Magic at Hornets
The Orlando Magic are still hanging on to the final playoff position in the Eastern Conference despite losing five in a row and look to begin moving in a positive direction when they visit the struggling Charlotte Hornets on Monday night. Orlando lost for the seventh time in eight games Saturday as it shot 39.8 percent from the field and 9-of-33 from beyond the arc in a 102-89 loss to Miami.
“I think we are not playing with flow right now, we have no swag and little bit of lack of confidence and, yeah, obviously, we’ve got to make shots,” Magic guard Evan Fournier told OrlandoMagic.com after the latest loss. “We’re not going to win scoring 89 points. We’ve got to step up and make plays.” The Magic are last in the league in field goal percentage (43.0) and second to last in scoring (103.2) ahead of the Hornets (103.0), who are sinking in the East after dropping 10 of their past 11 contests. Charlotte rolled to a 13-point halftime lead at San Antonio on Saturday, but scored just 27 in the final 24 minutes to suffer a 114-90 setback and the Hornets are 8-15 on their home court - including a 106-83 loss to Orlando on Jan. 20. “We knew their pressure was going to pick up,” Charlotte coach James Borrego told reporters after Saturday’s loss. “This is just a learning process for a young team and, unfortunately, we’re going through that process. … This is where we’re at. We own it. This is who we are. We have to get better. The only way to learn this is you have to go through the fire.”
TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: FS Florida, FS Southeast
ABOUT THE MAGIC (21-28): Orlando beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the first game after losing point guard D.J. Augustin with a knee injury, but is just 1-7 since and scored at least 100 points twice in that stretch. Center Nikola Vucevic leads the team in scoring (18.7) and on the glass (11.0) after coming up one rebound shy of his sixth double-double in seven games Saturday while forward Aaron Gordon (13.5 points) scored 24 to lead the way in the loss. Fournier (18.6 points) is just 11-for-45 from the field over the past three games and fellow wing shooter Terrence Ross (13.2) is 12-for-54 in his last four outings.
ABOUT THE HORNETS (16-33): Leading scorers Terry Rozier and Devonte’ Graham, who both average 18 points, were just 6-of-23 from the field and 4-of-15 from beyond the arc in the loss at San Antonio. Rozier had 10 points Saturday after scoring 51 total in the previous two contests and Graham (team-high 7.7 assists) is averaging just eight points over the past three contests, making just 5-of-25 from behind the arc. Small forward Miles Bridges, the 12th-overall pick in the 2018 draft, picked up some of the slack in the past three games while averaging 21 points on 24-of-46 shooting from the floor.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Charlotte F PJ Washington (12.2 points per game) is questionable after he was a late scratch Saturday due to an ankle injury.
2. Orlando PG Michael Carter-Williams is averaging 11.4 points and 3.4 assists over the last five contests.
3. Hornets C Cody Zeller leads the team in rebounds (7.1) and recorded double-doubles in two of his last three games.