Hot shooting, stifling defense carry Magic over Kings

Caleb Houstan's 6-of-7 3-point shooting off the bench en route to 18 points helped the Orlando Magic capitalize on a stifling defensive effort as they cruised psat the visiting Sacramento Kings 121-91 on Saturday.

Orlando (36-39), the NBA's top defense in points allowed coming into Saturday's matchup, delivered its 18th game holding an opponent to fewer than 100 points this season. The Magic limited the Kings to 42 percent shooting from the floor, including 7-of-28 from 3-point range.

The Orlando defense was especially effective against Zach LaVine, holding him to just 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting and forcing him into five turnovers.

The Magic came out aggressively from the start, not allowing the Kings (36-38) a made field goal until more than three minutes into the contest. By then, Orlando built a nine-point it never relinquished.

Jonathan Isaac helped cap the tone-setting first quarter with a steal of a Malik Monk pass -- one of six Monk turnovers in the game -- that led to a Goga Bitadze dunk in transition.

The sequence put an exclamation mark on Orlando's 38-21 first-quarter performance.

Bitadze recorded a double-double off the bench with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Houstan knocked down three triples before halftime to help the Magic take a 15-point lead into intermission.

Sacramento cut the deficit to 11 points early in the third quarter on a DeMar DeRozan 3-pointer, the last of his team-high 21-point effort. Orlando erupted in response, going on a 26-5 run from that point.

Franz Wagner scored 10 of his 21 points during the decisive burst. Behind Wagner, Houston and Paolo Banchero, who scored a game-high 24 points, the Magic recorded their fifth-highest scoring game of the season.

Domantas Sabonis finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds for Sacramento, which was playing the first of six straight road games.

--Field Level Media