Following a tough loss in San Antonio on Thursday night, the Brooklyn Nets would head to Orlando to face the Magic, a team they’d beaten twice in the last 30 days. During the dusking hours of Groundhog Day, the Nets would try to relive and repeat the same outcome they left Orlando with two weeks ago when they came all the way back from a 21-point deficit to beat the Magic.

The Nets came out of the gates firing, scoring five points less than a minute into the game. However, beyond that hot start, it felt like the Nets were just never able to get into a rhythm for most of the first quarter. Through a mix of stagnant ball movement, sloppy turnovers, and shots simply just not falling, the Nets would watch the Magic work to capture a thirteen point lead as late as 1:59 in the first quarter. However, in the final two minutes, it became the D’Angelo Russell show. Russell recorded six points in the last two minutes — and once you add in a nice running jumper from DeMarre Carroll, the Nets were able to cut the Magic lead down to just five points at the end of the first.

The Magic would open the second quarter holding a 26-21 advantage over the Nets. The Nets would continue to scratch and claw to try and cut the lead down and hop in front of the Magic, but the Magic were able to match just about everything the Nets threw at them. The next Nets run was fueled by, once again, Russell. While the Nets were able to tie the game at 35-35, the Magic wouldn’t let the score stay evened up for too long as they started to pull away from the Nets once again and regained the five-point lead they entered the quarter with. The Nets would need an answer if they wanted to head to the halftime break with the lead, and they got just that from Shabazz Napier. The Nets’ backup guard was a huge spark for the Nets offense that had gone cold, quickly scoring nine points in the final two and a half minutes, including a three-pointer as time expired to give the Nets a 48-44 lead at the break.

Heading into the second half, the Nets were in good shape after cutting the once 13-point lead down completely and even holding a four-point lead of their own. Unfortunately, that lead did not last for long as the Nets had trouble containing the Magic defensively, more specifically the Magic big men Aaron Gordon and All-Star Nikola Vucevic. Theo Pinson provided more good minutes in his extended opportunity, coming off the bench and scoring five quick points — perhaps just delaying the obvious inevitable. But the Magic kept their composure and fought off the run by the Nets to head into the fourth with a 78-70 lead

The Magic kept their foot on the Nets’ throat in the fourth quarter and there wasn’t much to like about the visitor’s performance aside from what Russell was doing. The Magic kept taking advantage of the Nets’ turnovers and, in total, had 20 points on their opponent’s sloppy turnovers. Sadly, the Nets just had no answer for what Wes Iwundu or the aforementioned Vucevic were able to do down the stretch — an ultimate disappointment. As a result, Brooklyn suffered a difficult 13-point loss to the Orlando Magic — but back to the drawing board on Monday.