ATLANTA – Nikola Vucevic played like an All-Star. Jonathan Isaac turned one possession into his own personal block party. And the Orlando Magic picked off road victories on back-to-back nights for the first time in nearly five years.
Vucevic, who will be making his first All-Star Game appearance next weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina, scored 19 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Magic to a 124-108 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night.
Despite getting into Atlanta around 2:40 a.m. after a 20-point victory at East-leading Milwaukee the previous night, Orlando looked like the fresher team by far in recording its third straight victory, matching its best run of the season. The last time the Magic pulled off road wins on consecutive nights was April 3-4, 2014, when they defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 97-90 and the Milwaukee Bucks 97-84.
“We really played well,” Vucevic said. “We took the lead and we never looked back.”
The Magic began to pull away late in the first half, ripping off an 11-2 run that sent the road team to the locker room at halftime with a 63-48 lead – its biggest of the game to that point. D.J. Augustin finished off the spurt, racing the length of the court after a couple of Atlanta free throws to lay one in with 1.2 seconds left.