Field Level Media
Feb 24, 2020
Aaron Gordon scored 12 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter and hit two clutch shots in the final two minutes as the Orlando Magic rallied from a 19-point deficit and posted a 115-113 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night in New York.
The fourth quarter featured 11 lead changes but Orlando took the lead for good when Gordon connected with Nikola Vucevic for a dunk that built a 110-109 advantage with 2:22 remaining. Gordon then knocked down an 11-footer to make it 112-109 with 1:45 left and hit a step-back corner 3-pointer for a 115-111 lead with 72 seconds left.
The Nets got within 115-113 on a dunk by Jarrett Allen with 55.5 seconds left and had a chance at the tie or the lead after Markelle Fultz and Vucevic missed shots, but Gordon blocked Caris LeVert's attempt with 14 seconds left.
Orlando gave the Nets another chance at the tie or win when Fultz threw the inbounds pass from midcourt out of bounds, but Brooklyn's Taurean Prince missed a 3-pointer with three-tenths of a second remaining.
Gordon shot 11 of 16 from the floor and grabbed 10 rebounds, helping Orlando outscore Brooklyn 67-46 over the final 20-plus minutes.
Reserve Terrence Ross added 13 of his 21 points in the final quarter for the Magic, who shot 59.1 percent in the final 12 minutes and 49.4 percent overall. Evan Fournier contributed 21 points while Vucevic totaled 16 points and 10 rebounds as Orlando improved to 5-11 in its last 16 games.
Spencer Dinwiddie led the Nets with 24 points but missed all four of his shots in the fourth. LeVert added 19 while Garrett Temple contributed 18 for Brooklyn, which shot 47.9 percent and had a five-game home winning streak stopped.
The Nets lost for only the fifth time in their past 13 games but also blew a double-digit lead for the second time in three games. On Thursday, Brooklyn squandered a 20-point lead in an overtime loss at Philadelphia.
On Monday, Brooklyn held a 67-48 lead on a 3-pointer by Joe Harris with 8:58 left in the third and led 73-57 on a 3-pointer by Temple with 6:43 left, but Orlando stormed back and was within 87-81 entering the fourth.
--Field Level Media