NBA scores 2014: Magic, Lakers earn upsets on Sunday night

The Magic rolled in Phoenix, Kobe torched the Raptors and more from Sunday night in the NBA.

Dec 1, 2014, 1:00 PM UTC

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

It's not often we hear of a struggling team from the East beating one of the best in the West in their own arena. The Orlando Magic, however, did just that Sunday. Orlando pulled off a 93-90 upset of the Phoenix Suns at US Airways Center thanks to a strong defensive effort against an above-average offensive unit.

The Suns aren't quite a juggernaut out West, but the team entered Sunday in position to earn a playoff spot in the stacked conference after falling just short a year ago. Even with an ailing Isaiah Thomas, the backcourt led by Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe continues to be dangerous within Jeff Hornacek's fast-paced system, and it seemed like the Magic would be no match.

However, the Magic's starting backcourt of Victor Oladipo and Evan Fournier proved up to the challenge defensively, holding the Suns to 58 points through three quarters, and the Magic found just enough offense elsewhere. Tobias Harris led the way with 21 points on 8-of-18 shooting, while Nikola Vucevic added 18.

Oladipo and Fournier weren’t as productive offensively, though they were efficient in combining for 27 points on 11-of-19 shooting. Still, the duo’s big effort came on the defensive end, where Dragic and Bledsoe were held to just 35 points on 12-of-29 shooting while recording more turnovers (11) than assists (10).

On this night, Orlando's young backcourt -- also featuring backup guard Elfrid Payton -- clearly had a leg up on Phoenix's impressive group. That's a bright sign for a team that's placed a lot of hope on some players with unconventional skill sets.

Meanwhile for Phoenix, there just wasn’t much going on without strong performances from Dragic and Bledsoe. Much of the team’s productivity came in a 32-point fourth quarter as it desperately tried to rally from a double-digit deficit, but that effort ultimately fell short.

Considering most people have the Magic pegged the lottery, this will likely go down as one of their most impressive wins this season. Oladipo, Fournier and Payton may not be the most exciting young backcourt in the NBA, but it could make Orlando more formidable than originally expected.

3 other things we learned

The Lakers can beat a good team once in a while. Kobe Bryant may not be able to lead L.A. to regular wins at age 36, but the future Hall of Famer can still deliver an unreal performance occasionally. Kobe's latest gem came Sunday in a 129-122 overtime upset of the Raptors, which saw the shooting guard put up a triple-double of 31 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds in 42 minutes of action. Even after the win, L.A. is just 4-13 on the season, but three of those victories come against pretty good teams (Toronto, Houston, Atlanta). The Lakers may not win much, but they're still dangerous when Kobe gets rolling, regardless of the opponent. And that has James Worthy very, very excited:

“Where there’s one, there’s many more, baby.” Well I don’t know about that one.

Draymond Green is proving to be much more than a good defender. The Warriors' emergence in the West has been a major storyline during the first few weeks of the season, and the team's starting forward has been a big part of that. Green appears to have taken the next step as an offensive player this season, and he put that on display in a 104-93 victory against the Pistons on Sunday night. The former Michigan State star led the Warriors with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-8 from three, and grabbed six rebounds in the win. No other starter took as many shots, and it's becoming clear Golden State has grown comfortable expanding his role in the offense.

The Knicks' starting lineup can't score, other than 'Melo. One could nitpick numerous aspects of the Knicks' 86-79 loss to the Heat on Sunday night, but the lack of scoring punch from the starting lineup stands out. Beyond Carmelo Anthony, who led all scorers with 31 points on 11-of-26 shooting, the team's other four starters recorded a combined 20 points on 9-of-29 shooting. It's hard to knock 'Melo too much for his high shot volume when you consider how many minutes he's playing alongside the likes of Samuel Dalembert and Quincy Acy.

Play of the night

As if we needed another reminder that Gerald Green is one of the greatest dunkers in recent NBA history, here's the Suns wing dishing an off-the-backboard alley-oop to himself against Orlando. This move will never stop being miraculous and awesome.