Orlando @ Charlotte preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 22, 2017 ) Charlotte 109, Orlando 102

The Orlando Magic are in the running for most improved team over the first 10 days of the season and are coming off their most impressive win - 114-87 over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday. The Magic, who have yet to score fewer than 114 points, will try to build upon that triumph and push the winning streak to four straight when they visit the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday.

Orlando has a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on the resume as well and put together its finest defensive performance of the young campaign by limiting the Spurs to 33.7 percent shooting on Friday. "We play with a lot of effort and we’re fighting for every possession," reserve center Bismack Biyombo told the team's website. "If we continue to play like that - and I know it's early and people are saying, 'it’s too early' - but this is helping us. When we started like this in the preseason, everybody said, 'yeah, yeah, it’s still the preseason,' but as we continue to do it, the conversation changes a little bit. The more we continue to play like this, we’re going to earn our respect." The Hornets are trying to earn their own respect but can't find any consistency while trading losses and wins over the first five games. Charlotte is due for a win on Sunday if the pattern holds after dropping a 109-93 decision to the Houston Rockets on Friday - the third time in as many losses that the team failed to reach 95 points.

TV: 6 p.m. ET, FSN Florida (Orlando), FSN Southeast (Charlotte)

ABOUT THE MAGIC (4-1): One of the most noticeable improvements is coming from power forward Aaron Gordon, who had a breakout game with 41 points on 14-of-18 shooting in Tuesday's win over the Brooklyn Nets. Gordon followed up that performance with 16 points on 7-of-11 from the floor on Friday and is leading the team in scoring with an average of 23.7 points on 59.5 percent shooting. "People aren’t going to take us lightly and if they do, we’re going to blow them out," Gordon told reporters after Friday's win. "This is just a good group with a good vibe and good energy. Everybody is playing together so well and it looks like we’re having fun, huh?"

ABOUT THE HORNETS (2-3): Charlotte allowed the Rockets to make 22 3-pointers on Friday and could not find any answers at the other end while shooting 37.5 percent from the floor. The Hornets continue to get strong performances in the middle from former Orlando Magic star Dwight Howard, who is averaging 14.4 points and 17.6 rebounds early in his first season with Charlotte. Howard is a notoriously bad free-throw shooter, and the Hornets struggled to get into an offensive rhythm last time out in part because Howard kept going to the line and shot 5-of-15 to fall to 35.6 percent from the stripe on the season.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Magic SG Evan Fournier is averaging 26.5 points on 19-of-27 shooting over the last two games.

2. Hornets SG Treveon Graham (quad) sat out Friday and is day-to-day.

3. Charlotte took all four meetings last season by an average of 21.8 points.

PREDICTION: Magic 120, Hornets 106