When the Orlando Magic put it altogether at the offensive end, they are one of the most dangerous teams in the NBA.

That’s the view of center Wendell Carter Jr. ahead of the Magic’s road clash with the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday.

Carter scored a season-best 28 points and Desmond Bane had 27 as Orlando (41-36) absorbed a 51-point haul from Cooper Flagg to defeat the host Dallas Mavericks 138-127 on Friday.

The Magic shot 56% from the field and 53.8% from 3-point range — both just off the team’s season highs — while dishing out 35 assists in a clinical master class in offense.

“That’s the beauty of this team,” Carter said. “I think from top to bottom, we’ve got guys who can go get it any night. When we play free, we play open, we play as one unit, I think we’re one of the most dangerous teams in the league. If we can continue to do that for these last couple of games, being in a good spot going into the playoffs, it will give us a really good chance.”

Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley was similarly impressed with the spark and selflessness he saw when his team had the ball in its hand.

“They did a great job of communicating with each other,” he said. “Their talk, their ability to share the basketball — you talk about 35 assists — moving it, sharing it, trusting the pass, playing with the right style of pace of basketball and really just trusting each other. That was great to see.”

Mosley also singled Carter out for special praise after the big man produced his best performance of the season.

“It’s big time,” Mosley said. “His presence at the rim is great for us. … He’s one of the most selfless guys we have, because he’s trying to do the right thing by this team. When he does that, the guys celebrate him to make sure he’s getting touches on the back end as well.”

The Magic, who entered Saturday a half-game behind the eighth-place Charlotte Hornets, are safely in the play-in tournament and still with a slim shot at a top-six berth and automatic entry into the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Pelicans (25-53), long out of postseason contention, have a more immediate, short-term goal — win their next two at home, starting with Orlando.

New Orleans crashed to its seventh straight defeat when it frittered away a 55-38 second-quarter lead to succumb 117-113 to the lowly Sacramento Kings. Jeremiah Fears poured in 28 points off the bench and Saddiq Bey added 20 for Sacramento.

Pelicans interim coach James Borrego was critical of his side’s defense, which deteriorated after a promising start.

“Bottom line, we gave up three 30-point quarters defensively,” he said. “I thought that was the game. … Bottom line, we just didn’t guard. Second quarter, third quarter, fourth quarter, 34, 30, 32, that’s just not going to be good enough.”

Borrego wants to see more urgency as his team embarks on its last two home games of the season.

“Just keep competing,” he said. “That’s the bottom line — just compete, sprint through the finish line, don’t give in. We’ll go home in front of our crowd for two games and compete. The goal at home is to win two games right now.”

Orlando has won the past eight meetings, including five by double figures. The Pelicans’ last victory over the Magic was on Dec. 23, 2021.

–Field Level Media

Kerry Carpenter, Zach McKinstry and Matt Vierling hit two-run homers and the host Detroit Tigers slugged their way to an 11-6 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday.

The game was called after 8 1/3 innings due to inclement weather and poor field conditions.

Carpenter, McKinstry and Vierling drove in three runs apiece. Gleyber Torres had two hits, including a homer, and scored twice.

Detroit starter Jack Flaherty was charged with five runs in four-plus innings. He allowed three hits and four walks and hit three batters. He also struck out six.

Brant Hunter (1-0) picked up the win, tossing one inning of scoreless relief.

Jordan Walker hit a grand slam and drove in five for the Cardinals. Starter Dustin May (0-2) gave up seven runs and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings. May walked two and whiffed four.

Detroit took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Colt Keith led off with a single that deflected off May. After a strikeout, Torres singled to center. When Victor Scott II mishandled the ball, Keith scored and Torres moved to second. Carpenter then hit his opposite-field shot.

St. Louis pushed across a run in the third. Ivan Herrera led off with a double and scored on Walker’s two-out single to left.

Detroit got that run back in the bottom of the frame. Kevin McGonigle singled, advanced on a wild pitch and groundout and scored on Carpenter’s sacrifice fly.

