a ton with Durham. And so inevitably, like, there was this positive impact throughout the

course of the game. Palo finished with a plus six plus minus. And like, obviously, the run at the

end of the game, a big part of that. My magic brought him in a little earlier to try and step

the tide. And Palo was scoring with Kate. He was going shot for shot with Kate for a little

bit. It was just like, oh, they're getting free throws. Palo had a shot blocked at the rim. Like,

there's still a lot for Palo to recover. And I don't want to make this all about Palo, but Palo is

a big part of this. But Palo, whereas maybe a month ago, two months ago, like, he'd let some of

these struggles affect his energy. Like that's been my thing all year with him is you can't let the

frustration affect your energy. You've still got to give this team something. You got to find a

way to contribute. And that's what refreshing this season has done. Refreshing the season saying,

we're oh, no, heading into the playoffs has revitalized this team and their mindset and their

energy. And Palo is a playoff performer. Like, he's not putting up the gaudy stats that he put

up against Boston or against Cleveland. But this dude is a playoff performer. And the biggest

thing that he is learning to do and the biggest thing that he has done this series and what he did

tonight is find a way to contribute, find a way to make a positive impact. That's what superstars

do. That's what all stars do. Can't cutting him struggled with that for a good chunk of the game.

Not that the pistons were worse with him on the floor. But Kane could only score. Magic did

such a good job kind of bottling him up, keeping him kind of in their box that they want to keep

him in. And he couldn't do much else besides score. And when you tried to pass, he turned to

ball over as much as he was getting assists. That's that's good defense. Number one, the stars just

find a way. And yeah, enemy playoffs are about your stars. Magic don't win this game without

Palo and Frons. And Palo and Frons are really struggling the first half of Magic led by eight at

halftime. And I, I think I told people in the discord server, they're going to need one of

Palo or Frons to step up and finish this game. And what did Palo do? This is how the Magic built

their lead. Palo got to the Fallon. He had eight free throw attempts in the third quarter.

He stayed aggressive, especially when Jalen Durham went out. He went at Paul Reed.

That's what stars do. And most importantly, stars finish games. There's been a lot of

questions about Palo and Frons. And a lot of them in legitimate Palo had a rough season.

Did not have the season everyone imagined he would have. Frons is coming back from the

century. He does not look 100% or does not look like full playoff level Frons.

The Magic needed both to step up and close this game after after the way Detroit came back.

And they both delivered. Game set match. Let's run through the rest of the box,

we're then we'll talk a little about where the Magic found a lot of success, where the Magic

still struggled. We'll get to that coming up here in just a moment.

But first today's episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to by our friends over at Game

Time. There's nothing like playoff basketball live. This is my part of the episode around

until you great job by the Kia Center and brought the energy all night long. Blackout was

awesome. Look great. I hope it looked good on TV. The fans, the fans were ready to show up and

deliver for the Magic and get this win. If you want to be part of Game 4 and be part of it

unforgettable moment and be in the arena when it happens, use Game Time. Game Time makes

incredible easy to find tickets, even those hard to get playoff games in just a few taps. And with

Game Time guarantee, you know you're getting 100% authentic tickets on time at the best price.

Game Time makes it easy to find great seats in just a couple minutes. You can use the app to

see what you're going to pay. The price that you see on the seating chart is the price you're

going to pay. There's no hidden fees. Plus, you can get a digital view of your seats, you know,

exactly what the court's going to look like when you're at your seat. Take the guesswork out of

buying tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account and use code Lockdown

for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code Lockdown

L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today.

This is Jake from Lockdown. When the game's on the line, the best no end to pass. Because the

right assist can change everything. And off the court, it's no different. That's where your state

farm agent comes in. Whether it's protecting your car, your home, or helping you prep for the

unexpected, they'll help set you up with a game plan that works for you. Like a good neighbor,

state farm is there. Covered options are selected by the customer. Availability and eligibility

vary by state. As we do after every game, once it runs with the final box scores,

they're line of magic to feed the Detroit Pistons 113-105. Big game from Powell Bank,

Carol, 25 points, 11 from 14 from the line. Make a free dose. 12 rebounds, 9 assists,

only three turnovers. Added two blocks, just a really, really solid game for Powell. Again,

I wouldn't call this an all-timer game from Powell. I wouldn't call this a, oh, he did everything

right. And this is why he's a super-duper star. But when you're struggling, this is the kind of

game you have to have. Still making a positive impact, finding ways to fill the box score,

finding ways to make things happen. Huge credit to Powell. He played awesome. Desmond being also

added 25 points. And frankly, we are not talking enough about Desmond Bane on the show and save

him for Monday. But this was a, this is why you get Desmond Bane. Desmond Bane was eager to come

back out here tonight. Was eager to make some shots after missing them in games one and two. And

eager to put his stamp on this game. Bane finished with 25 points, nine for 18 shooting, seven for

nine from three. Seven rebounds, really just a strong, strong game. But when he makes threes,

obviously, this team is very, very different. Look, a big reason why the magic won is they went

15 for 33 from three. There was going to be a game in the series where the magic made threes.

