The Magic got a clutch 3-pointer from J.J. Redick with 42 seconds to play and the gritty shooting guard drew a charge with 12 seconds left to preserve a 104-101 victory for Orlando, arguably its most impressive one of the season.
The Magic (13-23) snapped a 10-game losing streak with their second win of the season in Los Angeles. When in Southern California in December, the Magic ended a three-game skid by beating the Lakers and Howard with a clutch fourth-quarter performance.
This time around, the Magic made all the right plays down the stretch to win for the first time since Dec. 19. Heading into Saturday’s game, the Magic and Lakers were the only teams to not have registered a victory in 2013, but now the Lakers stand alone with that dubious distinction after Orlando’s thrilling rally on Saturday.
``The guys in the locker room who have `MAGIC’ across their chest, they deserve this win because we’ve been playing so hard and the greatest thing is there was no division along the way,’’ Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said. ``We stayed together and fought together. And on this day we deserved this win and we got it.’’
Redick had 10 fourth-quarter points as the Magic outscored the Clippers 29-18 over the final 12 minutes. In the clutch, the Magic made 52.4 percent of their shots, had seven assists on their 11 field goals and held Blake Griffin (30 points) scoreless in the fourth.
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