ORLANDO, Fla. — Paolo Banchero missed 34 games, then came back and scored 34 points.
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The Orlando forward — back in the lineup for the first time in almost 2 1/2 months while recovering from a torn oblique muscle — gave his team a chance on Friday night, but the Magic fell to the Milwaukee Bucks 109-106.
“I didn’t see that one coming, I can tell you that,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “But that’s who he is. The kid’s been working his tail off to get back in. And so, what he was able to do with poise, taking the right shots at the right time, defending, taking matchups on, this tells you how much he wants to go get it and get after it. That’s who he is. He’s a star for a reason.”
Banchero was 11 for 21 from the field, plus added seven rebounds, three assists and three steals in 27 minutes.
“I had a lot of fun,” said Banchero, an All-Star for the first time last season. “I feel all right. Little sore. I think I performed pretty good.”
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He said the long recovery time following his Oct. 30 injury in a game against Chicago tested his patience, but he looked back to normal on Friday.
“I don’t think I’ve been in bad spirits at all,” Banchero said in an interview with The Associated Press regarding his return. “But it is frustrating. You know, I’ve never missed this much time since I started playing basketball. Going so long without playing, I mean, I was so ready for the season and then going down so early into it just makes you ask ‘why?’ sometimes.”
He got hurt in the fifth game of the year. The Magic played their 40th on Friday, one shy of the season’s midway point.
They did better than most probably expected during Banchero’s absence.
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The Magic — who have been dealing with a slew of other injuries, Franz Wagner’s torn oblique and Moritz Wagner’s season-ending torn ACL among them — entered Friday in the No. 4 spot in the Eastern Conference. They lost their first four without Banchero, then went 19-11 during the remainder of his absence. The Bucks leapfrogged the Magic for the No. 4 spot with Friday’s win, sending Orlando to No. 5 in the East.
“There’s a team-wide belief in each other that anyone can step up at any moment,” Banchero said. “Guys put in the work just to be ready for the moment. And you’ve seen that with different guys stepping up every night. It was just really encouraging for me to see us respond like that. Guys getting this experience, coming through in tight games, close games against good teams, that’s only going to make us better.”
Banchero didn’t take time away from the team with his injury. He sat in on coaches’ meetings at times and was always on the bench with teammates for games, cheering at times and consoling at others.
“I had to try to find the positives,” Banchero said. “I’ve been able to sit and watch and just learn the game through a different lens. But I, for sure, have a chip on my shoulder now. Feels like some stuff I had was taken from me for a little bit. And now that I’m back, I might have to make up for lost time.”
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