Spurs ride Forbes' hot hand late to nip Magic

Fournier top-scored for Magic with 23 points while Ross had 21, Nikola Vucevic scored 16 points, DJ Augustin added 12 and Fultz contributed 11

Bryn Forbes had five points in a late San Antonio run and Trey Lyles scored a season-high 20 points as the Spurs outlasted the visiting Orlando Magic 114-113 on Saturday.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Evan Fournier and Terrence Ross, the latter with 3:18 to play, handed the Magic a 109-105 lead. Rudy Gay's jumper for San Antonio was answered by Markelle Fultz's finger roll to push the lead back to four points.

Spurs regain lead

Trey Lyles
Trey Lyles Wikimedia Commons

DeMar DeRozan nailed a jumper for San Antonio and Forbes canned another to tie the game at 111. Forbes then poured in a 3-pointer with 50.5 to play to put the Spurs back in front at 114-111. Fultz's jumper with 40.3 seconds left brought the Magic to within one point before Gay missed a jumper but grabbed the offensive rebound.

After a Michael Carter-Williams steal with 7.5 seconds remaining Fournier missed a jumper that could have won the game with 2.2 seconds to play, allowing the Spurs to escape with the victory and snap a two-game slide. Gay added 19 points for the Spurs, with DeRozan scoring 16, Dejounte Murray hitting 15, Forbes tallying 13 and Derrick White and Drew Eubanks adding 11 and 10 points, respectively, for San Antonio.

LaMarcus Aldridge misses a second game

Fournier led the Magic with 23 points while Ross had 21, Nikola Vucevic scored 16 points, D.J. Augustin added 12 and Fultz contributed 11. The Magic were playing the second game of a home-road back to back that began with a 136-125 win over Minnesota on Friday.

San Antonio led 61-52 at halftime, outshooting the Magic 61.5 percent to 42.2 percent in the half and canning 9 of 17 3-pointers. Vucevic and Fournier paced the Magic with 10 points each in the first half while Aaron Gordon was scoreless. Gay led all scorers in the half with 16 points with Lyles pitching in 12 for the Spurs.

The Magic swept to the lead with a 15-4 run to open the final period, but San Antonio jumped in front again at 97-96 on a Patty Mills jumper with 6:50 to play. The Spurs were without forward LaMarcus Aldridge for the second consecutive game because of a right shoulder strain. They also lost center Jakob Poeltl to a first-quarter right knee contusion that limited him to the game's first four minutes.

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