Nelson’s 12 Fourth Quarter Points Help Magic Rally, Beat Kings 106-102

Orlando Magic guard Jameer Nelson, right, drives to the basket past Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins.

The Sacramento Kings are one frustrating team to watch.

For those of us who follow the Kings (including yours truly), then you know this squad is young, talented, and at the same time unfocused. Then there are those times whenb you think they are getting over the hump, as witnessed by some big wins they earned in February.

The venue was Power Balance Pavilion (still cannot get used to that name) and the Kings played host to the Orlando Magic Wednesday night.

This is a game, by all rights, should have easily favored the Magic, as the matchups heavily favored them. But in the NBA – as the ad slogan says – amazing happens.

Sacramento was on their way to beating another high-profile team when Jameer Nelson decided to “man up” and take over. And take over he did.

He scored 12 fourth quarter points, allowing the Magic to rally and beat the Kings 106-102.

Sacramento managed to frustrate Dwight Howard to the point where he got into early foul trouble and build an eight-point lead in the second quarter.

Even with Howard burdened with four fouls with 10:58 left in the third quarter in the third quarter, coach Stan Van Gundy opted to stick with his franchise player.

The move paid dividends as Howard helped the Magic reclaim the lead at 67-64 andmanaged to not pick up his fifth foul of the game. The Kings took a 79-76 lead into the fourth quarter, but Jameer nelson took over in the final 12 minutes, scoring 12 and ensuring the victory for Orlando.

Nelson led the Magic with 26 points, along with 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals while Jason Richardson added 19 (including three 3-pointers) with 4 rebounds, an assist and 3 steals. Howard was “held” to 16 points, along with 15 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocks.

DeMarcus Cousins led the Kings with a game-high 29 points, along with 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals, but also committing 7 turnovers while Marcus Thornton added 22 with 6 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal. Jason Thompson came off the bench to add 16 with 6 rebounds, 2 assists and a block.

Both teams return to action on Friday as Orlando (41-24) makes the short bus trip west on I-80 to Oakland, to face the Golden State Warriors while Sacramento (15-47) flies southeast to San Antonio to take on the Spurs.

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