Field Level Media
Jan 6, 2020
Markelle Fultz scored 12 of his career-high 25 points in the fourth quarter, and the Orlando Magic made all the plays down the stretch to record a 101-89 victory over the visiting Brooklyn Nets on Monday night.
Fultz posted his second career game with at least 20 points, surpassing his previous career-high of 20 points on Dec. 3 at Washington. He shot 11 of 20 from the floor and made a handful of dynamic plays down the stretch.
The Magic missed 11 straight shots bridging the final 4:17 of the third and the first five minutes of the fourth before Fultz's layup snapped a 78-78 deadlock with 6:58 remaining. He hit another layup and drained a corner 3-pointer to make it 85-78 with 6:09 remaining.
Fultz then finished off the win by converting a 3-point play with 2:31 left for a 94-82 lead.
Reserve D.J. Augustin added 16 points for Orlando, which outscored the Nets by a 26-18 margin in the fourth quarter and shot 43.8 percent for the game.
Wes Iwundu contributed 12, while Nikola Vucevic went scoreless until midway through the third quarter but finished with 11 points and 24 rebounds. Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier contributed 11 apiece as the Magic won for the third time in four games.
Spencer Dinwiddie and Joe Harris scored 16 points apiece to lead the Nets, who continued to struggle in fourth quarters. After getting outscored 38-22 in the final 12 minutes of Saturday's loss to Toronto, the Nets shot 7 of 23 in the fourth.
The Nets took their first lead since the end of the first quarter when Wilson Chandler's spinning floater gave them a 78-76 lead with 8:57 remaining. Brooklyn did not hit another basket for nearly six minutes and missed 12 straight shots as Orlando surged ahead.
Brooklyn shot 33.3 percent overall and was held under 90 points for the third time this season. The Nets also shot 21.3 percent (10 of 47) on 3-pointers en route to their ninth loss in 12 games.
Orlando took its first double-digit lead at 43-33 on a layup by Augustin with 3:37 remaining in the second quarter and, ended the first half on a 14-6 run to take a 52-39 lead by halftime.
Vucevic finally scored his first points with 6:22 remaining to give Orlando a 64-52 lead, but the Nets ended the third on a 14-6 run and got the deficit down to 75-71 entering the fourth.
--Field Level Media