Paolo Banchero had a team-high 30 points and combined with Desmond Bane for eight in a late 12-0 flurry that sent the Orlando Magic on their way to a 121-117 victory over the visiting Sacramento Kings on Thursday night.
Bane finished with 23 points and Tristan da Silva 18 for Orlando (39-34), which snapped a six-game losing streak and moved into a three-way tie with Miami and Charlotte for eighth in the Eastern Conference play-in seeding race.
DeMar DeRozan paced the Kings (19-55) with 33 points, including two free throws that drew the visitors even at 95-all with 8:49 to play.
But the Magic scored the next 12 points over a 3 1/2-minute stretch. Banchero’s layup and two free throws began the run, while Bane dropped in a floater and a layup, sandwiching a short hook shot by Wendell Carter Jr. and a layup by Jamal Cain.
Sacramento went on a late 10-2 run of its own, culminating in Daeqwon Plowden’s clutch 3-pointer with 50.4 seconds left, but Jalen Suggs answered on the next possession with his own triple to ice it. The Kings lost for the fourth time in their last five games.
Banchero’s 30-point effort was his third in a row and 13th of the season. He hit 11 of his 22 shots while also tallying nine rebounds and a team-high seven assists.
Bane and da Silva buried three 3-pointers apiece as the Magic connected on 13 of 27 (48.1%) from deep.
Carter had a game-high 11 rebounds as part of a double-double with 10 points, while Cain produced 11 points off the bench.
DeRozan also recorded a double-double, just his second of the season, with a season-high-tying 11 assists to complement the 216th 30-point game of his career.
Plowden bombed in six 3-pointers in 10 tries to account for a majority of his career-high 23 points for the Kings, while Precious Achiuwa and Devin Carter added 14 points apiece, Malik Monk 13 and Maxime Raynaud 10.
Achiuwa was Sacramento’s leading rebounder with nine while also accumulating two assists, steals and blocks.
–Field Level Media
