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Rockets 134, Magic 127: Magic can’t keep up as Rockets hit 24 threes

Paolo Banchero may have won the rookie battle, but the Houston Rockets won the three-point war.

Banchero had his second-straight 30-plus point game, while originally expected No. 1 overall pick Jabari Smith Jr. was limited to just three points, but Houston knocked down 24 threes in a 134-127 shootout win over the Magic at Amway Center.

The Rockets were connecting from deep from the jump, hitting six of their first 10 attempts to take an early lead. But while Houston scored from the outside, the Magic attacked inside, getting some easy buckets in the paint. Paolo Banchero scored nine in the quarter and Jalen Suggs added eight, including a pretty coast-to-coast lay-in.