Magic at Nets
The Brooklyn Nets continue to put their best foot forward without star guard Kyrie Irving and will attempt to win for the fourth time in their last five games when they host the Orlando Magic on Monday. The Nets went 8-12 with Irving (shoulder) in the lineup this season but improved to 18-17 without him with Saturday's 115-86 rout of the Charlotte Hornets.
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot led eight players in double figures with a season-high 21 points against the Hornets as Brooklyn posted its third win of at least 22 points since Irving left the lineup for good earlier this month. "We want more than what we have right now," Luwawu-Cabarrot told reporters. "We just want more. We're hungry." The Magic are 2 1/2 games behind the seventh-place Nets in the Eastern Conference and will be seeking their first win since before the All-Star break. They came out of the intermission with a 122-106 home loss to Dallas after shooting 9-of-43 from 3-point range.
TIME: 7:30 p.m. ET. TV: FS Florida, YES
ABOUT THE MAGIC (24-32): Evan Fournier scored 28 points while making 5-of-12 from 3-point range in the loss to the Mavericks, but his teammates failed to follow suit by chucking up loads of wayward attempts from beyond the arc. "We had a bunch of open shots the whole game," coach Steve Clifford told reporters. "What's better than a wide-open shot? You've got to make them." Nikola Vucevic had six of the team's season-high 34 missed 3-pointers but still finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds for his second straight double-double.
ABOUT THE NETS (26-29): Brooklyn was coming off an overtime loss at Philadelphia in which it gave up a 20-point lead, and the motivation to tuck that result away was evident in Saturday's win. "We played with a chip on our shoulder," coach Kenny Atkinson told the media. "I think we wanted to prove something. I felt it before the game in the locker room. We feel like we can still do something special." Luwawu-Cabarrot was one of three reserves to shine in the contest, as center DeAndre Jordan made all five of his shots in a 12-point effort and fellow veteran Garrett Temple earned the first double-double of his 563-game career with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Magic PG Markelle Fultz has 27 assists against just two turnovers in this last three games.
2. Nets SG Caris LeVert recorded a career-high six steals Saturday and is averaging 23.1 points over his last seven games.
3. Brooklyn shot 33.3 percent from the floor in a 101-89 loss at Orlando in the first meeting Jan. 6.