The Orlando Magic edged out the Los Angeles Clippers 113-108 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, on Saturday, avoiding their third straight loss.

The two sides had a close first half before the Magic struggled to make shots in the third quarter. Having missed 13 of their 20 field goals (FGs), they had only 17 points in this period and were outscored by the Clippers by 10 points.

Fortunately for the Magic, two of their best-performing players on Saturday, Markelle Fultz and Wendell Carter Jr., stood out to contribute 12 points each in the fourth quarter, leading the team to rally a 39-26 run to come back and pocket a win on the road.

The Magic this season are caught between tanking and competing for the playoffs. Their major task is to help rookie Paolo Banchero get familiar with this league while selecting who will fit in their future squad.

Fultz, Carter Jr., Franz Wagner and Cole Anthony all deserves extra attention after their performances in Saturday's game. The Magic don't have an established system yet and, thus, a huge part of their offense came from their players fighting independently. Such a state of the team makes Wagner special on their roster. When he has the ball, not only does he often make the right decisions, he is also able to involve more teammates in an attack to increase its success rate.

Fultz and Anthony are two of the Magic's sharpest weapons both in transition and during half-court offense. The two combined to score 26 points in the paint. Fultz earned eight free throws and made seven of them. He and Cole shot 10-for-14 in mid-range jumpers as well, making key contributions despite the team's poor spacing.

Carter Jr. was renowned for his flexible defense when he joined the NBA in 2018, but he has been improving his scoring ability since he was traded to the Magic in 2021. He is not a reliable isolation player, but Carter Jr. showed solid finishing ability against the Clippers by going 4-for-8 from downtown and 7-for-8 in the paint to get a double-double of 27 points and 12 rebounds.

The Clippers rested Kawhi Leonard in Saturday's game. His absence made it difficult for the team to attack in front of the Magic's quick defensive rotations. Paul George made shot 12-for-25 from the field to score court-high 30 points, but he committed six turnovers while delivering only one assist. The opponents cut the connections between him and the rest of the Clippers by blitzing him from time to time.

Ivica Zubac had a double-double of 16 points and 16 rebounds for the Clippers, but he missed nine of his 16 attempts, all under the hoop. His teammates failed to space the floor for him as they went 6-for-22 behind the arc, but Zubac missed a lot of shots he should have made while next to the rim.

Other games on Saturday (away teams come first):

Philadelphia 76ers 141-121 Indiana Pacers

James Harden sat on Saturday's competition but it didn't keep the 76ers from securing an easy win at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey both dropped 31 points and seven assists for their team to stay in advantage during most time of the game.

The Pacers had six players reach double-digit points while shooting at an FG rate of 51.7 percent. However, their defense was torn into pieces by the opponents which scored 20 more points with a nearly 10-percent-higher FG rate (54-for-88).

Sacramento Kings 132-118 Washington Wizards

The Kings drained 22 triples to get their third consecutive win at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. None of the 3-pointers came from Domantas Sabonis, but he was still their best-performing one on the court. The All-Star big man missed a triple-double on one rebound as he had 30 points and 10 assists, not to mention that he made 10 of his 12 attempts.

The Wizards only had three of their players score in double digits at home, led by Kyle Kuzma's 33. The team is 12th in the Easter Conference with the same record with the Pacers above them. Both are one and a half games below the 10th-ranking Chicago Bulls and the play-in tournament zone.

Boston Celtics 117-118 Utah Jazz

The Jazz trailed by as many as 19 points (53-34) in Saturday's game at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah, but they managed to come back by scoring 61 points in the second half. Lauri Markkanen contributed 12 points in the fourth quarter and drained a key 3-pointer at 1:11 to cut their deficit to one point (117-116) before Talen Horton-Tucker made the game-winning layup.

The Celtics dropped to the third in the East after Saturday's loss. Their star duo, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, both underperformed to score only 40 points in combined. The team had to rely on Grant Williams for offense. He got 23 points, the second-highest on the team's roster, but that didn't justify their final call for him to take the final shot, which was understandably denied by Walker Kessler.

Denver Nuggets 110-116 New York Knicks

Minnesota Timberwolves 107-122 Toronto Raptors

Miami heat 99-113 Chicago Bulls

Golden State Warriors 119-133 Memphis Grizzlie