Suns and Magic advance after dominant play-in wins

Jalen Green (Google Images)

Heading into Saturday’s action of the NBA postseason, I have one word. That is finally. Finally, the NBA Play-In tournament is over and we can get the postseason down to business.

What we saw on Friday night were two anticlimactic contests with the Orlando Magic and Phoenix Suns coming away as convincing winners. The Magic defeated the Charlotte Hornets 121-90 and the Suns defeated the veteran Golden State Warriors 111-96.

Now the prize for Orlando and Phoenix will be a first round matchup against two well rested high potent clubs–the Detroit Pistons and Oklahoma City Thunder. Good luck. The question is not if the Pistons and Thunder will win their respective series. The question is whether or not we need to get out the brooms as two four game sweeps are definitely a possibility.

In Orlando on Friday, the Magic had a dominant first half where they outscored the Hornets 68-37. All five Magic starters reached double digits in points. Power forward and former first overall pick Paolo Banchero of Seattle, Washington had 25 points, small forward Franz Wagner of Berlin, Germany had 18 points, center Wendell Carter Jr. of Atlanta, Georgia had 16 points, shooting guard Desmond Bane of Richmond, Indiana had 13 points and point guard Jalen Suggs of St. Paul, Minnesota had 12 points.

Meanwhile, in Phoenix, the Suns also had double digit performances from all five starters (and six players overall) with shooting guard Jalen Green of Merced, California leading the way with 36 points. The former Rocket had 71 points in the two play-in games.