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  • Kevin Durant powers for 40 as Rockets earn comeback win at Magic

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    (Photo credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images)

    Kevin Durant scored 40 points on Thursday night to help the visiting Houston Rockets rally for a 113-108 victory over the Orlando Magic.

    Reed Sheppard added 20 points and made five 3-pointers for Houston, which trailed by 19 points in the third quarter before going on a 21-0 run to help spur the comeback win. Alperen Sengun had 16 points and Jabari Smith Jr. scored 13 for the Rockets, who won their third straight game.

    Desmond Bane led Orlando with 30 points, while Paolo Banchero totaled 19 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. Wendell Carter Jr. scored 16 and Jevon Carter finished with 14 in the loss.

    Holding a 10-point halftime lead, Orlando extended the margin to 15 on Tristan da Silva’s triple at the 5:42 mark of the third. After Banchero’s four straight points extended the lead to 19, Sheppard hit three 3-pointers in the midst of a 21-0 Houston run, giving the Rockets a 78-76 edge.

    Josh Okogie finished the third with a trey to give the visitors an 81-80 lead ahead of the final quarter.

    Bane’s consecutive baskets gave Orlando a five-point cushion with 6:33 left in the fourth, before Durant’s personal 5-0 run knotted the score at 97 apiece.

    After Carter split a pair of free throws to put Orlando ahead by a point with 3:23 remaining, Sengun’s consecutive layups and Sheppard’s fourth triple gave Houston a 106-100 advantage at the 1:53 mark.

    Orlando had a chance to trim its deficit to one possession, but Anthony Black’s turnover was followed by Sheppard’s game-sealing 3-pointer with 22.7 seconds left.

    After Sheppard’s jumper gave Houston a 20-19 lead, the Magic finished the opening quarter on a 10-2 run, with Bane’s 3-pointer giving Orlando a 29-22 edge entering the second.

    The Rockets missed their first four shots from behind the arc, before Dorian Finney-Smith’s triple cut Houston’s deficit to four with 11:01 left in the first half.

    Durant’s floater pulled the Rockets within four again, but Banchero’s three-point play began an 8-0 Magic run to put them ahead 45-33.

    Bane connected on all five of his 3-point attempts in the first half, leading all scorers with 17 points. Durant scored the last eight points of the half for Houston, which trailed 53-43 at the break.

    –Field Level Media

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  • Magic demolish 76ers, set franchise scoring records

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    (Photo credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images)

    Anthony Black scored a career-high 31 points to highlight the Orlando Magic’s 144-103 annihilation of the host Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday in an NBA Cup game.

    Black scored 27 points in the first half, including a 20-point second quarter as Orlando set a franchise record for points in any quarter with 51 in the stanza. The team also set a new franchise mark with 86 points in the first half.

    Despite continuing to play without Paolo Banchero (groin), the Magic had nine players score in double figures, including Franz Wagner (21) and Desmond Bane (15). The team compiled 82 bench points — the top total in the NBA this season — with Black and Jett Howard (13) leading the way.

    Tyrese Maxey scored 20 points to pace Philadelphia, while Jared McCain pitched in with 15 points. The Sixers played without Joel Embiid, Paul George and VJ Edgecombe, among others.

    The teams were tied 35-35 after one quarter, but the Magic needed less than four minutes in the second quarter to open a double-digit lead. Black scored seven points in that stretch, including a 3-pointer that put the visitors ahead 49-39.

    Shortly thereafter, Jalen Suggs found Black with an alley-oop from beyond half court. Black then made a pair of 3-pointers — both off Suggs assists — as Orlando opened a 57-43 advantage.

    The margin was similar (68-52) with under 3 1/2 minutes left before halftime when the Magic embarked on a quick 9-0 run. Wagner scored the first four points of that burst before Howard took care of the final five.

    Black’s lay-in just before the final buzzer sent Orlando into the locker room with an 86-60 advantage.

    About five minutes into the third quarter, Black’s finger roll sent the lead north of 30 for the first time. That bucket was part of a 17-0 run by the visitors, who went ahead by 42 when Tristan da Silva’s 3-pointer made it 111-69.

