Second-Quarter Run Sets Up Trail Blazers' Victory Versus Magic

PORTLAND -- The Portland Trail Blazers looked left for dead early on in Wednesday night’s game versus the Orlando Magic at the Moda Center. Not even four minutes had elapsed before the Trail Blazers, despite coming off an emphatic victory Monday night versus the Nuggets, fell behind by 10 points after the Magic made six of their first seven shots.It didn’t look much much better after roughly the first 20 minutes of the first half, with the Magic going up by as many as 14 points in the second quarter. But a 17-0 run in the final 5:44 of the first half gave the Trail Blazers a lead and enough momentum to ride out the second half on the way to defeating the Magic 99-94 in front of 19,206 at the Moda Center.With the victory the Trail Blazers are now 8-6 overall and 6-4 at home this season. The win is also Portland’s fifth in their last six tries versus Orlando at the Moda Center.As with every game-changing runs, the Trail Blazers needed to be at their best on both sides of the ball go score 17-straight. On defense, Portland forced five turnovers in the final five minutes of the second half while holding the Magic to just 14 points in the quarter.