Anthony, Magic claim 7th seed with 120-95 win over Hawks in Play-In Tournament

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Cole Anthony came off the bench with 26 points and six assists to lead the Orlando Magic to a 120-95 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night in the first game of the Play-In Tournament.

Paolo Banchero had 17 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the Magic, and Wendell Carter Jr. added 19 points and seven rebounds. Anthony Black scored 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting off the bench in the Magic’s first appearance in a play-in game.

Earning the Eastern Conference’s seventh seed after a 41-41 regular season, the Magic will start their first-round playoff series at Boston on Sunday. Orlando split its four games against the defending NBA champs this season, but the Celtics rested their top six players in a loss at Orlando last week.

“It’s a great opportunity to play against the best team in the league, and they’re the champs still until somebody beats ’em,” said Magic coach Jamahl Mosley. “What they present is a lot of challenges, and we have to try to find a way to figure that out.”

Trae Young led the Hawks with 28 points and six assists before getting two technical fouls and an automatic ejection with 4:47 left in the game.

“I thought we did a good job on Paolo and Franz (Wagner),” said Hawks coach Quin Snyder, “and they had some other players who really stepped up and made plays.”

The Hawks, who have reached the playoffs through the play-in route in two of the last three seasons, will play at home Friday night for the eighth spot against the winner of Wednesday night’s game at Chicago between the Bulls and the Miami Heat.

Banchero and Black produced most of the offense and the Hawks scored just two points in the final 6 minutes of the first quarter, and the Magic led by as many as 22 late in the first half.

The Hawks cut the gap to three and had a chance to tied the game when they turned it over with 2:36 left in the third quarter.

“They went on their own run and we weathered the storm. We didn’t let them back in the game from that point on,” Anthony said. “We got stops, we pushed the pace and we held a really good offensive team to 90 points.”

Anthony, who averaged 9.4 points in an injury-plagued season, made 10-of-17 shots including 4 -of-9 3-pointers.

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