ORLANDO, Fla. -- With 3:20 to go, Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane got up after getting tangled with Miles Bridges, and Bane had a big smile on his face while the Magic had an even bigger lead over the Charlotte Hornets.
Bane and Jalen Suggs smothered Bridges before Bane bowled over the Hornets forward as he was going for the ball. Bridges turned the ball over, was called for a loose-ball foul and a technical foul for pushing off Bane as he was trying to get up.
Bane repeatedly nodded his head mouthing, "yeah!" as the Magic were on their way to a stunning 35-point first-half lead. In a do-or-die play-in game for the eighth seed in the East, the Magic summoned their most complete game and destroyed the Hornets 121-90. Their 31-point win is the largest margin of victory by any NBA team in a play-in game, according to ESPN Research.
Orlando avoided what would have been an incredibly frustrating and underachieving season marred by injuries and inconsistency by playing inspired, connected and physical basketball. The Magic travel to Detroit to play the top-seeded Pistons in Game 1 of their best-of-seven series on Sunday.
"We showed a video this morning, that these guys have all been in the NCAA tournament," Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said. "You talk about the 'One Shining Moment.' These guys have all played there, they know you're one-and-done. And that was it tonight.
"You either have a chance to end your season or start a new one. That defense in the first half, was probably about as elite as we have seen in a while."
If there was a blueprint for how Orlando is designed to play, it was this game. The Magic bullied the Hornets with their physicality on both ends, played suffocating defense that turned the Hornets over 14 times for 22 points in the first half alone and looked like the team that entered the season considered to be a top-four team in the East.
"When you play with a sense of desperation and urgency, when you know you're either going home or extending your season, that's what it looks like," Mosley said after the game. "There (are) no second chances."
Charlotte -- which overcame a 4-14 start to the season and became one of the hottest teams in the league owning the top-ranked offense (120.7 ORTG) and fifth-ranked defense (110.2 DRTG) since Jan. 1 in the regular season -- was hoping to snap the longest playoff drought in the NBA at nine seasons.
They came in with confidence off an emotional 127-126 overtime win over the Heat on Tuesday in the 9-10 Play-In. And the Hornets were 3-1 against the Magic this season, winning each of the last three meetings by 15 or more points.
But instead, the Hornets looked shellshocked in the first half.
Not only was Orlando stifling on defense but the Magic repeatedly leaked out for easy baskets following missed shots or turnovers, scoring 24 fastbreak points.
The Magic went on a 26-6 run that spanned from the middle of the first quarter to the start of the second and Charlotte never recovered. The Hornets didn't even reach 30 points scored until the 3:02 mark in the second quarter.
Orlando led by as much 68-33 with 1:16 left in the second quarter.
"We dug ourselves a hole that was too big," said Charlotte star point guard LaMelo Ball, who finished with 23 points. "We couldn't get out of it.
"We knew they were going to be real physical... but sometimes it's just the way is game is called.... It's all learning lessons. You live, you learn. You evolve."
It has been a roller coaster-like season for the Magic. They traded four unprotected first-round picks, a first-round pick swap, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Cole Anthony to pry the coveted 27-year-old Bane from the Memphis Grizzlies last summer. Bane was supposed to open things up for Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. But the Magic never could put things fully together and Wagner missed 48 games this season due to injuries.
After losing 109-97 in Philadelphia in the 7-8 Play-In game on Wednesday, the Magic decided not to let their season end at home. A physical Banchero had 25 points, six assists and five rebounds against Charlotte after totaling 18 points and missing all five of his 3-point attempts against the Sixers.
"Great players, you got to respond," Banchero said. "That's what they pay you to do. You can't just settle for subpar performances, especially in situations like this, do or die, win or go home, got to show up for your teammates and set the tone. I thought I did that. I thought Jalen did that. I thought Anthony Black, Desmond Bane, everybody. I thought we all set the tone coming in."
The Magic know they will need a lot more of this if they are to have any chance of upsetting the Pistons.
"There's a physicality to this game that's going to be real," Mosley said of the Magic and Pistons playing a similar brand of physical basketball. "... There's going to be a lot of aggression. There's going to be a lot of physicality. It's going to be a dogfight."