ORLANDO, Fla. _ This is how fickle offense can be.
On Tuesday night, the Orlando Magic resembled the Golden State Warriors.
But when it mattered most Wednesday night, the Magic resembled themselves.
The Magic entered the fourth quarter tied against the Los Angeles Clippers, but the Magic's offense faltered down the stretch, allowing the Clippers to escape Amway Center with a 113-108 victory.
Orlando made just eight of the 23 shots it attempted in the fourth quarter.
The loss wasted a career-high scoring night for third-year forward Aaron Gordon, who poured in 33 points on 13-of-21 shooting.
All five Clippers starters scored in double figures, including Austin Rivers, who had a team-high 25 points. Blake Griffin added 23 points of his own.
Less than 24 hours earlier, the Magic enjoyed their best offensive night of the season as they beat the Hawks 131-120 in Atlanta and made 58.6 percent of their shot attempts.
On Wednesday night, they made 47.2 percent of their shots.
Pretty good. But not good enough against the Clippers.
No one epitomized the Magic's offensive slippage more than point guard Elfrid Payton.
Payton scored a career-high 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting during the win in Atlanta.
But he scored only nine points on 4-of-12 shooting against the Clippers. Some of his misses were costly, too. With Los Angeles clinging to a 104-98 lead with 2:24 to go, Payton misfired on an open 3-pointer.
Rivers sank a 3-pointer on the Clippers' ensuing possession.
Serge Ibaka never found a rhythm because of foul trouble.
Referees whistled Ibaka for his second foul with 2:28 remaining in the first quarter, forcing Magic coach Frank Vogel to sit Ibaka on the bench. Ibaka returned to the game with 7:19 to go in the second quarter, but he picked up his third foul 45 seconds later and had to sit again.
The Magic still were in decent shape after they cut the Clippers' lead to 51-49 on a jumper by Bismack Biyombo late in the second quarter.
But the Clippers closed the half on a 9-2 run.
Griffin sank a short jumper off the glass. Chris Paul made a jumper. DeAndre Jordan dunked a lob pass from Paul. And after Orlando's Jeff Green made a jumper, Paul drilled a 3-pointer.
Paul's trey extended Los Angeles' lead to 60-51.
Rivers gave the Clippers a significant boost in his first game back after he suffered a concussion over the weekend.
Rivers, who had his number retired by Winter Park High School on Tuesday night, made seven of his 10 3-point attempts.
While Rivers enjoys being back in Central Florida, the Magic don't fare well here.
The Magic (11-16) have struggled at home all season.
They have lost six consecutive games at Amway Center, with losses against four teams with losing records: the Phoenix Suns, Washington Wizards, Milwaukee Bucks and Denver Nuggets.
The Clippers (19-7) started a three-game East Coast road trip on Wednesday.
They led by as many as nine points midway through the third quarter, but the Magic slowly chipped away at the lead.
The Magic employed a Hack-a-Shaq strategy against Jordan on seven consecutive Clippers possessions. Jordan is a notoriously poor free-throw shooter, and he entered the game shooting just 52.1 percent from the line this season.
On the seven consecutive possessions he was fouled, Jordan made 10 of his 14 free throws.
Orlando cut Los Angeles' lead to 85-84 on a pull-up jumper by Evan Fournier. After two free throws by Raymond Felton, the Magic received a 3-pointer by Green to tie the score 87-87.
The Magic lost their momentum early in the fourth quarter.
They allowed Marreese Speights to make a wide-open 3 from the right wing.
A short while later, Green had a pass intercepted, and Felton made a contested layup to put the Clippers up 92-87.
Rivers made another 3, extending the Clippers' lead to 95-87.
With the Magic's offense stumbling, that was too big a deficit to overcome.
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