ORLANDO, Fla. — The chance for redemption will come another day, maybe as soon as some point in the week ahead. That’s what Orlando Magic players and coaches hope for 23-year-old Franz Wagner and their team. They’re fighting to give themselves a chance to play another meaningful playoff road game and, this time, to win it.
Wagner played a terrific game Friday, leading the Magic to a pulse-pounding, must-win Game 3 victory over the Boston Celtics, 95-93. He produced the best all-around performance on an evening that also featured more heralded teammate Paolo Banchero, perennial All-NBA player Jayson Tatum and 2024 NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown. Not only did Wagner score 32 points, including Orlando’s final two baskets, but he also spent the bulk of his defensive night guarding Tatum and Brown, further establishing his credentials as a true two-way player.
“In Franz we trust,” Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. said.
One more step remains for Wagner to become a star and for the redemption he craves. He must play just as well, or close to it, in a road playoff game and help the Magic win it. That is something he has not done before, either last postseason or this postseason. That is the consequential step he and Banchero have yet to take.
Wagner has played almost as well in a few prior postseason games as he did Friday night. In a first-round Game 4 in Orlando last year, he scored 34 points and collected 13 rebounds to help the Magic tie their series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. In Game 6 in Orlando, with the Magic facing elimination, he scored 26 points in another victory.
But you might also remember what happened in the biggest game of Wagner’s NBA career. In Game 7 in Cleveland, a do-or-die affair in which the Magic led the Cavaliers by 18 points in the second quarter, Wagner turned in the worst performance of his NBA career. He made only one of the 15 shots he attempted and finished the game with a paltry 6 points. There were many reasons Orlando lost that afternoon, but Wagner was one of them. Distraught that he had let down his teammates, Wagner wept in the postgame locker room.
That is the hurdle he still must overcome. He has played great in home playoff games against excellent opponents, first against the Cavaliers and now against the Celtics. He hasn’t played close to his best in road playoff games, at least not yet.
At 6 feet 10, Franz Wagner has the height to challenge shots from the likes of 7-3 Kristaps Porziņģis but also the agility to defend guards. (Mike Watters / Imagn Images)
This series is an uphill battle for the Magic. The defending NBA champion Celtics have a defense that is the Magic’s equal and also has much more experience and far superior outside shooting. Game 4, which looms Sunday night at Kia Center, promises to be every bit as tough for Orlando as Friday’s game.
Perhaps all of this explains why Wagner and Banchero did not appear that emotional during their dual postgame news conference Friday night. Maybe they realized they had not accomplished much yet and that they have a long, challenging way to go before they can even entertain the possibility of upsetting Boston.
Even their usually accommodating coach, Jamahl Mosley, would not directly answer a question in his postgame question-and-answer session about how Wagner overcame last spring’s Game 7 disappointment. Instead, Mosley launched into a brief monologue about how his players merely had done what they were supposed to do Friday night: win a game on their home floor.
“I’m not going to go into what happened last year in these moments because right now it’s just one game at home, and that’s what we did,” Mosley said. “And we’ve got to make sure we get the job done on Sunday.”
Even though Mosley refused to look back to one year ago, he acknowledged that Wagner had just played a special game, grabbing seven rebounds and distributing eight assists with only one turnover.
“Both sides of the basketball is where he showed up big,” Mosley said.
With the score tied at 91, Wagner brought the ball upcourt when he recognized that 7-foot-3 Celtics center Kristaps Porziņģis was guarding him. Wagner dribbled forward, spun to his left and banked in a tough layup.
On Boston’s ensuing possession, after Tatum missed a midrange jumper, Wagner helped box out Al Horford, preventing Horford from grabbing the rebound.
With Orlando clinging to its 93-91 lead, Wagner called for a teammate to set a pick and caused Porziņģis to switch onto him again. With that mismatch, Wagner sped forward along the right edge of the lane and scored with a right-handed scoop layup.
Those two clutch baskets provided the Magic’s final 4 points of the game, a game in which Wagner played 38 minutes and expended as much energy on defense as he did on offense.
This is what the Magic front office envisioned when it drafted Wagner eighth overall in 2021: a 6-foot-10 wing who would terrorize defenders with his agility and ballhandling and cause fits for any opponent who tried to score on him. Wagner is close to fulfilling his two-way potential.
“I feel like, obviously, you got to be in good shape,” Wagner said. “But I think in the playoffs it comes down to who wants to win more, and every possession matters, and I take a lot of pride in playing both sides. So, whatever the team needs me to do, I want to help out however I can.”
He did that Friday night when his team needed him.
Game 4, and a chance at redemption, still awaits.
(Top photo: Mike Watters / Imagn Images)