ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orlando Magic are starting the season in the loss column after falling 132-125 to the Atlanta Hawks on opening night inside the Kia Center.
Though the result is not what the Magic were looking for, they had a strong showing from Paolo Banchero, who was extremely efficient with 35 points on 10 of 12 shooting with 10 assists going 12 of 16 at the free throw line. Even beyond the box score, Banchero impressed the coaching staff with his performance.
"Yeah, I mean I loved his aggressiveness," Magic head coach Sean Sweeney said postgame. "I thought he did a great job of really trying to put pressure on the defense, and I think he can be even better. But he did a great job in a lot of areas, and I thought he did a good job of drawing the defense, attacking, finishing. Obviously, he shot it very well, got to the free-throw line a lot. So, did a great job there and can keep getting better."
Paolo Banchero Could Unlock Another Level
The questions regarding whether Banchero could take another step in his development have permeated all offseason long. The Magic are building their team with him as the centerpiece of the ecosystem on the offensive end, and he is proving that he is capable of taking that responsibility on.
It was similar to what he was able to do in Game 5 of the playoffs against the Detroit Pistons, where he had 45 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. The major difference in this game was the shot quality.
Banchero didn't have to settle for tough twos very often. A good majority of his shots that he took against the Hawks were open looks that were generated off of strong ball movement from his teammates. It's not a surprise that the team was able to score 125 points with him as the leading scorer.
The defense could use some cleaning up, but that's half of the battle already taken care of. The offense looked night and day compared to last year, which was one of the pressing issues the team had to tackle early in the season.
With that taken care of, the Magic find themselves closer to accomplishing their goal. Now, they have to go out and put it together on a more consistent basis to get that tally in the win column.
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