By Josh Robbins, John Hollinger and Alex Andrejev
The Orlando Magic are through to the first round of the NBA playoffs, while the Atlanta Hawks have one more shot at advancing.
The Magic took down the Hawks 120-95 in the first Play-In Tournament game Tuesday night, locking up the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and a first-round date with the No. 2 Boston Celtics. Atlanta will face the winner of Wednesday’s play-in game between the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls on Friday. The winner of that matchup will clinch the No. 8 seed in the East and face the No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round.
In the Western Conference, the Golden State Warriors host the Memphis Grizzlies in Tuesday’s second Play-In Tournament game, with the No. 7 seed and a first-round game against the No. 2 Houston Rockets on the line. The loser of Tuesday’s game plays the winner of Wednesday’s Dallas Mavericks-Sacramento Kings contest Friday, with that winner earning the West’s No. 8 seed and a first-round meeting with the No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder.
Below are the key takeaways from Tuesday night, which will be updated after Grizzlies-Warriors.
Magic 120, Hawks 95
Tough defense gives Orlando edge
This is what the Magic’s front office had in mind when it constructed its team: a defensive-oriented group stacked with tall, rangy players who wouldn’t need outstanding shooting to win most regular-season games.
After struggling with its shooting most of the game, Orlando finished the East’s opening Play-In matchup 11 of 39 from 3-point range — and still won.
Shooting 28 percent from deep won’t be good enough on most playoff nights, especially against a No. 1 or No. 2 seed, but it was good enough Tuesday, in the prelude to the playoffs.
At halftime, Orlando led 61-47 — a 14-point margin — even though its players had made only five of their 20 3-point attempts. If that isn’t a quintessential example of winning a rock fight, then I don’t know what is.
The Hawks weren’t sharp, no question, and they’re going to regret not converting some of their easy opportunities. But the Magic made some of their own luck with tough defensive plays from the likes of Jonathan Isaac, Anthony Black and Wendell Carter Jr., who caused havoc with their height and long arms, contesting shots that, against many teams, would’ve gone in. — Josh Robbins, senior NBA writer
Jonathan Isaac with the putback 😤
fourth quarter otw pic.twitter.com/Wy4QIcMf8C
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) April 16, 2025
Magic need more 3s for chance against Celtics
So now the Magic will prepare to face the defending champion Boston Celtics in the first round. Saying that it’ll be a difficult matchup for Orlando is stating the obvious. Against the Celtics, the formula of winning a rock fight won’t be good enough. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White and Payton Pritchard are much too skilled for Orlando to win more than one game in the series without shooting far better from deep than they did Tuesday.
The Celtics finished the regular season with the league’s second-ranked offense, propelled by a league-best 17.8 3-point makes per game.
The Magic? They finished last in 3-point shooting percentage, making a league-worst 11.2 treys per game.
Case-in-point: With Orlando ahead 70-62 midway through the third quarter but Atlanta making a steady run, Atlanta’s Zaccharie Risacher drove baseline where he was met by Franz Wagner, who made a textbook verticality challenge. Risacher missed from 5 feet, and Wagner collected the defensive rebound. Twelve seconds later, the Magic generated a wide-open 3 for Cory Joseph, who was all alone in the left corner. Joseph missed that shot, and after that misfire, the Magic were shooting 6 for 26 from 3.
That kind of anemic long-range shooting won’t cut it in a playoff series against the Celtics — no matter how elite the Magic’s defense is. — Robbins
Stale shooting night sinks Hawks
Well, it was closer than the final score. The Hawks fell behind by 22 points in the first half, pulled within three late in the third quarter, and then were blitzed again in the fourth by a 35-14 Magic run.
Nobody can claim this was a big surprise. The Hawks are what they are at this point, with a lack of secondary shot creators to help Trae Young, limited 3-point shooting (just 4-of-21 on the night), and an easily bullied frontcourt. Even with second-year pro Mo Gueye — who was wallowing in the G League at midseason — performing gamely as an emergency starter, injuries to Jalen Johnson, Larry Nance Jr. and Clint Capela have left the Hawks shorthanded.
As usual, the Hawks leaned heavily on Young, who was on pace to play 44 minutes before his ejection late in the fourth quarter; he finished with 28 points on 8-of-21 shooting. However, he also finished with just six assists after leading the league in the regular season; in a related story, the Hawks failed to generate their usual surfeit of paint and transition points to offset their shooting woes.
On Friday they need to at least be good enough to beat the Miami-Chicago winner or their season will be over; a win gets them a reunion with De’Andre Hunter in a first-round series against Cleveland. — John Hollinger, senior NBA writer
(Photo of Cole Anthony: Nathan Ray Seebeck / USA Today via Imagn Images)
