The Orlando Magic around the two German basketball world champions Franz and Moritz Wagner have secured a place early at least in the play-in tournament of the North American professional league NBA. The team from Florida won its home game against the Charlotte Hornets 112:92 and celebrated its 41st win of the season in its 69th game. This means that Orlando has secured a place among the top ten teams in the Eastern Conference.
Against the Hornets, Magic coach Jamahl Mosley relied on rotation in his team; no player was on the field for 30 minutes. Moritz Wagner finished the game with 13 points, surpassing his younger brother Franz, who contributed eleven points.
In the NBA’s play-in tournament, the four teams in seventh to tenth place in each conference play two participants in the playoffs after the main round. The best six teams are automatically seeded. While Orlando is already assured of a top 10 spot, a place in the top six is also within the realm of possibility. The Magic are currently ranked fifth in the East.
Schröder with his fourth defeat in a row
Meanwhile, Dennis Schröder and the Brooklyn Nets’ chances of participating in the postseason continue to dwindle. The team from New York City lost against the New Orleans Pelicans 91:104 and suffered their fourth defeat in a row. Schröder was in the starting lineup and put a third of his shots into the basket. At the end of the game, the 30-year-old had twelve points. As eleventh in the Eastern Conference, Brooklyn already has four fewer wins than the Atlanta Hawks in tenth place.
In the Texas duel between the Dallas Mavericks with Maximilian Kleber and the San Antonio Spurs with super talent Victor Wembanyama, the Mavericks retained the upper hand with an away win. Dallas won at the Spurs 113:107 and remains within reach of the top 6 in the Western Conference – despite an unusually flawed performance from top star Luka Doncic.
The Slovenian only hit six of his 27 shots from the field and had to settle for a meager 18 points by his standards. Kyrie Irving was his team’s best scorer with 28 points, while Kleber contributed five points. On the Spurs side, Wembanyama had twelve points and eleven rebounds.
In the top game of the Western Conference between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Denver Nuggets, the reigning champions from Colorado prevailed. The Nuggets won in Minneapolis with 115:112 and left the Timberwolves, who had previously had the same record, behind them as sole second place in the West. For Denver, two-time MVP Nikola Jokic once again excelled with 35 points and 16 rebounds.
