Orlando Magic Grades: Orlando Magic 95, Dallas Mavericks 87

The Orlando Magic again struggled to score, but their defense and their offense stepped up in a big way in the fourth quarter, scoring a second straight win.

It was another ugly, grit-and-grind game from the Orlando Magic when they faced the injury-riddled Dallas Mavericks at Amway Center on Saturday. The Magic’s defense clicked in as they found a way to sneak in a 95-87 win on Saturday night.

The Magic’s offense has struggled so far this season, but the Magic’s bench once again came to rescue tonight as D.J. Augustin and Bismack Biyombo were a huge part of Magic’s win tonight.

Augustin scored 10 of his 18 points in the final quarter and dished out four of his six assists. He hit two 3-pointers midway through the quarter that gave the Magic the lead for good and found Jeff Green for a monster slam over Andrew Bogut to give the Magic an insurmountable eight-point lead.

Augustin found the spark of offensive aggression the Magic were missing for much of the game.

“[Vogel] told me to shoot the ball when I’m open and just be aggressive,” Augustin said. “He needs me to do that every night. That’s what he told me. Having your coach’s confidence like that is a great feeling.”

Augustin and others rewarded that confidence late in the game.

Evan Fournier once again knocked down a key 3-pointer late in the game to give the Magic some cushion against the relentless Mavericks team. Fournier struggled throughout the night (3-for-13 shooting). But he delivered with a big shot when it mattered most, making it a seven-point lead with about two minutes to play.

The Mavericks were without Deron Williams, J.J. Barea, Devin Harris and the future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki. Those key players absences were a big part to the Magic’s win.

The Magic’s offense still looked very stagnant. But their defense continued to shine bright, just like it has the last five games.

“A win is a win in this league” said Augustin said to FOX Sports Florida’s Dante Marchitelli after the game. “My job is to bring energy from the bench and make sure I do whatever it takes to help us win.”

The Orlando Magic started the game very rusty, as they only scored 17 points in the first quarter. The Mavericks are one of the worst teams in the league at getting to the free throw line, however, tonight they were aggressive as they shot 27 free throws tonight.

The Mavericks offense looked lost at times as it could be seen they clearly missed their veteran stars. Their scoring leader tonight was Jonathan Gibson, who scored 26 points on 8-for-16 shooting, including five 3-pointers in his second career game.