Magic at Hornets
The first game back from a long road trip tends to trip teams up with some regularity, and the Orlando Magic proved the point emphatically on Wednesday. The Magic will try to bounce back from an embarrassing loss and earn their fourth win in five games when they head back on the road to visit the Charlotte Hornets on Friday.
Orlando went 4-1 on a five-game road trip that included a win at San Antonio but shot 37 percent from the field in a 117-87 home loss to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. "We just didn’t play the right way and we didn’t play our game, plus our defense was terrible," Magic center Bismack Biyombo told reporters. "We can sit here and talk about this and that, but we didn’t play the way that we’ve been playing. We started holding onto the ball longer. I don’t think 'selfish' would be the right way to put it, but we didn’t trust the next guy. If you play like that, you are going to lose." The Hornets are winners of five of their last seven games and put together their best defensive performance in Wednesday's 87-77 triumph over Detroit. The victory pulled Charlotte above .500 at home (7-6), though the team is looking at a five-game road trip starting Saturday in Cleveland.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Florida (Orlando), FSN Southeast (Atlanta)
ABOUT THE MAGIC (10-13): Orlando was playing the second night of a back-to-back on Wednesday and will play another road-home back-to-back on Friday and Saturday with Denver coming to town. "I don’t want to put it on the fatigue, that’s not the problem," guard Evan Fournier told reporters of the performance against Boston. "But our schedule has been very tough. Coming off a back-to-back after a road trip – I’ve never done that in my five years (in the NBA). We’ve just got to stay at it." Fournier went 4-of-14 from the floor in the loss and is 13-of-42 in the last four contests.
ABOUT THE HORNETS (13-9): Charlotte forward Marvin Williams sat out six games with a knee injury but returned on Wednesday and made his presence felt on the defensive end while adding 12 points and five rebounds in 26 minutes. “It felt good. I got a lot of energy," Williams told reporters. "I felt like I haven’t played in a long time, but once I got back out there, I feel like I had a pretty good rhythm, my conditioning felt fine, so I’m happy with the win." Williams did not need to do as much under the basket because guard Nicolas Batum was busy grabbing 15 rebounds for the second straight game.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Orlando C Nikola Vucevic recorded a double-double in 10 of the last 12 games.
2. Hornets G Marco Belinelli is averaging 14.7 points in the last three games.
3. Charlotte took three of the four meetings last season.