The Orlando Magic Win Again With Last-Second Bucket vs. Lakers | HOOPS, 2/25/26
Orlando's won six of their last eight, Boston's huge run vs. Phoenix, and much more.
The Tip-Off: This Graphic Blew My Mind
When did the price of a medium fry hit $4.11?!
Tuesday’s Games By the Numbers
76ers - 135 at Pacers - 114
26 min - Joel Embiid played just 26 minutes after missing five straight games with shin soreness and knee injury maintenance but he made them count. Embiid notched 27pts/6r/5a to help Philly cruise to the 21-point win.
2pts - TJ McConnell came off the bench to score 7pts for the Pacers but two in particular stand out as he faked a hamstring injury following a layup, much to the chagrin of his team’s bench.
Thunder - 116 at Raptors - 107
6 - Six Thunder players outscored Chet Holmgren (7pts/9r) to help OKC’s balanced attack vs. the Raptors.
27pts - Cason Wallace tied his career-high with 27pts/8r/7a to lead OKC to the win despite still missing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams.
Wizards - 98 at Hawks - 119
6 - The Hawks cruised to a huge win despite only getting six minutes from Jalen Johnson. The star was forced out with a hip injury early in the first but somehow was still able to record 5pts/3r/2stl in that brief appearance.
36pts - At one point in the third quarter Atlanta held a 36-point lead on Washington, 100-64.
24 min - Jonathan Kuminga made his long-awaited Hawks debut, filling the stat sheet with 27pts (9-12 FG)/7r/4a/2stl in just 24 minutes of action.
Knicks - 94 at Cavaliers - 109
23 - 11 - The Cavaliers used a 23-11 third quarter advantage to pull away from the Knicks and eventually claim the 15-point win.
8/9 - Cleveland stays hot, winning eight of their last nine games.
2018 - The Knicks’ shot 3-24 from the field in that third quarter, their worst shooting performance in a quarter since they shot 3-20 vs. the Celtics back in 2018.
Mavericks - 123 at Nets - 114
20 min - Marvin Bagley III had yet another productive appearance for the Mavericks, notching 22pts/5r in just 20 minutes of action off the bench. He’s been quietly looking better and better as the season has gone on.
Heat - 117 at Bucks - 128
4/5 - Milwaukee picked up their fourth win in five games on Tuesday and now sit just 1.5 games out of 10th and the final play-in spot.
12 - Giannis Antetokounmpo missed his 12th straight game as he continues to recover from a calf strain. Milwaukee is now 10-16 without him this season.
Warriors - 109 at Pelicans - 113
13pts - In his first game action since January 2025, Dejounte Murray scored 13pts in 25 minutes to help the Pelicans knock off the Warriors.
21 - 85 - The three-point shooting was abysmal for both sides on Tuesday as they shot a combined 21-85 from deep.
1 - Zion Williamson notched his first made three-point shot of the season. He’d only attempted three all year heading into the game.
9 - Golden State remains hit with the injury bug as only nine players dressed and saw game action.
26 - Zion Williamson made his 26th straight start this season, the longest streak of his career.
Hornets - 131 at Bulls - 99
8 - The Hornets have now won a franchise-record eight straight road games.
1 - The Hornets were also one shy from setting a franchise record for made threes in a game, they finished 25-57 from deep.
32pts - Matas Buzelis scored a career-high 32pts to lead the Bulls but no other Chicago player had more than 11pts.
19 - The Bulls also committed 19 turnovers, leading to 29 Charlotte points.
58 games - Hornets’ rookie Kon Knueppel became the fastest player to reach 200 made threes, hitting the mark in just 58 games. He shot 3/6 from deep for the game, giving him 201 total made threes so far this season.
Celtics - 97 at Suns - 81
50 - 11 - At one point Boston was down 41-30 in the second, until they unleashed a massive 50-11 run to flip the game completely. Playing without Jaylen Brown, Boston used a balanced attack to sustain the huge run into the third quarter, leading by as much as 80-52.
Timberwolves - 124 at Trail Blazers - 121
3 - Jaden McDaniels is now only one of three Wolves players to record 27+pts, 3+stl, and 5+blk in a game. The other two? Kevin Garnett and Karl-Anthony Towns.
9% - This was an extremely tight game back and forth, Minnesota shot 49% from three (17-35) while Portland was 14-35 (40%). Those three buckets helped make all the difference.
Magic - 110 at Lakers - 109
1 - The Lakers are now 25-1 this season in games where they’re leading entering the fourth quarter.
6 - 21 - The Lakers’ big three went just 6-21 from three for the game, part of the team’s overall poor shooting night (9-29 from three).
6/8 - The Magic have now won six of their last eight games, pulling within a half a game for sixth in the East.
The NBA vs. the Pacers
One of the hottest topics in the league has been tanking and this season, it feels like a lot of attention has been focused on the Indiana Pacers as they navigate a down year without Tyrese Haliburton. Last week the Pacers were one of two times fined for resting players1 and Tuesday, we got some more insight into the topic.
Pacers’ coach Rick Carlisle was doing a radio appearance for The Fan Morning Show where he revealed discussions the team had with the league before being fined $100K.
"There was a league lawyer that was doing the interview that kind of unilaterally decided that Aaron Nesmith, who had been injured the night before and couldn't hold the ball, should have played in the game... We asked them if they wanted to talk to the doctors, our doctors about it, because it's something that was documented by our doctors and trainers. They said no, they didn't need to. They talked to their doctors who did not examine Aaron Nesmith, and we asked them if they wanted to talk to the kid, and they said no, they didn't need to. So this was shocking. This was shocking to me. And during the interview they also asked if we considered medicating him to play in a game when we were 30 games under .500. So I was very surprised. You know, obviously didn't agree with it.
- Pacers’ coach Rick Carlisle on the team being fined $100K
If the league really pressured the Pacers to play Nesmith without talking to the medical staff first and suggested they should medicate him to play, that is a huge issue that needs to be addressed immediately.
The NBA did release a statement via Sam Amick of The Athletic.
Honestly though, this response raises more questions than answers. They don’t dispute the suggestion that the team medicate Nesmith so he can play.
They also don’t explain why they needed an independent physician instead of consulting with Pacers’ team doctors.
Indiana even being made the example for tanking is a strange situation. The Pacers haven’t had a top-four pick in like, 40 years.2 Not to mention this team was in the NBA Finals LAST YEAR and were a Tyrese Haliburton injury away from potentially winning the whole thing.
At the Buzzer
- Blazers’ Shaedon Sharpe (stress reaction) to be re-evaluated in 4-6 weeks3
- Read: Mirin Fader has an excellent profile on Dejounte Murray
- Bulls’ Anfernee Simons still recovering from wrist fracture4
- Quinten Post and Brandin Podziemski appear to get into it during a timeout
Key Games Tonight
Spurs at Raptors
Thunder at Pistons
Celtics at Nuggets
Thank you so much for hanging out and checking out today’s HOOPS. I hope everyone reading this is doing well and having a good week so far. Thank you again for your time.
Take care.
The Utah Jazz being the other.
Indiana has never had the first overall pick in the draft and previously picked 2nd back in 1988 when they drafted Rik Smits. Since then, 6th has been their highest pick (Benedict Mathurin in 2022).
Super unfortunate because Sharpe and Scoot Henderson have only played one minute together this season due to injuries.
Simons reportedly played through the fracture earlier this season, not missing a game for the Celtics. Further proof that if the Celtics call about a trade, just don’t answer.