Brooklyn Nets 113-121 Orlando Magic: Twitter reacts as Aaron Gordon's 38-point performance sinks Kyrie Irving and company
Kyrie Irving was on fire for the Brooklyn Nets but they lost 121-113 to the Orlando Magic, who leaned on the hot-shooting of Aaron Gordon.
The stars of the two teams went toe-to-toe throughout the game. However, the home team hit clutch shots to close the fourth quarter and come away with the victory.
The Orlando Magic seemed to have the game in the bag early, with Aaron Gordon making almost every shot he put up. He scored 38 points on 14-of-20 shooting, making a career-high 7 threes on 8 shots.
Not to be outdone, Kyrie Irving scored 43 points on 19-of-31 shooting, but he only made 2-of-9 from three.
It was an incredible upset win by the Orlando Magic, who came in with a nine-game losing streak. What's even more shocking is the fact that the victory to end their woes came against the Brooklyn Nets, one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
Aaron Gordon carried the Orlando Magic
Aaron Gordon was fired up for the game amid trade rumors. The former Slam Dunk Contest finalist had a three-point shooting exhibition as he barely missed a shot in this game. The Orlando Magic needed virtually every one of his baskets, with All-Star center Nikola Vucevic shooting poorly.
Evan Fournier also contributed with 31 big points, including a couple of clutch baskets in the final five minutes.
Kyrie Irving shot the lights out for the Brooklyn Nets
Irving was hitting all sorts of crazy shots for the Brooklyn Nets and he had nearly won it on his own. This was one of those games where Irving looked like he was playing on another level from the rest of the players on the floor (except for Gordon).
That's why fans on Twitter were surprised at the lack of touches from the All-Star point guard when the game was close.
Brooklyn Nets came back big but the Orlando Magic put the finishing touches
The Orlando Magic's lead was 19 points, 103-84, heading into the fourth quarter. James Harden, who hadn't played well the whole night at that point, was orchestrating the plays to perfection.
The Nets rallied to cut the lead to just nine points, with Kyrie Irving resting on the bench as the other players finally stepped up. By the time Irving returned, they were right in the thick of the fight in the fourth quarter.
It took almost seven minutes before the Orlando Magic scored their first basket of the quarter. The bucket that broke the drought was courtesy of a mid-range shot from Nikola Vucevic.
Before long, the Orlando Magic once again had a comfortable lead that deflated the Brooklyn Nets. The home team never looked back, and their losing streak was soon over.