Black’s poster dunk highlights Magic win over Grizzlies
BERLIN—Paolo Banchero had 26 points and 13 rebounds for the Orlando Magic on Thursday.
He also had some words on what could be the year’s best dunk.
With about two and a half minutes left in a game that was tied at 107, the Magic’s Anthony Black went on transition and soared for a dunk against four Memphis Grizzlies that highlighted the NBA’s first regular-season game in Germany.
“That was ridiculous,” Paolo Banchero said on Amazon Prime Video’s postgame show after Orlando’s 118-111 victory. “One thing about AB is when you see him running that floor, you have got to give him the ball because he can do stuff like that on the break. As soon as I saw him do that cross step, I knew he was going to go up to dunk it.
“I don’t know why all of them guys jumped.”
The dunk seemed to energize Orlando, which used it as a trigger for an 11-4 finishing kick that iced the game.
Franz Wagner had 18 points and nine rebounds in his return to the Magic lineup. Wagner had missed more than a month with a high ankle sprain, but was able to return in his native country and play alongside his brother, Moritz Wagner, for the first time in more than a year.
Moritz Wagner tore his left ACL on Dec. 21, 2024, and returned earlier this week. He had seven points in 14 minutes on Thursday.
Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 30 points, Santi Aldama had 18 and Cedric Coward had 17 for the Grizzlies, who have lost seven of nine. Memphis’ Ja Morant was sidelined with a right calf injury, but NBA Commissioner Adam Silver expressed some optimism that the two-time All-Star will play on Sunday when the Grizzlies and Magic meet again in London.
Black eventually finished with 21 points for the Magic, who have won three of four.
The Grizzlies took a 52-32 lead midway through the second quarter, but the Magic got back within nine by halftime and then went on a 13-0 run for an 84-73 advantage late in the third.
Memphis rallied and led 105-102 on GG Jackson’s layup with 4:05 left in the game. Franz Wagner tied it with a three-pointer and then helped the Magic close it out by scoring five points in the final 1:39.
The NBA played its first preseason game in what was then West Germany in 1984. At the time, there were 10 international players on NBA rosters.
This season opened with a record 135 international players, including 71 from Europe. —WITH REPORTS FROM AP
