Magic Rally in 2nd Half, Down Nets 100-93

With the Magic trailing by 12 points, Harris unleashed a put-back dunk off a teammate’s missed jumper to snap his teammates out of their doldrums.

Officially, Orlando Magic point guard Elfrid Payton was listed as “questionable” for Friday’s showdown against the Washington Wizards.

The Nets carried their momentum into the middle stages of the third quarter, going ahead 67-55 on a pair of free throws by Thaddeus Young. Reserve Wayne Ellington scored nine points.

Brooklyn led 73-68 going into the final period, but hit just seven of 20 shots, committed four turnovers and allowed Orlando to shoot 52.9 percent when the game was on the line. He’s compiled eight consecutive games with more than 11 assists, the only National Basketball Association player to do that this season. The Magic crawled out of a halftime deficit against Brooklyn on Wednesday to pick up their seventh win in the last nine games.

Oladipo scored 20 off the bench while Orlando’s starters combined for 45 points.

With seven games to play between now and the trip to London, Vucevic admits that the game isn’t quite on the minds of the players just yet, but added: “Earlier in the year we talked about how it would be fun for us to go there, most of us have never been, so everybody is looking forward to going and we’ll be able to bring some of our family and friends there which will be great”. A short while later Fournier caught a pass from Oladipo and sank a 3-pointer.

The Magic had a chance Friday in Washington, but crumbled in the fourth quarter once again. The Magic trailed by 12 points in the second half but pulled even entering the fourth quarter and the two Southeast Division teams were tied 78-78 with 7:37 remaining. Vucevic won his individual matchup against Lopez that night, helping to limit Lopez to 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting. Bogdanovic had 11 points and four rebounds early. The Magic didn’t make another bucket for a 5-minute, 24-second span. The Wizards took a 16-11 lead. The Nets had six steals in the first half. Shabazz Napier started the second half and Payton sat out the remainder of the game. His NBA record still stands. “Honestly, it rarely crosses my mind anymore”, Skiles said. Meanwhile, the rest of the Eastern Conference (outside of obviously-tanking Philadelphia and underachieving Milwaukee) has undergone a resurgence.

If the Magic were dwellers at the bottom of the standings last season, they are contending this year but are coming off a 103-91 New Year’s Day defeat to the Washington Wizards. Nets C Brook Lopez is a huge fan of nearby DisneyWorld and is having a home built on Disney property. Jack closed the game with two more bricks on desperate three-point heaves. The other is Pelicans forward Anthony Davis….

Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) dunks the ball in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Orlando Magic, Friday, Jan. 1, 2016, in Washington. Marble has played just 14 minutes in six games with Orlando, and was with the BayHawks from November 30 to December 23.