When the Orlando Magic players said their goal was to host games in the postseason back in October at the team’s media day, an NBA play-in tournament game wasn’t what they had in mind. However, hosting the Atlanta Hawks in a 120-95 blowout has gotten them as far as they did last year, making the first round of the NBA playoffs.

With a marked advantage in size on their roster compared to the Hawks, the Magic came out dominant, leading 32-17 after the opening quarter. The Magic distributed the ball on offense. Franchise player Paolo Banchero put up a team-leading seven points in the quarter with the squad recording eight assists and nine different players scoring. Atlanta star Trae Young was also held scoreless in the first quarter. Young wouldn’t post a field goal (without a goaltending call) until 15 minutes into the contest.

When asked how Orlando slowed him down early, Young mentioned he was adjusting to how they defended him . “They didn’t blitz me as much as I thought they would early on in the game. . . I figured they would blitz me more, so it took me a few possessions, a few minutes, to figure out how they were guarding me. . .”

The Magic kept their advantage after the second quarter thanks to 25 points off the bench in the first 24 minutes – more than they had in the game last week (24) when they clinched the seventh seed defeating Atlanta last Tuesday in their penultimate game of the regular season.

The quality of team basketball in the first half for Orlando is shown in the 17 assists they posted in the first 24 minutes. Starting center Wendell Carter Jr. heated up in the second quarter posting nine of his 19 points, including a three-pointer. That happened despite getting banged up and leaving the floor after playing for just over five minutes before the half. He returned to the game in the third quarter.

Young came to life for the Hawks, scoring 10 points before heading into the halftime. This was enough to reduce the Magic’s lead by one point to 61-47. He would finish out the third quarter putting up another 12 points, going from 0 to 22 points in 24 minutes.  Further evidence of Orlando’s traditional third-quarter struggles was no Magic player putting up more than four points as the team only mustered 18. Atlanta closed the gap to as few as three points before the third quarter closed, with the Magic clinging to a 79-73 lead.

Once the 3rd quarter was out of the Magic’s system, it was all Orlando for the rest of the game. Young was ejected having scored 28 points with five minutes left. By then, it was a lost cause for Atlanta.

Backup point Anthony Black’s 16 points are impressive, but perhaps his bigger contribution was his role in containing Young to the point where frustrations led to his early exit. Not to be outdone, Cole Anthony led the Magic in scoring with 26 – twice as much as star Franz Wagner who finished with 13 and 13 rebounds for a double-double.

The Magic bench finished the contest with 57 points while Wagner and Banchero combined for 30 points.

Defensively, Orlando also held the visitors to only four three-pointers of the 21 they tried for 19% compared to the 11 shots they sank of the 39 they fired from beyond the arc. The reason for the difference in shot attempts could be attributed in part to the Magic dominating in the paint, grabbing 54 rebounds to Atlanta’s 42.

The Magic will face the Celtics in Boston on the road next week to kick off their best-of-seven series.