Paolo Banchero took the court tonight with his Orlando Magic in the NBA preseason against Luka Doncic\’s Dallas Mavericks, and the Italian boy finally played as the first overall pick.
19 points scored on 13 shots attempted, finishing 6/13 from the field and 2/4 from long distance in almost 22 minutes on the court. To the 19 he also added 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 stolen ball. Not bad after two fairly colorless performances of 8 and 9 points.
Paolo Banchero tonight:
19 PTS
5 REB
2-4 3PHe had more points tonight than his first 2 preseason games combined (17). pic.twitter.com/Q0lkWlhWbk
– StatMuse (@statmuse) October 8, 2022
Dallas and Doncic are still in the midst of preseason, with the Slovenian phenom only being on the floor for 17 minutes and 48 seconds, putting up 16 points. He was not his team\’s top scorer, however, as Christian Wood did better with 23.
Coming back to Paolo Banchero, he finally showed all his qualities and Orlando needs him and his baskets to break away from the bottom of the NBA standings.
Let\’s see if he is now definitely unblocked or was a small glow in a very complicated preseason. Certainly tonight he showed that he has the numbers to make a very good impact in the NBA right away, but now he has to give continuity, and we know that is very complicated, especially as a very young player and with all the pressure on him.
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