PORTLAND, Ore. _ In 2015, the Orlando Magic traded third-string point guard Shabazz Napier to the Portland Trail Blazers for basically nothing, a protected second-round pick that the Blazers had no realistic chance to convey.
That move, done essentially as a favor to Napier to give him playing time, bit the Magic on Wednesday night.
Napier scored 19 points _ making all five of his 3-point tries _ to help the Trail Blazers beat the Magic 99-94 at Moda Center.
With the loss, the Magic finished their West Coast road trip with a 1-3 record.
Of those three defeats, perhaps the loss to the Blazers hurt the most.
It was a game the Magic could have won.
Portland took an 82-81 lead on a hook shot by center Jusuf Nurkic with 6:03 to play.
The Blazers never trailed again.
A short while later, CJ McCollum sank a pop-up 3 to extend Portland's lead to 87-83.
The Magic (8-7) knew they would have problems against the Blazers (8-6), especially the backcourt of Damian Lillard and McCollum.
Lillard finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.
McCollum added 24 points, four rebounds and three assists.
But Orlando didn't count on Napier hurting them.
Napier sank his fifth 3-pointer of the night with 2:16 remaining. The shot extended the Blazers' lead to 92-86.
Orlando, which received a team-high 22 points from Evan Fournier, once controlled the game.
The Magic took a 47-34 lead with 5:44 remaining in the second quarter.
But they collapsed the rest of the period.
Plagued by a suddenly stagnant offense, Orlando missed all seven of its shot attempts and turned the ball over five times.
The bulk of Portland's run came with Orlando starters Elfrid Payton, Terrence Ross, Fournier, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic on the floor.
Napier scored five points and recorded three steals during the stretch.
Portland carried a 51-47 lead into the third quarter.
The Magic didn't move the ball well in the third, either. Gordon, in particular, tried to force too much.