And frankly, I'm not sure this is the one and certainly the one for Desmond. I don't think he's

going to make seven threes in another game. That's that tied a magic playoff record held by Dennis Scott.

I don't think this will, this will be, I think there will be another like three or four. Desmond

won't have another seven three point game. But I think there might be another hot shooting three point

game was really not a lot of other players shot well from three. Jalen Suggs was three for eight,

which is okay. He had some big ones though. Wendell Carter was over five. Palabin Carrot, two for five.

Franz Wagner, one for two. It's a black one for three. This might be the shooting game. And so

like the magic had to win the shooting game. That's a big, that's a big thing for me. It's like,

okay, there's going to be some outlier games here now. I'll talk a little about Detroit's outlier

game and why this is a bit of a problem for the distance in a moment. But Desmond Bane going off

like that just it's again, it sets the tone. You made five three pointers in the game. It's first five

three pointers. He got really hot early. And that just gives this team so much confidence. You know,

reason why the ball is moving so much is they trust everyone to make shots. That trust diminishes.

That's why I think trust is such a big thing in this in this series. That trust diminishes when

they miss some of those open shots. And that's when he starts to keep pressing trying to force things,

turning the ball over a little bit more. But they're moving the ball and they trust each other to

make shots like that changes everything for this team. And and makes this offense look like

functional. It makes this offense look good. I'm going to pull up their

advanced box score here in a minute so I can give you their offensive rating. Or Lando finished

with an offensive rating of 117.7, which is pretty good, especially against this defense.

109.4 defensive rating is very, very good. So magic. Again, just a really complete effort. Again,

just you get you don't want offense to dictate your defensive energy. But when you're making shots,

it's a lot easier to defend because A, they're set. You don't have to worry about fast breaks.

And B, you're just feeling good. You're feeling confident. So that's what Desmond Bain did for the

team. A really fantastic game. He didn't cramp up a little bit at the end. Magic do need to make

it a point to keep him involved. I felt like in the fourth quarter, one of the reasons why they gave

up the lead is they started to slow to a crawl. And again, it's it's not wrong to bleed the clock.

But their offense was just moving slowly. They were trying to force the ball to palo and keep

delivered and got some shots there. But they're trying to force the ball to palo or fronds.

They weren't kind of running through sets. The ball wasn't moving side to side. It was just kind

of sticking in one quarter. That's something they got to correct. Again, you just got to keep the ball

moving when the ball was moving. Orlando at 21 assists on 36 field goal makes. Again, you want to

get that assist number a little bit higher up. But generally, I felt like throughout the game,

Orlando had good ball movement. They were they were hunting each other. They're they're they're

sharing the ball really, really well. And in the fourth quarter, things just kind of stalled a little

bit. We mentioned Jalen Suggs 15 points five for 12 shooting three for eight from three huge

three pointers in this game did have five fouls three really silly fouls at the end of the second

quarter that that that probably this probably should have been like a 12 13 point game at halftime

instead. It was eight purely just on Jalen Suggs Valley in the last two minutes. So got to be a

little bit more precise on that again. There's just these little mistakes like a turnover at the

wrong time. Too much fouling excessive fouling in this game. That's that's the biggest thing to

clean up is the magic just can't get in their own way. They just they left the door open

and Detroit was struggling to walk through it and then suddenly Detroit was through that door.

And they're like, Oh, they're here. Shoot. You know, magic responded well. Of course,

they were lost. This game was terrible. And and this game was in the balance like this was not

a game you could lose with the way that you played early in the in the contest. The magic took

their business. They got the win. You could breathe a sigh relief. They'll be more work to do for

Monday's game. Window Carter, the humble beast man, 14 points, five for nine shooting,

17 rebounds, eight offensive rebounds, did have four turnovers, something to work on,

some of them, some of them fouls, but he is he is completely outplaying Jalen Duren. Jalen Duren

is a non factor in the series. Like they played him off the floor. Like the pissants took him

with the game because of foul trouble, but frankly, he was just so ineffective. He is he does not

look like he is enjoying himself. The magic are pushing and grabbing and shoving him and

keeping him from getting to a spot. They're they're they're blocking him from rolling to the basket

effectively. Even when they switch, the pissants can't get the ball to him in advantageous

positions. And when he does get the ball, they're collapsing around him and really just again,

like the huge credit, Orlando is rebounding really well. Detroit's the best offense or second

best offensive rebounding team in the league. They only had 10 offensive rebounds in this game.