    The Magic led by as many as 46 points in the fourth quarter.

    There was an altercation near the end of the second quarter that resulted in six technical fouls, including a double-technical to Suggs. The Magic point guard was subsequently ejected, although he dished out a career-high 11 assists in 16 minutes before heading to the locker room.

    –Field Level Media

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  • Favorite Things From 2023, and a 2024 Look Ahead

    Favorite Things From 2023, and a 2024 Look Ahead

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    Juliet and Amanda return for their ACTUAL last episode of 2023! The two discuss their favorite things and moments from 2023, including the Beckham docuseries and WAG culture (1:55); “the summer of women,” giving shout-outs to Greta Gerwig, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and more women later on (4:45); Lauren Sánchez’s Vogue profile; and Jeff Bezos’s future clock (8:37). Plus, a GILDED AGE SPOILER at 9:34! Then, the women discuss what they are looking forward to in 2024, including a plethora of books (14:57); a few movies, including Challengers and Civil War (21:46); the 2024 Summer Olympics and, more importantly, the celebrities that will be there (23:33); and more!

    Hosts: Juliet Litman and Amanda Dobbins
    Producer: Jade Whaley

    Subscribe: Spotify / Apple Podcasts / Stitcher

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    Juliet Litman

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  • Overwatch 2’s new tank hero leaks ahead of BlizzCon 2023 reveal

    Overwatch 2’s new tank hero leaks ahead of BlizzCon 2023 reveal

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    A new hero is coming to Overwatch 2 next month. Mauga, the game’s next tank-class hero, will join the Overwatch roster with season 8 and will be the game’s 39th playable character, according to a post on the Nintendo Switch eShop news channel.

    Blizzard plans to officially reveal the next Overwatch 2 hero at BlizzCon 2023, which starts Friday, but a first look at Mauga and his abilities have leaked ahead of that.

    Overwatch 2 players can get their hands on Mauga earlier than December, however — this weekend, in fact, thanks to a free trial weekend for Blizzard’s game. Mauga will be playable from Friday, Nov. 3 through Sunday, Nov. 5 as part of a sneak peek at season 8 of Overwatch 2.

    Image: Blizzard Entertainment

    Blizzard describes Mauga as a “powerful brawling Tank Hero who will tear through the competition with his incendiary and volatile chainguns.” Maugau’s kit is designed “to bash through the front lines and brawl his opponents in close-quarter combat, by wielding two powerful chainguns that can either be fire individually or in unison,” Blizzard says.

    One of Mauga’s chainguns is nicknamed “Gunny” and can burn his opponents with incendiary charges when they take enough damage. The other gun is known as “Cha-Cha,” which can deal critical hits. Mauga’s Berserker passive ability, Blizzard says, will grant him temporary health whenever he deals critical damage.

    Mauga’s front line-breaking power is called Overrun, “a charging ability that cannot be stopped by any crowd control abilities,” Blizzard says, meaning counters like Ana’s Sleep Dart or Sigma’s Accretion. Overrun “stomps into opponents, dealing a powerful knockback.” Another ability, Cardiac Overdrive, creates an aura that reduces incoming damage, “allowing allies to heal themselves while dealing damage.”

    Mauga’s ultimate ability, Cage Fight, “traps nearby opponents in a cylindrical fighting ring” with a barrier that “blocks enemy incoming damage or healing from the outside.”

    Blizzard says Mauga will be officially released on Dec. 5, when season 8 of Overwatch 2 goes live.

    Overwatch 2’s 39th playable hero shouldn’t be a surprise to players who have been paying close attention to the game for the past few years. Mauga made a guest appearance in the 2019 Overwatch comic What You Left Behind, which revealed the tank-class character as a former Talon ally of Baptiste. Mauga hails from Samoa, a location that Blizzard recently mined for a new Control map for Overwatch 2. That map offered hints that Mauga would soon appear in the game, in the form of one of his colorful shirts hanging in a room.

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    Michael McWhertor

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