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Magic pay a visit to Hornets

Dec 27, 2014 - 3:59 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Bottom feeders in the Southeast Division square off Saturday night, as the Orlando Magic pay a visit to the Charlotte Hornets.

The Magic will also visit the Miami Heat on this quick road trip and are coming off Friday's 98-89 loss to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Tobias Harris and Evan Fournier scored 16 and 15 points, respectively, and Victor Oladipo added 13 for the Magic, who made almost 50 percent (49.3) from the field and gave up 29 points to James.

Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said they let James beat them in the fourth quarter.

"I don't think we got tired down the stretch," Vaughn said. "He made the plays for himself and his teammates."

Orlando has lost seven of its last nine games and is winless in the last three road assignments.

Charlotte will play two in a row at The Hive versus Orlando and Milwaukee, and suffered a 98-75 loss at Oklahoma City last night. The Thunder again played without reigning NBA MVP Kevin Durant (ankle) and were led by Russell Westbrook's 29 points.

Brian Roberts paced the Hornets with 17 points off the bench and Marvin Williams scored 11 points in a reserve role. Starters Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Cody Zeller each had nine points, while Al Jefferson (4) and Kemba Walker (6) combined for only 10 points.

The Hornets shot just 28.7 percent from the floor and had a season-high four- game winning streak come to an end.

"They're so good defensively, we just had trouble in the first quarter making shots," Charlotte coach Steve Clifford said. "We played a very good team and they played well."

Charlotte dropped a 105-100 decision versus Orlando on Nov. 21, as Fournier led the way with 21 points and Nikola Vucevic added 14 and 10 rebounds.

Jefferson posted 24 points and 11 rebounds in that one for the Hornets.