The Orlando Magic will play their first home game in more than two weeks Friday night when they host the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Magic lost to the Denver Nuggets 119-116 on Sunday, leaving them 2-3 on their recent cross-country trip. They hope to fare better in their first game back home than the Pelicans did upon returning from a recent five-game trip.
New Orleans endured its worst defeat of the season Wednesday night, a 124-98 shellacking at the hands of the Miami Heat.
The Pelicans have been mostly competitive in the absence of injured starters Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and Herbert Jones Jr., but that wasn’t the case against the Heat, who built a 20-point lead in the first quarter and coasted to their biggest margin of victory this season.
New Orleans had no answer for Bam Adebayo, whose 26 points led seven Miami scorers in double figures.
The Magic will be well rested after a five-day break between games. On Sunday, Denver’s Nikola Jokic made a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds remaining to edge Orlando, but the Magic saw positives in the way they fought back from a 15-point deficit.
On the road trip, Orlando previously won at Golden State, lost in Sacramento, won in Portland and lost to the Jazz in Salt Lake City.