They finished with 17 second shades points. There's probably still too many. Orlando beat them on

second shades points with 19. And frankly, they were seven for 15. They should have gotten more.

Orlando had 14 offensive rebounds there. First ones to the glass. Really a lot of those 10 came in

the third quarter. I don't think the trick converted on many of them, but that's like again,

things where the door was left open. Orlando was just outworking them at almost every turn. And so

the pistons, they're not getting what they need from Durham, who's an All-Star and

deservedly an All-Star. It's had a fantastic season, but they are not getting what they need from

Durham. It is showing. And the fact that I mentioned this before the series that

Wendow Carter is going to have a very big factor to play in this series. If Wendow Carter,

I don't even think I said beat Durham. If Wendow Carter can break even or just be a little behind

Durham, you just have to be competitive in that matchup. If you could do that, the magic had a

real chance to win this series. Carter's beating him. That's why the magic are up to one.

Wendow Carter is making Jalen Dern like nobody. He is actively hurting Jalen Dern's negotiating

stance in his contract extension this summer. We didn't talk too much about Franz Wagner,

17 points, 7 for 18 shooting, 5 rebounds, 5 assists. I noted this in my preview on Orlando

Magic Daily. This series is really about starters versus starters. So when Franz Wagner

played tonight, he was plus 19. Magic were plus 19 in Franz's minutes. Obviously, he's still only

playing 3350. He's not playing his full cop of minutes, but they're starting to bump up closer

to it. He's still playing in shorter stents. You can still see him getting very, very tired out there.

But having Franz on the floor changes the whole geometry of the court and changes everything

for the magic. The pistons are treating him like he is fully healthy. And maybe one of the adjustments

in this series is if he catches the ball, wall him up and crowd him, but we don't need to worry

about him the same way we might. That honestly might be the big adjustment for the pistons is like

saying, Franz isn't going to beat us. Or let's play Franz as if he's at half speed or at 60%

or whatever it is. Honestly, if I'm Detroit, that's how I think I have to play him and not worry

about him as much. Because he's out there as a decoy. And you're treating him like he's full

Franz. He's got a struggle. He's got a struggle. And maybe that's what they want. I don't know,

but it's taking away from other things. So Franz is having a major effect. And again,

starter versus starters. I think this is a big, big point in this series.

All five magic starters, positive plus minus. And again, a lot of them in during the run in the

fourth quarter. So it's a big thing. Magic starters were all positive plus minus at game one,

all negative in game two. Obviously third quarter one was a big part of that. Today's game,

Osar Thompson, who was fantastic. This is a game that the, the, the pistons could not afford to lose

because Osar Thompson was so good. 17 points, two steals, eight rebounds, four offensive rebounds,

seven for 10 shooting. That's a game that the pistons have to win. When Osar score 17 like this,

they have to win. They didn't win. I don't know if Osar Thompson's going to have another scoring

game like this. Certainly he's causing havoc on defense. He was minus 10 in this game. Again,

he was so impactful defensively. Even in this game, the pistons had a one, the pistons had a

one 15.4 defensive rating with Osar in. That was almost the best of their, their starters, but

he's hugely impactful and is a non factor in the series. I was a non factor in this game. We're

not a non factor, but, but he's hugely impactful and the pistons couldn't win his minutes. Minus 10,

Tobias Harris had a great game. 23 points. Magic can't afford to let Tobias Harris get

loose like he did tonight. I think they want Tobias Harris to beat them. So the fact of the

magic won a game that where Tobias Harris did beat them and made some big shots. 23 points,

eight for 16 minus seven. Jalen Durin, as poorly as he played, eight points signed rebounds,

found out plus zero broke even. Duncan Robinson, three for seven from three, minus eight,

ten points for him. Kate Cunningham, 27 points, only plus two. And obviously again, a lot of

that coming at the end of the game, the magic starters won the game. Magic starters beat the

piston starts. It's not rocket science. Your best five versus our best five, the magic's best five

won the game. And I think that's huge for them. The Orlando Magic shoot 40.4% from four. So there's

still a lot of room to grow on that end. They're 26 or 33 from the foul line, getting more than,

I think the two keys in this series for the magic are get more than 30 free throws. Did that in

game two, but they lost, but getting more than 30 free throws is big. Turning them all over

fewer than 15 times. 14 turnovers for 19 points, not the best showing from them. When Detroit was at

their best, they were forcing turnovers, getting out and transition, magic need to just get them

up against their half court defense. Pissons, half court offense isn't great, but the magic are

set in their defense. They're pretty good. They've been good this series. At least they haven't

been pretty good all year. They've been good this series. Get the like not allowing them to get those

extra opportunities is huge. Winning the possession battles huge. Magic did that. They 416

turnovers got 24 points. They converted off the turnovers. Big part and they're still the

points left on the board. Big part of why the magic won this game. Like I mentioned, and we'll look

more ahead to game four on Monday, but I think Orlando's flow and movement was really good for the

first three and a half quarters. And then I think they slowed down too much and they went into

clock killing mode. That's been a problem all year. Magic need to continue to execute, keep moving,

keep playing and a good energy and a good flow. And they could have won this game running away.

