Orlando Magic Hits the Road to Face The Brooklyn Nets

The Orlando Magic goes on the road to face  the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, February 25th. Last time these teams met, Brooklyn topped the Magic 122-115.

Preview

Orlando enters the court with a 5-5 record in their last 10 games of the season. With a 13-19 record, they are currently sitting at the 12th spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Magic are averaging 105.2 points on 43 percent shooting and allowing 110.7 points on 46.7 percent shooting.

Leading the team is Nikola Vucevic who is averaging 23.9 points and 11.7 rebounds. Shooting guard Evan Fournier is also averaging double digits, as he averages 18.8 points and 3.9 assists.

The Nets on the other hand are averaging 121.2 points with an impressive 50.1 percent shooting. Kevin Durant leads the team with 29 points and 5.3 assists while Kyrie Irving is averaging 27.4 points and 4.7 rebounds.

They are allowing 36.6 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 43.5 rebounds per game.  The Nets are now a half-game out of first place in the Eastern Conference with a 21-12 record.

Brooklyn guard Joe Harris commented on his teams’ boost of confidence after winning so many games in a row.

“I think you just play with more confidence,” said Harris. “When you’re winning games, you have the same level of confidence. I think even tonight, too, where they make a run in the fourth quarter and test you a little bit. You still have the confidence where, ‘alright, we’re still going to win this game.”

Injury Report

Orlando will be playing without Aaron Gordon and rookie Cole Anthony due to injuries. Gordon has been out for a few weeks with an ankle sprain while Anthony is out due to a right rib fracture.

As for the Nets, they will be without star Durant who has missed six of the Nets’ seven latest victories.  He has been ruled with a hamstring issue. Brooklyn head coach Steve Nash said that he was expecting Durant to be back before the All-Star Break. At the same time, he assured that they did not want to rush the recovery process.

“We definitely have kind of slowed things down in that respect, not putting any pressure on him, not trying to rush him back in any capacity and just make sure that we give him the right amount of time to be more than healed, to be strong and conditioned to come back to the team” said Nash. “So we’re monitoring it. We’re not in a rush, but I don’t think he’ll be out until the All-Star break.”

Jeff Green, who missed Tuesday’s game with a right shoulder contusion, and Landry Shamet, who left the game with a chest contusion, have been listed as questionable.