Taking 1 for the road at the ideal time

Evan Fournier put it quite succinctly Wednesday night after the Magic snapped their road losing streak with a 116-104 victory at Cleveland.

His thought process, however, could have included a bit of foreshadowing.

Fournier did not mention that he might be looking ahead when he said Orlando needed the victory over the Cavaliers, but it certainly would have been fitting. With games against the NBA’s two championship finalists from last season looming, it was the perfect time for the Magic to break a three-game losing streak and snap their seven-game road skid.

Fournier, who scored a season high 30 points at Cleveland, helped pick up the slack with injured center Nikola Vucevic and forward Aaron Gordon out of the lineup.

It will take the same type of effort Friday night at Amway Center when the NBA East champion Toronto Raptors visit. Two days later, the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors make their annual trek to Orlando.

“At this point, we need pretty much every game, but it’s a good win because toward the end of long road trips like that, you lack the energy and the way we came out ready offensively and playing hard, that’s really good and it shows we have the character, and that’s not a surprise to me,” Fournier said. “We’ve struggled with the offense, so of course when we make shots it opens up a lot of things … it helps tremendously, obviously.”

The Magic finally put everything together Wednesday night, with 48 minutes of complete basketball on both sides of the floor. Orlando, the worst shooting team in the NBA, shot 48.4% from the field, including 36% from 3-point range, and they also played solid defense while forcing 25 Cleveland turnovers.

“The biggest thing is we shot the ball probably as well as we’ve shot it all year … 36% from 3 and that’s been our biggest problem,