Arron Afflalo, who made just four of nine shots and struggled to finish around the rim, had 11 points and was the leading scorer among Orlando starters. Nelson (10 assists and nine points) and Davis (10 points and seven rebounds) did their part, but the Magic got little production outside of that. Harris scored seven first-quarter points and didn’t score again, while rookie guard Victor Oladipo (10 points, six rebounds and five assists) didn’t factor heavily into the offense.
Reserve center Kyle O’Quinn, a native of nearby Jamaica, Queens, played his third straight solid game with 15 points and eight rebounds. E’Twaun Moore chipped in 13 points, 10 of them coming in the fourth quarter.
``We were doing a lot of good things in the first half, but we were just kind of stagnant in the third quarter,’’ Nelson said. ``We stopped helping each other defensively. We have to do the things that helped us get good starts and sustain that over the course of a full game.’’
Added Davis, who limited former Boston teammate and close friend Kevin Garnett to eight points and five rebounds: ``This was real disappointing to be in the game and have a chance to win the game, and to just let it go like that it was real disappointing.’’
Orlando showed off some of its progress early in the season when it routed Brooklyn – a team that smashed the Magic four times last season. The Magic whipped the Nets 107-86 in November, quite a turnaround from last season when they lost four games by an average of 19.7 points. Nets coach Jason Kidd joked before the game of that result, saying: ``That was a long time ago.We can’t go back that far. That was 2013.’’
The Magic will be back in action at the Amway Center on Wednesday night when they host the Atlanta Hawks. Orlando won in Atlanta on Nov. 26 to snap an 11-game losing streak to the Hawks. They also beat the Hawks on Dec. 29 in Orlando.
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