ORLANDO — One of the pieces of the Brooklyn Nets' success in building one of the NBA's best records over the past two months has been outplaying teams coming out of halftime to establish control of the game.
But the Orlando Magic, twice a victim of Brooklyn's third-quarter surges in the last two weeks alone, turned things around on the Nets Saturday night in handing Brooklyn a 102-89 loss at Amway Center.
With Brooklyn up 48-44 at halftime, the Magic outscored the Nets 34-22 in the third quarter, took an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter, and the Nets never got closer than five points the rest of the way.
D'Angelo Russell led the Nets with 23 points and six assists, while Shabazz Napier had 15 points. Ed Davis posted a double-double with 11 points and 16 rebounds. But overall, the Nets shot 36.3 percent and just 26.3 percent from 3-point range.
Down by as many as 13 points in the first quarter, the Nets outscored the Magic 15-4 over the final 2:25 of the second quarter to take a 48-44 halftime lead.
Orlando jumped out to a 26-13 lead late in the first quarter before Brooklyn closed the quarter with a quick 8-0 run to get back within five, then opened the second quarter with two Napier free throws to make it a 26-23 game.
The Nets finally got all even at 35 in a Russell drive before Orlando went back up, 40-35. But the Nets closed out the half with a strong finish to pull in front. Napier's first three was followed by a transition layup from Joe Harris off a lead pass from DeMarre Carroll.
Jonathan Isaac made two free throws for the Magic, Jarrett Allen dunked off a Harris drive, and Napier sandwiched two threes -- the second beating the buzzer -- around a Nikola Vucevic dunk to put the Nets up by four at the break.
Brooklyn was still up by five early in the third quarter when the Magic pulled ahead with a 14-3 run. The last six points came from point guard D.J. Augustin, whose 3-pointer put Orlando up 64-58 midway through the quarter.
Orlando extended that lead to 71-61 before the Nets closed within four, but two Wes Iwundu baskets in the final minute gave the Magic a 78-70 lead going into the fourth.
UP NEXT
The Nets are back in Brooklyn next week for three games. They'll host the Bucks on Monday, the Nuggets on Wednesday, and the Bulls on Friday.