Orlando survives late woes at foul line
Evan Fournier scored 20 and Orlando overcame a collapse from the freethrow line in the final minute in the Magic’s 9897 victory over Philadelphia in Orlando on Friday night.
Aaron Gordon had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Nikola Vucevic had 16 points and 12 rebounds for Orlando. Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris each had 24 points and 11 rebounds for the 76ers, who had won their previous three games. Embiid missed a desperation 30footer at the buzzer.
Orlando led 9383 after Gordon’s dunk with 1:49 left in the game, but it was far from over. The Magic were 5for11 from the freethrow line in the final 1:30. That included four misses in the final 30 seconds.
Philadelphia’s last four field goals were 3pointers that gave the 76ers a chance at winning. Embiid hit the last of them with 5.1 seconds to play that cut the Sixers’ deficit to 9897.
Ben Simmons then stole the inbounds pass at the Magic end of the court and gave it to Embiid, who launched his desperation shot at the buzzer.
Both teams spent the first half searching unsuccessfully for a hot hand. Philadelphia’s 3934 lead in the middle of the second quarter was the biggest either team could muster before halftime. There were 13 lead changes and eight ties as the defenses got the best of the action.
Philadelphia had a 4746 lead at halftime and pushed it to 6254 early in the second half with the first offensive burst of the game. Embiid had seven points and Harris five as the Sixers took advantage of five Orlando turnovers in a threeminute stretch to establish their biggest lead of the game. Heat 113, Pacers 112: Goran Dragic scored in the lane with 6.8 seconds remaining to cap a wild finish and Miami beat Indiana to improve to an NBAbest 141 at home. Dragic’s shot was the third by Miami on the goahead possession, after Jimmy Butler and Kendrick Nunn both missed, but the Heat were able to grab offensive rebounds. Aaron Holiday had a chance to win it for Indiana, but his 10footer with about a second left bounced away. Butler scored 20 points for Miami. Bam Adebayo had 18 points and 15 rebounds, including the offensive rebound that set up Dragic’s shot. Dragic had 14 points. Bucks 112, Hawks 86: Khris Middleton scored 23 points, Ersan Ilyasova had season highs of 18 points and 17 rebounds and NBAleading Milwaukee overcame Giannis Antetokunmpo’s absence to win in Atlanta. Antetokunmpo, the league MVP last season and secondleading scorer this season, sat out because of back soreness. He watched from the bench as his teammates helped Milwaukee improve to 285. The Hawks lost their ninth straight to drop to a leagueworst 626. They lost guard Trae Young, the NBA’s fourthleading scorer, to a right ankle sprain late in the second quarter. Celtics 129, Cavaliers 117: Jaylen Brown matched his career high with 34 points and Boston beat visiting Cleveland for its fifth straight victory. Jayson Tatum had 24 of his 30 points in the first half, Enes Kanter added 14 points, and Kemba Walker had 13 to help Boston improve to 131 at home. Kevin Love matched his season high with 30 points and had seven rebounds for Cleveland.
Thunder 104, Hornets 102: Shai GilgeousAlexander scored 27, Dennis Schroder added 24 and visiting Oklahoma City beat Charlotte in overtime for its fifth victory in six games. Chris Paul had 10 of his 16 points for the Thunder in the fourth quarter and overtime. Terry Rozier scored 26 points for Charlotte.