For the Charlotte Hornets, winning Friday night’s play-in game and earning the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference would cement the 2025-26 season as one of the most successful campaigns in recent franchise history.
Even with a win Friday, the Orlando Magic will have a lot more work to do to meet their expectations.
The Hornets and Magic will meet to determine the last piece of the Eastern Conference postseason field Friday night, when Charlotte visits Orlando in a battle of Southeast Division rivals.
The winner Friday will earn the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference and advance to a first-round series against the top-seeded Detroit Pistons which is slated to begin Sunday night.
The Hornets, who finished in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with a 44-38 record, advanced to the final round of the play-in when LaMelo Bell hit the game-winning layup with 4.7 seconds left in overtime to lift host Charlotte past the 10th-place Miami Heat, 127-126, in the first elimination play-in game Tuesday night.
The Magic, which finished eighth in the East with a 45-37 record, fell into the elimination play-in game after losing to the host Philadelphia 76ers, 109-97, on Wednesday night,
The frantic and controversial win over the Heat continued a breakout season for the Hornets, who haven’t made the playoffs since 2016 – by far the longest drought in the NBA.
Coby White forced overtime by draining a 3-pointer with 10.8 seconds left for the Hornets, who survived Tyler Herro’s errant 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Charlotte squandered a five-point lead in the final 26 seconds of the extra session before Ball – who was fined $35,000 on Wednesday for what was assessed upon review as a flagrant 2 foul on Bam Adebayo that forced the Heat star from the game in the second quarter – scored the winning points.
Miles Bridges blocked a layup by Davion Mitchell at the buzzer, after which Ball capped his expensive night by uttering a profanity during a live interview. The 24-year-old was also fined $25,000 for the profanity.
“At the end of the day, execution is not always going to be perfect,” Hornets head coach Charles Lee said. “But I think that these guys find a way to stick with it and not give in sometimes when things aren’t going well or not going your way.”
Things have not gone the way the Magic anticipated when they began the season as one of the favorites in the Eastern Conference. Orlando won just four more games than last season despite the addition of Desmond Bane, who played all 82 games, and the return to the lineup of Paolo Banchero and Jalen Suggs, who missed a combined 83 games in 2024-25.
The Magic, who are attempting to make the playoffs for the third straight season, squandered an opportunity to earn home court against Philadelphia by falling to the Celtics – who sat their top seven scorers – in Sunday’s regular season finale. Orlando shot 39.6% from the field in the loss.
Orlando then shot 40.7% on Wednesday – the first time the Magic has shot below 41% in back-to-back games since consecutive losses to the Cleveland Cavaliers from Jan. 24-26.
“You live with the result and come out Friday in front of the home crowd and go get a win,” Banchero said. “That’s all you can do. Shots didn’t fall, but you can’t be discouraged. We’ve got another game coming up real soon.”
