ORLANDO, Fla. — The Magic’s Evan Fournier outdueled Nets point guard Jeremy Lin Friday night at Amway Center, scoring 11 straight points to Lin’s seven in the final five minutes as Orlando pulled out a 118-111 decision. The Magic scored on 10 of its last 11 possessions.
The game was tied at 99 when Lin entered for the final 4:53. But it was Brook Lopez doing the playmaking, first hitting a jumper and then finding Sean Kilpatrick for a three-pointer that gave the Nets a 104-101 lead. The Magic’s D.J. Augustin quickly knotted it with a tying three and then pushed Orlando in front at 106-104 with a layup at the 2:56 mark. Lin tied it again moments later with a layup.
That’s when Fournier took over, scoring 11 straight Magic points, including eight at the foul line sandwiched around a three-point dagger to push Orlando’s lead to 117-108 with 19.4 seconds left. Lin made three baskets in that span but also put up an air ball and missed another shot in the paint as he continues to work his way back from a lengthy injury-related absence.
Lin finished with 17 points and three assists in just 20 minutes of playing time. Lopez led the Nets (7-18) with 22 points and had six rebounds before fouling out in the final seconds, and Bojan Bogdanovic added 15 points. Fournier topped the Magic (12-16) with 21 points despite a 5-of-15 shooting night, Nikola Vucevic also had 21 off the bench plus 10 rebounds and Augustin totaled 17 points.
Lin suffered a tight back after playing for the first time in nearly six weeks on Monday in Houston and missed Wednesday’s Lakers game. But coach Kenny Atkinson welcomed him back to the lineup against the Magic even in a bench role.
“I think all of us have more of a comfort level with him out there because of his understanding of what we want to do on both sides of the ball,” Atkinson said. “I don’t have to call as many plays. He’s a pretty take-charge guy. It just gives us more stability. It helps our rotations get back to where we were in the beginning of the year.”
When Lin entered for the first time with 4:17 left in the opening quarter, the Nets were trailing by three points. By the time he sat down again with 10:34 left in the second period, they had a 32-27 lead. That was the “Lin Effect” Atkinson was talking about as he had four points and two assists in that stretch.
The Nets’ lead reached eight points in the second quarter but was down to five when Lin returned with 4:31 left in the half. But the Nets were in a cold shooting stretch and made only two of their final 11 shots of the half, including a layup by Lin, as they allowed the Magic to take a 53-52 halftime lead with a 12-4 run.
Lin was on the bench in the third quarter when the Nets opened with a 14-4 run powered by seven points from Bogdanovic for their biggest lead at 66-57. When Lin entered with 5:08 left, the lead was down to four, and when the Magic put together a 5-0 burst at the end of the period, they still had a one-point lead going to the fourth quarter.
..... - Newsday