Magic at Nets
The Orlando Magic have had two days to lick their wounds after their worst loss of the season and are ready to get back to work. The Magic will try to avoid a third consecutive loss when they visit the Brooklyn Nets on Monday.
Orlando returned home from a five-game road trip and was promptly thrashed 111-76 by the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday. “It was just a poor effort from us, an all-around poor game for us,” Magic forward Tobias Harris told reporters. “We’ve just got to bounce back from it, have short-term memory, learn from it and move on to the next one.” The Nets have suffered their fair share of bad losses already in 2015-16 but have picked things up of late and just missed out on a three-game winning streak with a 105-100 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday. Brooklyn dropped to 2-2 on its six-game homestand with that setback but have won six of the last eight in front of the home fans.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Florida (Orlando), YES (Brooklyn)
ABOUT THE MAGIC (12-11): Orlando finished up a five-game road trip with a loss at Phoenix on Wednesday and did not have the energy to compete with the Cavaliers on Friday. “We’ve just got to figure it out if we want to be good,” Magic guard Victor Oladipo told reporters. “We’ve got to learn from it and move on. We’ve got a lot of games left, so we need to make a push.” Two starters (Channing Frye and Harris) went scoreless and Oladipo managed four points on 2-of-8 shooting off the bench in the debacle.
ABOUT THE NETS (7-16): Brooklyn looked like the worst team in the Eastern Conference not named the Philadelphia 76ers through the first month of the season but is beginning to find its footing. The Nets made a spirited run at the Clippers with a 37-point fourth quarter on Saturday before falling just short and have won four of their last seven games. Brook Lopez recovered from a poor outing on Thursday to post a double-double on Saturday – his eighth of the campaign.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Nets G Shane Larkin was limited to six minutes on Saturday after being poked in the eye and is day-to-day.
2. Frye has gone scoreless three times in six games this month.
3. Brooklyn has taken four straight in the series.