The Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets meet Wednesday night at the Time Warner Cable Arena.
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The win also gave the Hornets a 6-1 mark on a seven-game homestand that wrapped up Wednesday night.
Nicolas Batum and Marvin Williams led the Hornets with 26 points apiece, with Batum going 10-for-17 from the field and Williams going 10-for-21 with four 3-pointers.
The Hornets led by as many as 26 in the second half. Nuggets F Kenneth Faried came into the game having made 38 of 57 shots (66 percent) in his previous five games.
After scoring 100 plus points in seven straight games the Hornets only scored 96 in their last game which was a loss.
He wasn’t the only Magic player with a big scoring night though.
That is what makes the Heat game so big.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – The Charlotte Hornets have proven they’re a good National Basketball Association team at home. The Magic also received a solid contribution from reserve PF Jason Smith, recording a double-double of 25 points and 13 rebounds.
The Heat now lead the season series 2-1 over Charlotte and hold a slight lead over them in the southeast division.
Miami has won two of three against the Hornets this season, so the game could have potential tiebreaker implications in terms of playoff seeding.
The Orlando Magic now hold only the eleventh-best record in the Eastern Conference but are only a handful of games from the current eighth seed Chicago Bulls.
The Magic led 85-79 going into the final period, but the Nuggets stole the momentum after cutting into the 18-point deficit with a late rally that included eight points from Augustin.
Orlando cut the lead to 105-99 with less than 2 minutes left, with Andrew Nicholson taking over in the low post and Devyn Marble knocking down a pair of 3s.
“They just kind of turned it up on both ends”, Magic coach Scott Skiles said. “They started getting real aggressive offensively and driving the ball, and that led to spreading the floor and making threes”. Orlando failed to collect a few key defensive rebounds and had a few shots rim out or get taken just a hair too quickly as time began to run out.
Smith, who landed 1 point shy of his career high, became just the third player in Magic history to go for 25 and 13 off the bench. “This is something we’ve really struggled with”.
The Orlando Magic could use a win after losing seven of their last 11 games. Jennings had eight rebounds, his most since joining Orlando…. Fournier had 18 points and hit seven of nine shots in the first half. The Magic won 113-98 on December 16 and the Hornets won 120-116 in overtime on January 22.
NOTES: The Magic were without starting center and leading scorer Nikola Vucevic (strained groin) for the fifth consecutive game and without starting PG Elfrid Payton (strained elbow) for the third consecutive game.
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Williams is enjoying one of his best statistical seasons, setting a career high with 125 3-pointers.
