Oladipo's career-high 38 not enough as Suns edge Magic

Victor Oladipo was on one Wednesday night, and it took everything the Phoenix Suns had in their arsenal to walk out of Florida with a victory.

The Orlando Magic sophomore scored a career-high 38 points, shooting 15-of-25 from the floor and adding four rebounds, three assists and three steals for good measure. That tops his previous high of 35, set on Jan. 15 of his rookie season a year ago.

(Photo Courtesy: ESPN)

But it wasn't enough, with the Suns' own guards doing work to secure the 105-100 victory.

Newly-acquired Brandon Knight had 28 points and seven assists while Eric Bledsoe scored 13 points with seven rebounds, nine assists and three steals to help keep pace. Markieff Morris scored 23 points in support, shooting 11-of-17 from the floor.

Oladipo had a little less help, with Elfrid Payton dishing 10 dimes and Nikola Vucevic scoring 18 points but nobody quite matching the Indiana product's level of play. Non-Oladipo Magic players shot a combined 41.9 percent, and Oladipo gave some of his production back the other way with seven turnovers.

This is kind of the outcome the Magic organization probably wants right now. They played hard against a solid team, one of their young players showed a great deal of promise and they walked away with a loss that works to keep them in the league's bottom five, and likely in the top five of June's draft.

The Suns, meanwhile, keep their fading playoff hopes alive with the win - their first in three games and fourth in their last 14. That's not going to cut it with Oklahoma City and New Orleans playing so well.