McKinstry’s homer, preceded by Dillon Dingler getting hit by a pitch, made it 6-1 in the fourth. The Tigers added another run in the inning when Parker Meadows’ fly ball fell in for a triple. He scored on Vierling’s sacrifice fly.

Flaherty hit JJ Wetherholt with a pitch and walked Herrera, leading to St. Louis’ five-run fifth. Alec Burleson doubled to drive in Wetherholt. After Nolan Gorman walked, Flaherty was removed in favor of Drew Anderson. Walker crushed Anderson’s second offering an estimated 459 feet over the left-center field wall to cut Detroit’s lead to 7-6.

After two-out walks to Riley Greene and Dingler in the bottom of the fifth, McKinstry followed with a run-scoring single.

Torres homered off Matt Svanson leading off the seventh. Vierling homered in the eighth off Chris Roycroft.

–Field Level Media

The Cleveland Cavaliers accomplished their first goal of the season by clinching a playoff berth during their three-game Western Conference road trip.

Next up for Donovan Mitchell, James Harden and the Cavaliers is locking up homecourt advantage in the opening round. They host the Indiana Pacers, who will be without All-Star forward Pascal Siakam and five other core players Sunday.

Cleveland (48-29) is comfortably sitting in fourth place in the East, 3 1/2 games ahead of the fifth-place Atlanta Hawks with five to play. The Cavaliers’ magic number for finishing fourth and gaining home court is two.

“Obviously, we want more, but yeah, we celebrate getting into the playoffs,” Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson said. “You never underestimate the importance of making it because we’ve all been on the outside at some point.

“It’s hard to be in that group who makes it. We’re happy to be one of them again this season.”

The Cavaliers qualified for the playoffs for the fourth year in a row with a 118-111 win at the Golden State Warriors on Thursday. It matches the third-longest postseason streak in franchise history.

Mitchell scored 25 points and Harden had 19 points and five assists, but Max Strus was the difference with eight of his 24 points in the final 7:07 as Cleveland ended the contest on a 24-13 run.

The Warriors trailed by seven in the fourth, then went up 98-94 on Gui Santos’ hoop. The rally was fueled by Cleveland’s Dennis Schroder being called for a flagrant foul on LJ Cryer, prompting a response from Draymond Green that earned him a technical.

“We shouldn’t be happy about this one, but I guess we’ll take it,” said Strus, who made a pair of 3-pointers in his late outburst. “We’ve got to get better on defense than we showed. We can’t be happy with that, but we’re happy to be going home.”

Center Jarrett Allen had 16 points and 13 rebounds in his third game back from right knee tendinitis that sidelined him for 3 1/2 weeks, but Atkinson said his workload will be lessened down the stretch.

One year after eliminating the Cavaliers in the East semifinals, injury-ravaged Indiana (18-59) is playing out the string as part of a three-team battle for the worst record in the league with the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards.

“That’s the NBA,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “We’ll have to see what it looks like for Sunday and get back the best we can.”

A glimpse of how Indiana’s entire season has gone played out Friday, when Siakam bruised his lower back and twisted his left ankle in the fourth quarter of a 129-108 blowout loss at the Charlotte Hornets.

Siakam, who was already battling through right knee soreness, scored a game-high 30 points and had seven rebounds before falling to the floor while giving extra effort. The injuries could end his strong season with a 24.0 scoring average.

“I can’t say enough great things about him,” Carlisle said. “He’s a great player and a great competitor, and he’s proven over the last 2 1/2 years to be a great leader. And he’s a hard worker about the right things.”

The Pacers also will be without Aaron Nesmith (cervical strain), Andrew Nembhard (lumbar soreness), T.J. McConnell (right hamstring soreness) and Ivica Zubac (rib fracture), who is out for the season. Tyrese Haliburton (right Achilles tear) has missed the entire season.

“Unfortunately, we’re in worse shape than we were going into the (Hornets) game,” said Carlisle, who added Ben Sheppard and his freshly bruised hip to the list. “We could be getting even thinner here.”

–Field Level Media