From hole to whole
Carter-Williams’ big night helps Magic fight back from huge deficit for victory
MEMPHIS, Tenn. —Michael Carter-Williams’ best night as an Orlando Magic player came at just the right time.
The reserve guard scored 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting and the Magic, who started out cold, rallied from 17 points down to defeat Memphis 120-115 on Tuesday night at the FedEx Forum.
The Magic, who hit just 5 of 16 3s and fell into a big hole early, lit up the second half. Orlando made 9 of 17 3-pointers in the second half to spark the rally.
The victory in the finale of a four-game road swing was the Magic’s third on the trip and sent them home with some big momentum entering the final 17
games of the season.
Orlando (30-35) now sits in eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings, a half-game behind Brooklyn, which was playing at the Lakers late Tuesday night.
Terrence Ross was the sharpshooter for most of the 3-point barrage, hitting 5 of 11 from long range and scoring 24 points, but he wasn’t the only one. Carter-Williams hit a pair of 3s, as did D.J. Augustin. The Magic wound up hitting 14 of 33 treys.
Nikola Vucevic finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for Orlando.
Aaron Gordon didn’t have his best shooting night (3 of 8), but he was a key to the second-half comeback defensively and on offense, where he dished out nine assists.
In the early going, Memphis threatened to run away with this one. The Magic, coming off a 20-point victory at Houston, seemed to have a hangover of sorts, coming out of the gate slowly by hitting just six of their first 18 floor shots.
With Ross on the floor, however, the Magic finally got rolling. They dug themselves a 17-point hole 32-15 before finally waking up. Mo Bamba hit a 3-pointer, Ross connected on two and the Magic were back in business, trailing by just 32-24 following a 9-0 run.
The Magic closed strong and return to Orlando for a two-game homestand, facing Chicago at 7 p.m. on Thursday and Charlotte at 6 p.m. on Sunday.