Technical knockout
Extra painful: Magic run out of gas, Fournier run out of game as Nuggets win
The Orlando Magic pushed the NBA Western Conference-leading Denver Nuggets to overtime Wednesday night at Amway Center, but after that they could only muster six more points as Denver swept the season series from Orlando with a 124-118 victory.
Doom struck in the form of a Nuggets four-point play when Evan Fournier was whistled for his sixth and final personal foul. Fournier let the referee know what he thought and it led to his second technical foul of the game, triggering an automatic ejection with two minutes left in overtime.
Jamal Murray made the technical free throw and then hit a 3-pointer on the possession, giving Denver a 119-114 lead. Orlando could never recover.
The Magic had already struggled to start the extra period, missing their first six shots. Fournier leaving the game was detrimental. He had been so good up to that point with 26 points, including 6 of 10 3-pointers.
The Magic pushed the game to overtime. They needed one shot to drop in late in the fourth quarter and out of a timeout, who better than Terrence Ross, the man who has become so reliable during the past 15 games.
Ross sank a 3-pointer with six seconds remaining to send it to overtime, but the Magic could not take advantage of the momentum in the extra session. Ross had missed two straight shots late in the game and the Magic missed three field goal attempts in the final minute until Ross buried the game-tying trey.
Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic also had big games for the Magic. Gordon had 19 points, six assists and five rebounds, while Vucevic had 24 points and 15 rebounds. Ross had 17 points, Jonathan Isaac had a big game with 11 points and Mohamed Bamba chipped in 11 points and six rebounds.