PHILADELPHIA _ Friday night tested the Orlando Magic.
It tested their fragility.
One night after one of their most painful losses in years, the Magic played one of their best games of the season.
Sure, they faced the lowly Philadelphia 76ers.
But in their 105-88 win at the Wells Fargo Center, the Magic finally showed the mental toughness and togetherness that they have lacked too often this season.
The Magic sank 13 of their 26 3-point tries and received an efficient scoring night from an unlikely source, small forward Aaron Gordon, who added 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting.
Orlando (8-12) needed to beat Philadelphia (4-15) after what happened less than 24 hours earlier in Tennessee.
On Thursday night, the Magic led the Memphis Grizzlies by 14 points midway through the fourth quarter but collapsed down the stretch and lost a heartbreaker 95-94.
Friday's matchup featured the NBA's two worst offenses. Philadelphia entered the night ranked 29th in the NBA in points scored per possession. Orlando ranked 30th.
Small wonder, then, that the Sixers made only four of their first 24 shot attempts.
But the Magic exceeded expectations.
Jodie Meeks, who missed Orlando's first 19 games as he recovered from foot surgery, made his Magic debut. Meeks made his first shot attempt, a 3-pointer, early in the second quarter. In 17 minutes, he scored nine points as he made two of his six shots from the field.
Gordon has struggled with taking bad shots much of this season, but he scored 15 points in the first half on 7-of-10 shooting. Several of his baskets came on the same mid-range and long-range jumpers that have bedeviled him so often over the first month of the season.
The Magic led 50-42 at halftime and built onto that lead in the third quarter.
Evan Fournier sank a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to put Orlando ahead 63-48 with 8:15 left in the period.
The Sixers then threatened to repeat what the Grizzlies did.
After Orlando extended its lead to 15 points, Philadelphia responded with a 7-0 run, prompting Magic coach Frank Vogel to call a timeout.
The Magic didn't collapse.
They unleashed a flurry of their own.
Nikola Vucevic and Serge Ibaka passed the ball back and forth as Vucevic stood in the low post and Ibaka occupied the right corner _ a rare bit of cohesion between them. Vucevic then hurled a pass to Gordon as Gordon made a baseline cut and finished the play with a layup.
A layup by Ibaka soon followed. D.J. Augustin made a pair of 3-pointers, and Gordon stroked a trey from the left corner.
The outburst, interrupted only by a mid-range jumper by Philadelphia's Jahlil Okafor, extended Orlando's lead to 76-57.
Bismack Biyombo collected a team-high 13 rebounds. Jeff Green contributed 16 points and six rebounds. Vucevic chipped in with 12 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
Ibaka and Fournier scored 16 points apiece.
The Sixers don't have the firepower or the tenacity to mount a Grizzlies-like comeback.
And for one night at least, the Magic showed some toughness.
It helped that the Sixers capped Joel Embiid's playing time. At times Friday, the rookie center looked like the best player on the floor. In 27 minutes, he scored 25 points, collected 10 rebounds and dished out five assists.
Tougher tests loom on the horizon: a road game Sunday against the Detroit Pistons and a road game Tuesday against the Washington Wizards. The Magic have struggled against both teams in recent years, so Friday night's game against the Sixers took on added importance.
The game also mattered because of what happened in Memphis.
The loss was so heart-wrenching that it threatened to send the Magic on a downward spiral.
That didn't happen Friday.
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