Fournier shoots Magic past Kings
ORLANDO -- Evan Fournier scored a season-high 29 points and Elfrid Payton added 11 assists to lead the Orlando Magic to a 102-94 victory over the Sacramento Kings Thursday night at the Amway Center.
Kings center DeMarcus Cousins led all scorers with 33 points and seven rebounds, but his help was hard to find.
The Magic (2-3) took the lead early in the second period and never trailed again. The Kings (2-4) lost their third consecutive game, all on their five-game road trip.
Fournier hit 10 of 15 shots and six of seven free throws. Forward Serge Ibaka scored 17 points. Reserve Jeff Green had 15 points. Aaron Gordon had 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Center Nikola Vucevic had 10 points and nine rebounds.
Rudy Gay had 16 points for the Kings, but only six after the first quarter. Omri Casspi had 12 points and five rebounds, point guard Ty Lawson had 11 points and five assists while reserve Ben McLemore scored 11 points.
After trailing throughout the second half, the Kings cut the deficit to 94-92 when Cousins scored with 4:45 remaining, but the Magic scored the next eight points to end the threat.
Fournier had 12 points in the third quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers, when the Magic led by as many as 11 points. They led, 84-78, going into the final period.
Cousins had 11 points in the third, but the Kings never got closer than six points in the period.
The Magic hit seven 3-pointers and scored 33 points in the second quarter to grab a 56-50 lead at intermission. D.J. Augustin and Green each had a pair of 3-pointers to lead Orlando's second-period charge.
Cousins and Gay dominated early by scoring 14 and 10 points, respectively, in the first quarter. The Kings led by as many as eight points in the first, while the Magic led by as many as eight in the second.
The Kings had eight turnovers in a sloppy second period and didn't take a single free throw after making only one of four in the first. Cousins missed his only shot of the second quarter when Sacramento slumped after taking a 29-23 lead through the first 12 minutes.
NOTES: The NBA fined Kings F Matt Barnes $15,000 Thursday for inappropriate language directed at an official Tuesday night in an overtime loss to Miami. Barnes, who played earlier in his career for the Magic, is one of eight new players on the Kings roster this season. ... The Kings on Wednesday re-signed G Jordan Farmar, who was waived at the end of training camp. ... Magic C Nikola Vucevic was praising Kings C DeMarcus Cousins before the game Wednesday. "Probably the best big man we have in the NBA right now. Very dominant. He's been playing really great for the past few seasons," Vucevic said. ... When the Chicago Cubs won the World Series on Wednesday night, it moved the Sacramento Kings up to No. 3 for the longest non-championship drought in major American professional sports history. The Kings last won an NBA title in 1951 when they were known as the Rochester Royals.