CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, (Reuters) – The Orlando Magic squandered a big lead against Charlotte on Saturday but scored the first 11 points of overtime to beat the scrappy Bobcats 106-95.
Jameer Nelson collected six of his 21 points in overtime and Rashard Lewis had five to end Charlotte’s franchise-record home win streak at nine games.
“In overtime, that was the best defense we’ve played all year,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters.
“It was our defense that helped us win.”
Vince Carter also had 21 points for Orlando and Dwight Howard pulled in 20 rebounds as the Magic narrowed Atlanta’s Southeast division lead to percentage points.
D.J. Augustin scored 22 points, including five three-pointers, to help spark a furious Charlotte rally that forced overtime.
Behind by 12 points with 11 minutes to play, the Bobcats turned to a volley of three-pointers and double-figure scorer Gerald Wallace’s first points to level the score twice.
Stephen Jackson’s layup with a second to go finally forced extra play.
Nelson then took over, scoring the first four points of overtime to secure Orlando their third consecutive win.
“We executed great until overtime, then we had some bad match-ups,” said Bobcats coach Larry Brown. “We could not get stops. We just could not get it done.”
All five Magic starters finished in double figures, including Lewis’s 18 and 10 by Howard.
“We are definitely going to take a lot of confidence from this victory,” Lewis said. “We didn’t hang it up. We kept pushing and playing hard and we were able to win the game.”
Wallace, who was averaging 18.7 points for Charlotte, did not have a point until seven minutes left in the game. He wound up with nine points and 10 rebounds.