Fultz breaks out for Magic
Former No. 1 pick gets season-high 25 as Orlando tops Brooklyn.
The Orlando Magic can thank Markelle Fultz for Monday night’s victory.
On a night when someone needed to step up and provide extra offense, Fultz took charge, scoring a career-high 25 points while leading Orlando to a 101-89 victory over the Brooklyn Nets.
If Magic coach Steve Clifford was told before the game Nikola Vucevic and Evan Fournier would combine for just two points midway through the third quarter, he would have figured he was in for a long night.
Fortunately for Clifford and the Magic (17-20), point guards Fultz and D.J. Augustin were there to pick up the slack. Fultz and Augustin combined for 21 first-half points as the Magic jumped out to an early 16-point lead and then were able to hold on for the victory at Amway Center.
By halftime, this one looked like it had the makings of an easy night for the Magic as they bolted out to a 52-39 halftime advantage. For the Magic this season, however, nothing is as it seems.
Orlando squandered its big lead and by the early part of the fourth quarter, it was gone altogether. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot scored the Nets’ first five points of the final quarter and Brooklyn regained the lead at 77-76 with 9:30 remaining.
It appeared Brooklyn was going to take control from there, but Fultz came to life.
After scoring nine of the Mag
ic’s first 12 points, the young star went a bit silent, but something sparked him late. He came out of a timeout with 7:25 left in a tied game with a newfound purpose. He scored the next seven points and the Magic were on their way to their 17th victory of the season.
Fultz sparked a 15-1 run in the final period that finally gave the Magic some separation. In the meantime, Vucevic came to life as well. He had just two points in the first three quarters but wound up with 11 while also pulling down 24 rebounds. The Magic outrebounded the Nets 60-46, much of that margin due to Vucevic.
Augustin, who ended with 16 points, was the spark that allowed the Magic to bolt out to a 16-point lead in the second quarter. He got the Magic rolling with eight straight points, including two 3-pointers in a row, and the Magic turned a 22-20 deficit into a 28-22 lead. Augustin, who scored a seasonhigh 25 points at Washington last week, scored 12 points in the second quarter and the Magic opened their 13-point halftime edge.
The Nets (16-19) cooled off after a decent start, and wound up shooting just 30 percent of their first-half shots (14 of 47). They scored just 17 second-quarter points and were 7 of 24 from the field in the quarter. Part of the Nets’ woes stemmed from a ramped-up Magic defense that saw Orlando create 10 first-half turnovers, including four steals. The Magic also had two blocked shots in the first half.