CLEVELAND _ Evan Fournier tried to shoot the Orlando Magic out of the basement of the NBA's team shooting rankings Wednesday night and it gave his team a big boost. The veteran guard scored 30 points, leading the Magic to a 116-104 victory at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse Wednesday night.
It was Orlando's first road win of the 2019-20 season.
The veteran guard scored 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting (3-of-7 from 3) in the first half as the Magic held a 59-52 lead, and he just kept firing after the break. The Magic went on a 19-11 run to start the third quarter and Fournier seven of those points as Orlando finally put together two halves of solid basketball.
Coach Steve Clifford, who said prior to Wednesday's game the Magic needed to start playing a lot better on the road, got his wish. Orlando ramped up their play on both ends of the floor, shooting 47.8% from the field. On defense, the Magic forced 25 Cavaliers turnovers, eight by point guard Darius Garland.
The Magic had better ball movement than their loss Monday night in Detroit and, of course, Fournier's hot hand made the offense look even better.
Orlando (7-10) built a 22-point lead with a breakaway dunk by Terrence Ross to start the fourth quarter and despite a furious attempt by the Cavaliers (5-13) to get back in it, back-to-back 3-pointers by Markelle Fultz and Mo Bamba with five minutes remaining thwarted a rally that saw Cleveland get within 98-90.
Ross had 16 points and Bamba 15 (5-of-5 shooting), as did Fultz for the Magic. Johnathan Isaac had 16 points and seven rebounds
Fournier has scored 21 or more points during six of the Magic's past seven games and the output has come at a convenient time with the team's top two leading scorers _ Nikola Vucevic and Aaron Gordon _ missing the past three games with ankle injuries. Gordon is day-to-day and could be back Friday night when the Magic return home from a four-game road trip to face Toronto at Amway Center.
