Entering Sunday’s game against the Magic, the Rockets averaged a league-high 125.5 points, 13.4 makes from 3-point range and 26.5 assists on a nightly basis.

Orlando held Houston to 117 points, limited them to just eight 3-pointers and only 19 assists in 53 minutes — when five additional minutes were needed to determine a winner in overtime at Toyota Center.

But the Magic’s defensive effort, which included scoring 14 points off 15 takeaways, wasn’t enough when four-time scoring champion Kevin Durant notched a game-high 35 points to lift the Rockets late 117-113 over a short-handed Jamahl Mosley‘s squad that was without Paolo Banchero and Jalen Suggs on the road.

Ultimately, the finer details of the game cost Orlando (7-7) when it missed nine free throws, allowed 60 rebounds to a team that averaged a league-best 49.4 per night, and gave up 19 offensive boards to Houston (9-3), which  averaged an NBA-high 16.2 entering Sunday.

“The fight was there,” Mosley said after the loss. “And I told them, their ability to play this way, to withstand runs, to stay together, to stay focused, to keep trying to execute the game plan down the stretch is something that we have to continue to do.

“But in a game like this, it does come down to the small margins of the game, and that’s stepping in and being able to knock your free throws down, finishing possessions out with the rebound, especially with a rebounding team like this Houston Rockets team,” he added.

Orlando led by as many as 14 points in the first half, 12 in the third quarter and even 11 in the fourth while doing a decent job of responding to Houston’s runs throughout most of the night.

The Rockets, however, remained within striking distance, seized an opportunity to force overtime and win in the extra period.

Sometimes there’s just not much to do when facing a future Hall of Famer such as Durant, who was 0-for-6 from 3-point range before he made two crucial triples in the final three minutes of regulation.

“The Magic had been kind of playing up and down throughout the season compared to the expectations, but the last few games they got back to their brand of basketball,” Durant said after the game. “So, we kind of knew they were going to come in here and hit first. That’s what they been trying to do the last couple of years. They hit us a little too hard in that first quarter, being down 10, guys making shots all over the floor, they played great defense.

“But, we’ve seen some stuff there in the second quarter, we tried to weather the storm and play through it and we couldn’t get over that hump the first three, three and a half quarters, but once we got up one, and we kind of felt that confidence,” he added. “I think it was 95-94 we got up [and] we felt confident that we could finish the game off.”

Orlando still feels confident, too.

Without Banchero (left groin strain) and Suggs (sore right groin), the Magic utilized a starting lineup — Anthony Black, Desmond Bane, Tristan da Silva, Franz Wagner and Wendell Carter Jr. — that scored 101 of the team’s 113 total points despite that group only having played four total minutes together before Sunday.

“We’ve got a deep team,” Bane said. “A lot of guys that can do a lot of things. We’ve got trust in everybody. Next man up mentality. Whoever can’t go, we’ve got somebody that can step in and contribute in a real way.

“We definitely have depth and can’t wait to get some of our guys back,” he added.

They’ll need as much as help as they can get when the Warriors make their lone trip of the season to Orlando on Tuesday. Golden State (9-6) won its third in a row Sunday behind eight 3-pointers from Moses Moody.

Before Sunday’s game, Mosley said Suggs was “doing OK” after he tweaked his right groin going for a block late in Friday’s contest vs. Brooklyn. Meanwhile, Banchero will continue to be evaluated daily and his return will depend on how he responds to treatment.

With or without the star duo, the Magic still like their chances against Golden State despite falling short at Houston.

“Our competitiveness, our fight, our desire to win — if we have that, we’ll have a good rest of the season,” Bane said. “It’s something that needs to become our standard and will give us a chance to be competitive night in and night out.”

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com

Up next …

Magic vs. Warriors

When: 7, Tuesday, Kia Center

TV: FanDuel Sports Network Florida