Paolo Banchero had a triple-double and the surging Orlando Magic cooled off the visiting New Orleans Pelicans with a 121-106 victory on Thursday night.
Banchero finished with 20 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds as the Magic (42-28) won for the 13th time in 16 games. Jalen Suggs scored 22 points, Franz Wagner had 18, Moritz Wagner added 14 and Cole Anthony had 10.
Trey Murphy III scored 21 points for the Pelicans (42-27), who lost for just the second time in nine games. Zion Williamson had 20 points, CJ McCollum finished with 18 and Brandon Ingram added 14 before leaving the game for good early in the third quarter after injuring his left knee. Herbert Jones chipped in with 13 points.
The Magic increased their nine-point halftime lead to 13 before Ingram went down barely two minutes into the third quarter and had to be helped to the locker room.
The lead grew to 14 points twice before McCollum and Murphy each made a 3-pointer to trim it to 76-69.
Franz Wagner scored the next four points and Suggs followed with four more to increase the lead to 84-70. Banchero scored seven points, and Orlando took a 95-75 lead at the end of the third quarter.
New Orleans scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter, but the Magic answered with four straight points to build the lead to 99-85 with 9:19 remaining, and they coasted from there.
The Pelicans raced out to a 21-9 lead with 4:39 left in the first quarter. Suggs made two 3-pointers and added two free throws that completed a 6-0 run to help trim Orlando’s deficit to 28-23 at the end of the first quarter.
The Magic continued their run by scoring the first seven points of the second quarter to go up by two. Ingram made three consecutive field-goal attempts to give New Orleans a 34-32 lead before the Pelicans went cold.
Moritz Wagner, Jonathan Isaac and Anthony each made a 3-pointer to help Orlando open a 47-36 lead. Williamson made three layups to help the Pelicans get within 57-48 at halftime.
–Field Level Media
