PORTLAND, Ore. _ With the score tied 90-90 with 8:06 to go in Friday night's fourth quarter, Orlando Magic coach Frank Vogel decided to sub his starting frontcourt of Aaron Gordon, Serge Ibaka and Nikola Vucevic back into his team's game against the Portland Trail Blazers.
It was a bit early to make that move.
The Magic played well from that point onward and beat the Blazers 115-109 at the Moda Center.
Nikola Vucevic sank a 17-foot jumper to put Orlando ahead 105-101.
After Portland's Damian Lillard made a pair of free throws, Elfrid Payton made a wide-open 3-pointer from the left court with 1:17 to go to give Orlando a 108-103 lead.
Following a Portland miss, Vucevic struck again, swishing a 19-foot jumper.
Vucevic finished with a season-high 30 points and also collected 10 rebounds.
Payton scored nine of his 19 points in the fourth quarter before he fouled out.
With the victory, Orlando (17-24) snapped its four-game losing streak.
Lillard scored a game-high 34 points for Portland (18-24).
The Magic jumped out to a 20-3 lead as they made their first nine shots and the Blazers missed their first nine shots.
But the Blazers closed the gap.
With Lillard and Evan Turner leading the way, they cut the Magic's lead to 50-47 with 4:13 to go in the second quarter.
Vogel made good on his pledge to employ small-ball lineups more often. Although Vogel started bigs Vucevic and Ibaka alongside each other, the coach deviated from his normal substitution pattern. He brought in Jeff Green off the bench to spell Ibaka at power forward and later subbed Bismack Biyombo in for Vucevic. The new pattern left only one Magic big man on the floor for about 14 minutes of the first half.
In the first half, Vogel also made Mario Hezonja the primary substitute for Gordon at small forward. Turner attacked Hezonja often, and Turner's success helped the Blazers stage their first-half comeback.
Hezonja did not play in the second half.
In the fourth quarter, Vogel subbed in his starting frontcourt with the score knotted at 90-90, pairing Gordon, Ibaka and Vucevic back into the game as he left Payton and Jodie Meeks in at the guard spots.
During the next 2 minutes, 33 seconds, the Magic outscored the Blazers 9-3.
Meeks started the run with a 3-pointer off a pindown.
Meeks followed with a reverse layup, and Vucevic drained a jumper.
Vogel put Evan Fournier in for Meeks with 6:07 to go, and Payton then intercepted a pass by C.J. McCollum and went coast-to-coast for a layup. His score extended Orlando's lead to 99-93 with 5:33 left.
The Magic held on.
