ORLANDO, Fla. — In the spirit of the upcoming spring training, Nuggets coach George Karl took a pregame cut at what winning at Orlando would have meant after victories in the first two games of the road trip.
“I really think it’s a free swing at a good team,” Karl said. “The Cleveland game was the most important game of the series. We won that. Now I think we have a very good trip done. We can make it an incredibly special trip.”
Call it very good.
For once, the second half wasn’t good for the usually late-blooming Nuggets, and the Orlando Magic took full advantage in a 109-98 win at Amway Arena on Wednesday night.
The Nuggets head into the all-star break after a four-game road winning streak was halted and an overall three-game winning streak ended. And the losing streak in Orlando lives on, ballooning to 15 games. The last time the Nuggets won in Orlando was in 1992, when Nuggets television color analyst Scott Hastings donned a Denver uniform.
But the Nuggets ended this brief three-game road trip with a 2-1 record and have won six of eight going into the break.
“We need that momentum,” Carmelo Anthony said. “We go into the all-star break with six-of-eight wins instead of six-of-eight losses. I’ll take that.”
Denver unraveled in the fourth quarter, and the Magic pulled away. Hedo Turkoglu, who watched most of the game from the bench because of foul trouble, scored 12 of his 18 points in the decisive quarter.
“I don’t know what (Magic coach Stan) Van Gundy saw in Hedo Turkoglu, but it seems like from the very beginning of the season he gave him a responsibility, and he’s loved it,” Karl said. “He’s responded well to it. He’s a big-shot guy now, a fourth-quarter guy. I never saw him as this tough, big-shot guy before, and he’s become that.”
Meanwhile, the Nuggets struggled offensively and allowed a hefty 56 points in the paint, and not all to Orlando space-eating center Dwight Howard.
Turkoglu repeatedly drove to the rim. Guard Jameer Nelson finished a layup and was awarded a free throw because of a foul. The Nuggets didn’t hold up.
“They had hot players,” Karl said. “And we didn’t have hot players.”
The Nuggets were soft in the middle for two periods, scoring 20 points in the second and 21 in the third. Anthony led the Nuggets with 32 points and six rebounds before fouling out. Allen Iverson had 21 points and seven assists.
Rashard Lewis led Orlando with 25 points and seven rebounds. He scored 14 in the third quarter. Howard finished with 23 points and a game-high 24 rebounds.
The Nuggets go into the all-star break with a 32-20 record, one of the best in team history. Last year, they were 26-25 heading to the All-Star Game. The Nuggets’ first game on the other side of the break is Tuesday at home against the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Celtics.
“We’re not panicking at all,” Iverson said. “We feel like we’re in a good situation, and we’re going to make the best of it.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