Having said that, this is the magic. And they still fell into that bad habit. They still gave

away the lead. It was a clutch game only because they gave away the lead. They made the place they

had to make down the stretch. And at the end of the day, that's all that matters. We're all only

going to care that they want. But the magic continue to this this series continues to be about the

magic and less about the pistons. And again, I say that with all due respect to the pistons

and and and and understanding and acknowledging they are a great team and are in a big factor in

what I'm talking about here. But this series is all about how the magic execute. If the magic play

together, move the ball, share the ball, play with energy, make shots, not not always a given with

this team. If they do all those things, they are the ones in control. They've been more physical.

They've been more determined. They've been they've outworked this pistons team in two of the three

games. If the magic if the magic defense is a given now and maybe it shouldn't be, but it let's

let's call it a given now. This series comes down to whether the magic are able to crack the

pistons defense and they have been able to get good shots. Even in game two, they got good shots.

They missed them, but they got good shots. The pistons are still really tough in the interior.

The magic cannot let those frustrations beat them like it did in game two. But that's still about

the magic. It's not about the pistons. And so frankly, yes, Orlando's shakier because of what we

saw during the regular season. Like we haven't seen them do and play the way that they played in games

one and three consistently over the last six months. But the way they played in this series,

this is their series to lose. They're up to one. They've got home quarter vantage. Detroit's

going to come back stronger and harder on Monday. They're going to they're going to they're going

to come out and they're going to try and hit first. They're going to be more physical like

expect magic being bonus early again like they were on on on Wednesday. Orlando's going to have

to withstand all that and be resilient. And that's something that they were very good at in game one

and very good at tonight. But there's still a lot of work to do and Orlando can't keep that door

open. They can't make self-inflicted mistakes that cost them. Chances to win. Chances to close games

out. And that will be the challenge. That will be the big challenge heading into Monday.

But let's say it unequivocally now up to one halfway halfway to the second round. Home

court advantage. This is the magic series to lose. I'm not I'm not going to say full-throatedly

they're the better team. But they are much closer than the pistons certainly want to believe.

And a game three victory kind of tells them like hey you can't take us lightly anymore. We're here

and if you're not careful we're going to be heading back to Detroit one one away from upsetting you

guys. All that talk that Detroit's like over the one scene we've we've reestablished control.

Throw that out the window. Detroit's in a fight. And if they're not ready to fight the

the magic are going to beat them. That's exactly what they did in game three.

I want to thank you all again for listening to today's episode of Lockdown Magic.

Of course find me on Twitter at Philip R underscore on D and on blue sky if it works today

I'll at Philip RRE because subscribe to the podcast. I'm Apple Podcasts.

Children in Hemley, Google, Spotify, Odyssey and all of my seasonal podcasts do your podcasts

enabling advice. You can check this out on YouTube as well. Just search for Lockdown Magic.

For the latest on the Orlando Magic. Be sure to check out Orlando Magic Daily.com. You can find

us on Twitter at oh magic daily in for even more Orlando Magic content. Be sure to check out my

patreon page, your land magic hub at patreon.com slash Orlando Magic Hub or check out our every day

or club at lockdownmagic.supercast.com. That's lockdownmagic.supercast.com as always. Thank you

for your support. Now that you're listening to us if you're on video we're going to send you

to the first ever 24 seven National NBA YouTube channel on audio. Make sure you make your second

listen NBA game night on lockdown and be where I'm sure they'll be singing the praises of the

Orlando Magic or just completely befuddled that the magic are up to one in the series. Probably

both. Well, you'll hear from them on Lockdown NBA tomorrow. We'll be back on Monday Sunday night,

Monday morning to chat about the magic and resilience in this series. Desmond Bane and what the

magic need to do to get a game for victory. We'll see you all Monday. Have a great weekend of

Orlando Magic. Defeat the Detroit visits 113 to 105 from the key center. This has been Phil

Ross Wright of Lockdown Magic. We'll end the magic video. See y'all get next time for another episode

of Lockdown Magic.