Cavs' Work Magic, Win Again

February 16, 1999 / 10:58 PM EST / AP

Fat Tuesday couldn't pass without one fan taking a swipe at Cavs forward Shawn Kemp's weight problem.

"I'll lose weight when you lose weight," Kemp hollered back at the heckler.

The Cavaliers are turning everything around these days. A 90-78 victory over the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night was Cleveland's third in a row following an 0-3 start this season.

"We wanted to get back to .500 and go from there," said Cavs reserve Johnny Newman, who scored a season-high 15 points and made two big 3-pointers in the third quarter. "We can't relax, we have to go out and take these on our home turf."

Kemp scored 18 points and Vitaly Potapenko, starting in place of injured center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, scored 16 for the Cavs, who were playing the first of five straight home games.

"Vitaly stepping in for Z really did a heck of a job," said Cavs coach Mike Fratello. "It was a terrific performance for him."

It was a quality effort for all the Cavs, who posted season highs in field-goal shooting, 3-point shooting and free-throw percentage.

Bob Sura had 10 points and 10 assists for the Cavs, who once again got a solid performance from their bench. Derek Anderson added 11 points and did a nice job at point guard when starter Brevin Knight got into foul trouble.

"We call ourselves the Bench Crew," said Sura. "I do the passing and Johnny and Derek do the scoring."

Better known to his teammates and Cavs fans as "Z", Ilgauskas, who has twice been sidelined by a broken right foot, is experiencing soreness in his left foot.

Ilgauskas, who recently signed a six-year, $70 million contract, underwent stress tests on Tuesday and is scheduled for further examinations Wednesday at the Cleveland Clinic.

"We'll just keep our fingers crossed," said Fratello.

Potapenko, making just his fourth career start, scored eight points in the first quarter as Cleveland trapped Orlando's guards and jumped to a quick 14-2 lead. The Cavs led 29-14 after the first quarter.

"Even when I come off the bench I always try to play aggressive and attack the other team," said Potapenko, who finished 8-of-12 from the field. "The game just came to me and when I got an open shot I knocked it down."

The Magic never recovered from the early deficit and lost for just the second time this year.

"It's just not enough minutes and too many points to make up," said Orlando coach Chuck Daly. "They were a step quicker all night and they executed better than we did."

Derek Strong paced the Magic with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Penny Hardaway had just 10 points for Orlando on 4-of-15 shooting.

Trailing by 13 at halftime, the Magic took advantage of six Cleveland turnovers in the first 6:41 of the third quarter to close within 54-49.

Sura countered with a 3-pointer for Cleveland, and Newman hit anothe 3 with 1:48 left in the quarter as the Cavs pushed their lead to 62-53.

Newman's second 3-pointer of the quarter with three seconds left gave Cleveland a 67-55 advantage before Hardaway hit a 42-footer at the buzzer to bring the Magic within nine.

But Cleveland overcame some more sloppiness in the fourth quarter and made its free throws, finishing 14-of-14 from the line. Notes: Orlando was 3-of-14 from the floor in the opening quarter. ... The Cavs were 8-of-11 on 3-pointers. ... The announced crowd of 12,918 was the second smallest in Gund Arena's five-year history. ... Nine Cavs played at least 14 minutes.