ORLANDO, Fla. _ His entire career, Orlando Magic power forward Aaron Gordon has been labeled as a poor outside shooter.
On Tuesday night, he erased that description from his scouting report.
Gordon made all five of his 3-point shot attempts, including a crucial trey that propelled the Magic to a 125-121 victory over the Brooklyn Nets at Amway Center.
With the Magic trailing 121-120 late in the fourth quarter, Gordon took a pass from Nikola Vucevic, elevated for a 3-point shot and swished it with 36 seconds to play.
Gordon finished with a career-high 41 points on 14-of-18 shooting.
The Magic led 120-119 when the Nets' Allen Crabbe missed a 3.
Vucevic grabbed the rebound, but DeMarre Carroll snuck up behind him, ripped the ball from Vucevic's hands and scored on a layup, putting the Nets up 121-120 with 48 seconds to play.
That set the stage for Gordon's heroics.
The Magic have started their season with a 3-1 record _ their best through the first four games of a season since Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson and Stan Van Gundy led the 2011-12 Magic to a 3-1 start.
For awhile Tuesday, it looked like Orlando would lose to Brooklyn.
The Magic trailed the Nets 96-87 at the start of the fourth quarter.
But a 3-pointer by Evan Fournier cut the deficit to 110-107 with 5:32 to play.
On the ensuing possession, Crabbe missed a 3-pointer for the Nets, and Vucevic made the Nets pay a short while later, scoring on a turnaround jumper to draw the Magic within 110-109 with 5:01 left.
The Magic took a 112-110 lead on a 3-pointer by Fournier with 3:58 to go.
Fournier scored the Magic's next four points, all on foul shots, to put them ahead 116-114 with 2:20 to play.
After Crabbe missed a long jumper, Gordon scored on a put-back dunk to extend the Magic's lead to 118-114.
Following a basket by D'Angelo Russell, Fournier and Vucevic ran a pick-and-roll, ending in a layup by Vucevic.
The Magic led 120-116 _ and then Terrence Ross fouled Russell as Russell attempted a 3-point shot.
On Friday, just four nights earlier, the Magic lost to the Nets 126-121 in Brooklyn. In a game marked by an injury to point guard Elfrid Payton, the Magic committed 22 turnovers and allowed 60 points in the paint. The Nets also collected 15 offensive rebounds.
Vucevic scored a career-high 41 points that night, and Gordon sat out because of a sore left ankle.
"That game taught us a lot," Magic coach Frank Vogel said as tipoff approached. "Brooklyn's for real this year. It's a completely different team in my mind. They're a hard-charging team, leading the league in points per game right now ... We got a firsthand look at how difficult they are to guard the other night, and we're going to have to put our defensive hard hat on to win this game (Tuesday) night. It's not going to be an easy game."
Gordon returned on Tuesday and found himself back in the starting lineup. He scored 24 first-half points, making 9 of 11 shots and sinking all three of his 3-point attempts.
The Nets made only 40.8 percent of their first-half shots, but they still entered halftime tied with the Magic, 61-61.
The reasons? Three-point shooting and trips to the free-throw line.
Led by Russell, Brooklyn went 7 for 18 from deep and 14 for 17 at the free-throw line in the first half.
The third quarter started poorly for Orlando.
The Nets opened the period on a 19-7 run after the Magic committed a bunch of fouls and put the Nets into the bonus with 6:59 left. A pair of free throws by Timofey Mozgov extended the Nets' lead to 80-68, their biggest lead of the game.
But the Nets never extended their lead beyond 12 points.
