Magic come back late to beat Zion Williamson, Pelicans

Orlando bounced back to grab a win against New Orleans.

New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson drives to the basket against Orlando Magic forward Noah Penda. | Mike Watters-Imagn Images

The Orlando Magic are feeling the fire after a 128-118 comeback victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Magic trailed by seven points at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but they managed to pull ahead midway through the period en route to victory.

The Magic couldn't seem to get a stop on defense against the red hot Pelicans, who were led by Jordan Poole and Zion Williamson, but they found the stops they needed down the stretch to pull out the win.

New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson brings the ball up court against Orlando Magic forward Noah Penda. | Mike Watters-Imagn Images

Magic back in win column against Pelicans

With the win, the Magic continue their streak of alternating wins and losses in their last 14 games. They are 7-7 in that span, which sums up their play during that stretch perfectly. It's a lot of ups and downs.

Luckily for the Magic, they ended the game on a high and it helped lead them to a win against the Pelicans.

The Magic were led by Desmond Bane, who scored a game-high 27 points. Anthony Black was right behind him with 26 points on 9 of 10 shooting while Paolo Banchero had 23. Goga Bitadze started for an injured Wendell Carter Jr., who had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Tristan da Silva was also clutch with 16 points off the bench with 4 of 5 makes from beyond the 3-point line.

For the Pelicans, Zion Williamson was the leading scorer with 22 points while Trey Murphy III and Jordan Poole each had 21 points. Rookie point guard Jeremiah Fears had 16 points while fellow first-year pro Derik Queen had 10 points. Backup center Karlo Matkovic also finished in double figures with 11.

While the Magic struggled for most of the game against the worst team in the Western Conference, they still finished the contest with a win, which matters more than anything. They can learn from the mistakes they made in the contest, but they will gladly take the result with a win instead of a loss. That should give them some momentum going into their big trip to Europe.

The Magic will now head across the pond to face off against the Memphis Grizzlies in a two-game series in Berlin and London. Their next game comes on Thursday at 2 p.m. ET inside Uber Arena. Fans can watch the game on FanDuel Sports Network or stream it on Amazon Prime Video.