Osceola Magic, Stockton Kings to play at 8 p.m. in a winner-take-all
The stage is set: one game for a league championship, right here in Osceola County.
The Osceola Magic will meet the Stockton Kings in the deciding Game 3 of the NBA G League Championship series on Monday at 8 p.m. at the Silver Spurs Arena.
It was set up when the Kings ran, and especially shot, the Magic out of the Adventist Health Arena Friday night in Game 2, winning 144-126. Osceola won Game 1 of the series on Tuesday, 129-118.
The Magic led Friday, 75-68, at halftime, but the Kings opened the second half by raining threes, making five in the first four minutes of the third quarter, with Mason Jones’ shot tying it at 85.
After Stockton took the lead, Dexter Dennis hit a pair of threes late in the shot clock, then Jon Elmore drained one at the end of the quarter to give Stockton a 110-104 lead headed to the fourth quarter. The Kings then scored the first nine points of the fourth for a 119-103 lead they’d never surrender.
While the Magic shot the ball passably – 45% overall and 20-for-49 from three-point land – the Kings were the far better team, hitting on 57% overall and 24-for-41 from three, a crazy 58.5% clip. They also outrebounded the Magic, 47-33.
Kings’ two-way player Mason Jones scored 14 points in the first quarter and hit all five of his shots en route to 27 points and 12 assists.
Mac McClung led all scorers with 34 points. Myron Gardner, Osceola’s hero on Tuesday, was saddled with five fouls early in the second half, relegating him to the bench. He’d foul out late in the game with 19 points.
