Field Level Media
Aug 2, 2020
Terrence Ross scored 25 points off the bench, Nikola Vucevic posted a double-double of 23 points and 11 rebounds, and the Orlando Magic cruised past the Sacramento Kings 132-116 in Sunday's seeding game.
The Magic (32-35) maintained their half-game lead for the Eastern Conference's No. 7 seed with a commanding performance against the Kings (28-38). Orlando jumped ahead early and extended their lead to double-digits in the first quarter behind Markelle Fultz.
Fultz scored nine of his 14 points in the opening 12 minutes, including a three-quarter-court buzzer-beater. Fultz's heave contributed to the Magic's blistering 55.6 percent shooting effort from behind the 3-point line in the opening frame.
Ross shot 5-of-9 from long range, DJ Augustin went 3-of-4 from outside en route to 10 points, Aaron Gordon went 3-of-3 from 3-point range on a 22-point evening. The Magic shot 47.4 percent from deep for the game.
Orlando faced little resistance amid its 3-point barrage, growing its lead to as many as 36 points in the third quarter.
The Magic, however, lost forward Jonathan Isaac, who suffered a torn left ACL with 9:19 remaining in the fourth quarter. Isaac, who has started 32 games this season, was averaging 11.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 28.8 minutes in 34 games this season.
Sacramento had a balanced scoring effort with seven Kings scoring in double-figures. Beyond Harry Giles III's 23 points off the bench, however, no one posted more than the 13 points De'Aaron Fox registered. Fox was coming off a career-high 39 points in Friday's loss to San Antonio.
The Magic came into the season restart as the lowest point-per-game scoring offense of the 22 teams in the Orlando-area bubble. Through their first two seeding games, they have scored 260 points.
Orlando opened the seeding round on Friday with a 128-118 win over Brooklyn, giving the Magic a narrow lead for the seventh spot in the East. The Nets beat Washington on Sunday, which extends Orlando's lead over the Wizards to 7.5 games.
The Magic avoid a play-in game to qualify for the playoffs if they finish the seeding round with a lead of four games or more.
Sacramento remains 3 1/2 games behind Western Conference eighth-seed Memphis.
--Field Level Media