Paolo Banchero racked up 24 points and 10 rebounds and Franz Wagner added 24 points as the Orlando Magic handled the host San Antonio Spurs 116-105 on Tuesday in a late-season dustup with playoff implications.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 23 points for the Magic (37-40) while hitting seven 3-pointers and Caleb Houstan scored 12. Orlando is now tied with the Atlanta Hawks for seventh place in the East with seven games to play.
Harrison Barnes led the Spurs (31-44) with 24 points. Julian Champagnie added 19 points, Stephon Castle scored 16, Devin Vassell and Bismack Biyombo had 11 each and Chris Paul hit for 10 as San Antonio dropped its fifth straight game.
The Spurs led by five points heading into the fourth quarter, but Orlando rushed past them, taking a 95-93 lead on Jonathan Isaac’s offensive rebound and dunk with 6:25 to play.
From there, the Magic fashioned a 10-2 surge, capped by Wendell Carter Jr.’s three-point play to go up by 10 with 3:56 remaining.
The first quarter featured six lead changes before San Antonio went in front 22-21 on Champagnie’s 3-pointer at the 4:46 mark. Castle’s pull-up trey with 5.6 seconds left granted the Spurs a 34-29 advantage after 12 minutes.
San Antonio stretched the margin to six points on Castle’s layup two minutes into the second quarter. The Magic swung back with an 11-3 run, capped by Wendell Carter Jr.’s putback with 6:29 remaining in the period, to take a 47-45 lead. The lead switched hands four more times before a dunk by Barnes at the buzzer knotted the game at 61 at halftime.
Wagner led all scorers with 17 points before halftime, with Caldwell-Pope adding 14 for the Magic. Castle paced San Antonio with 12 first-half points while Champagnie had 11 and Barnes scored 10.
The third quarter was contentious but controlled by the Spurs, who led by 11 points after a free throw by Johnson with 2:05 to play. Orlando rallied to pull to within 84-79 when Houstan canned a 3-pointer with 24 seconds left.
