Coby White scored a career-high 44 points for the Chicago Bulls in a 125-123 win over the Orlando Magic on Thursday night. The Magic have lost five straight games and seven of their past 10, dropping their record to 29-35.
Orlando had a chance to tie or win the game with 12 seconds remaining in regulation. But Paolo Banchero missed a 3-pointer and Wendell Carter Jr. grabbed the offensive rebound. However, his dunk that would have tied the score came after the buzzer.
With that skid, Orlando is now the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference standings. The Magic will still likely be among the bottom four seeds to participate in the NBA play-in tournament. But finishing as the No. 9 or No. 10 team means playing an extra game to win the eighth seed. Being the No. 7 or No. 8 team means one win would automatically make them the seventh seed in the playoffs.
The next few games don’t look much easier for Orlando with a five-game road trip that includes matchups against the Milwaukee Bucks (36-25), Houston Rockets (37-25), Minnesota Timberwolves (35-29) and NBA-best Cleveland Cavaliers (52-10).
Paolo Banchero and Cole Anthony each scored 20 for the Magic, followed by 19 from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Franz Wagner’s 18 points.
“It’s a funk and we’ve gotta fight our way out of it,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said afterward. “And so our ability to go on the road, regroup, reset our mind and how, what we need to do and band together on the road and continue to fight.”
White’s scoring outburst came with a variety of dunks, drives to the basket and deep 3-pointers. He shot 16-of-28 from the floor, making 7-of-15 from long range. He hit what turned out to be the game-winning shot with 1:28 left in the fourth quarter. Neither team scored for the rest of the game.
“Besides the scoring part of it, the leadership, the voice was great,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said of White’s performance, via the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Even when we would get a little frustrated, because it was a very physical game, [White] just kept messaging the guys, ‘Just focus on what we can control,'” he added. “Even just coming down the stretch, I thought he was a great calming force for our guys and just stayed in it.”
Josh Giddey nearly added a triple-double for Chicago, compiling 19 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists, while Tre Jones scored 20.
The win was only the third in the Bulls’ past 12 games, but the win over Orlando could provide a preview of what could be a play-in matchup between the two teams as the Bulls sit 10th in the East.
Chicago’s upcoming schedule looks more favorable with games against the Miami Heat (29-32), Brooklyn Nets (21-40), Utah Jazz (15-47) and Phoenix Suns (29-33). But an upcoming six-game road trip includes matchups with the Los Angeles Lakers (39-21), Denver Nuggets (40-22) and Sacramento Kings (32-29).
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