A week ago in Madison Square Garden, the Orlando Magic scored the first 10 points, led by 20 after the first quarter, by as many as 34 and rolled past the New York Knicks for their most lopsided win of the season.
The venue will be different this time when Orlando hosts New York on Sunday and so is the direction of the teams.
Orlando is 6-2 in its last eight games since it absorbed a 120-95 home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Nov. 2. The Magic won their second straight Saturday night when they shot a season-high 53.8 percent in a 130-117 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Nikola Vucevic scored a season-high 36 points and has 66 points in his last two games. He was 15 of 23 Saturday, is shooting 56.8 percent (25 of 44) in his last two games and is the first Orlando player with 30 points in consecutive games since Victor Oladipo on March 4-6, 2015.
"It's a lot of fun," Vucevic said to Fox Sports Orlando in his on-court interview. "It's great that we're playing better, we're improving. We just got to .500, so it's not like we've done anything great yet, but we're improving. There's positive things going on. So we just have to keep it up."
During Orlando's last eight games, it is averaging 112.1 points while shooting 48.7. When the Magic started with six losses in eight games, they averaged 99.9 points on 41.4 percent shooting.
"We're just getting better every day," point guard D.J. Augustin said to Fox Sports Orlando after contributing 22 points Saturday. "If it's practice, if it's shootaround, we're taking everything seriously."
Aaron Gordon played through a sprained left ankle and had 12 points. It's possible he sits out again after also not playing last Sunday in New York.
The Magic will be trying to get above .500 for the first time since winning their season opener and for the first time through 17 games since the 2015-16 campaign.
New York's 115-89 loss to Orlando is a part of its 4-12 start and the second loss during a four-game skid. The first three losses were by double digits and the most recent defeat was a 129-124 setback Friday night in New Orleans. >> READ MORE
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