ORLANDO, Fla. _ The Orlando Magic just cannot stop Charlotte Hornets point guard Kemba Walker.
After the Magic held Walker in check most of Wednesday night, Walker made a 3-pointer that put the Hornets ahead late, and then the Hornets held on for a 104-102 win over the Magic at Amway Center.
The Magic went ahead 97-96 when Bismack Biyombo collected an offensive rebound and scored on a layup with 1:20 to play.
On the Hornets' following possession, Walker drained a 3-pointer from 25 feet.
The Hornets never trailed again.
Walker finished with 20 points, five rebounds and six assists, and the Hornets entered the All-Star break with their 10th consecutive victory over the Magic.
The Magic had their chances to regain the lead after Walker's go-ahead 3, but D.J. Augustin missed a 3-pointer. Biyombo gathered another offensive board when Augustin missed the shot. Seconds later, Evan Fournier missed a 3 of his own.
On Charlotte's ensuing possession, Walker missed a layup, but Charlotte forward Marvin Williams grabbed the loose ball. The possession ended with Nicolas Batum draining a 3 with 11.3 seconds remaining, and Charlotte had the breathing room it needed at 102-97.
Dwight Howard scored a team-high 22 points and collected 13 rebounds for the Hornets.
Together, Howard and Walker canceled out another strong game from Magic forward Mario Hezonja, who scored 21 points on 10-of-20 shooting and hauled in 10 rebounds.
In the third quarter, the Magic hurt themselves with careless passing and ball-handling.
They turned the ball over six times _ three of them by Jonathon Simmons _ leading to 11 Hornets points.
And the Hornets turned their 54-53 halftime lead into an 85-78 lead through three quarters.
But the Magic's second unit, which has been so effective since mid-January, propelled the Magic back into a tie.
After Charlotte's Jeremy Lamb opened the fourth quarter with a reverse layup, the Magic followed with a 3-pointer by Marreese Speights, a 3-pointer by Arron Afflalo and another 3-pointer by Afflalo.
Three possessions. Three 3-pointers.
The 9-0 outburst tied the score at 87 and forced the Hornets to call a timeout.
Almost four minutes later, Shelvin Mack sank a 3-pointer to put the Magic ahead 92-89.
On Oct. 29, the Magic lost to the Hornets for the eighth consecutive time. The Magic defense struggled horrendously that night. The Magic allowed the Hornets to score 120 points and sink 55 percent of their shots.
Coach Frank Vogel supplied a succinct explanation for the difficulties.
"Kemba Walker and Kemba Walker-related problems," Vogel said after the game. "He's a terrific player."
That, of course, was nothing new.
Walker, the Hornets' lone All-Star, has bedeviled the Magic for years.
Yet another loss to the Hornets in Charlotte on Dec. 4 increased the Magic's losing streak to the Hornets to nine games.
"We have a tough matchup against a team that gave us a lot of problems in the past," Fournier said before tipoff Wednesday.
"There have been two teams that have kicked our ass the last few years. It's the Wizards and the Hornets. So we would love to kick their ass, to be honest. They always give us problems by the way they guard the paint. They really load to the basketball, and we've had problems in the past finding the open guy consistently. I think the key tonight really is (going to be) the drive-and-kick game."
The Magic were short-handed again Monday.
Aaron Gordon, Nikola Vucevic, Jonathan Isaac and Terrence Ross sat out because of various injuries, Vogel said.
But despite their injury problems, the Magic have improved recently, going 6-7 over their previous 13 games.
"The All-Star break starts (Thursday), not today," Vogel said before tipoff. "I've been in this 20 years, and you see a lot of experiences where guys' minds are on the break and not focused on the task at hand. We've got to make sure we guard against that."
