Gordon bursts Magic's bad spell

ORLANDO • Heading into their National Basketball Association (NBA) game on Friday on a nine-game losing streak, Orlando knew that they needed some magic to break their unwanted spell.

That came in the form of Aaron Gordon, who scored a season-high 38 points as the hosts stunned the Brooklyn Nets 121-113 after shooting 51.2 per cent along with a season-best 21 three-pointers.

The Magic, who are second from bottom in the Eastern Conference on 14-27, won for the first time since beating Detroit on Feb 21.

They led most of the way on Friday and seized control in the third quarter, then withstood a Brooklyn comeback attempt.

Gordon finished three shy of his career high by shooting 14 of 20 from the field and hitting seven of eight three-point attempts as the Magic halted their longest skid since December 2017.

"That was a great all-around game for our team and we showed what we can be offensively and defensively," he said. "It shows good resilience."

Evan Fournier added a season-high 31 points just one night after committing a turnover in the final seconds of the Magic's 94-93 loss to the New York Knicks.

"It was great because we showed a lot of character after a very tough loss," said Fournier, who shot 10 of 13 and was six of eight on threes.

"We fought really hard against probably the best team in the East and got the 'W'."

The Nets (28-14 and second in the East), who lost for only the second time in 16 games, saw a six-game winning streak stopped and had their eight-game road-winning streak halted.

Kyrie Irving returned after missing the game against the Pacers with a sore groin and scored a season-high 43 points for the Nets, who shot 47.3 per cent and made only 10 of 37 from long range. James Harden added 19 and nine assists but shot four of 15 from the field.

Orlando held a 103-84 lead entering the fourth quarter but Brooklyn stormed back with a 16-1 run to start the period and were within 104-100 on Irving's 14-footer with 7min 32sec remaining.

The Magic missed their first eight shots of the fourth until Nikola Vucevic - who had 22 points - hit a hook shot with 5:37 left to make it 108-100, and Orlando finally clinched it when Gordon hit a three-pointer with 1:39 left.

"This is what it feels like to lose," said Irving. "We don't want too many more feelings like this, so learn from it and move forward."

In another game, Utah guard Donovan Mitchell scored 12 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter as the NBA-leading Jazz (30-11) eked out a 115-112 victory over the Toronto Raptors.

The Jazz, stung by a 131-122 loss to the Washington Wizards on Thursday, bounced back as Raptors centre Pascal Siakam's potential game-tying shot dipped in, then out at the buzzer.

It was not the kind of dominance the Jazz displayed in winning 11 straight games in January and another nine in a row last month.

But they gradually heated up offensively, out-rebounded the Raptors 48-31 and made 35 of 41 attempts from the free-throw line.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE