ORLANDO – Some seven weeks ago, when the Orlando Magic sat perilously at 2-6 and were mired in a four-game losing streak, they went into San Antonio and confidently rolled to a victory that kick-started their best run of basketball of the season.
Similarly, the Magic hobbled into Friday night in the throes a four-game skid and had the unenviable task of facing superstar forward Kawhi Leonard and the East-leading Toronto Raptors. Similarly, the Magic responded to the challenge with another breathtakingly complete performance to take apart the Raptors.
Down 10 points early in the night, the Magic flipped the game completely around with a somewhat unthinkable 51-16 run over the second and third quarters and rode a stellar, do-everything performance from center Nikola Vucevic for a 116-87 defeat of Toronto.