ORLANDO, Fla. – There were times in the first half when the Amway Center was silent; the fans were watching in stunned disbelief as the Nets built a 10-point lead on the powerhouse Orlando Magic.

Making it even more shocking was that the Nets built the cushion with little help from Devin Harris and absolutely none from Brook Lopez, who didn’t score his first basket until the fourth quarter.

By then the Nets were down 20 and on their way to a 105-90 loss to the Magic Friday night.

Lopez had an awful night, one of his worst as a professional as he missed his first 13 shots and 14-of-17 in the game.

It was a wonder the Nets were in this as long as they were, but they were because of Travis Outlaw, Terrence Williams and Kris Humphries. If the Nets can get consistent production from that trio it would be a bonus, but they’re not going to win much, against strong teams, if Lopez and Harris don’t have stand-out performances.

Ironically, Lopez had one here, but it stood out because of how bad it was and who it came against.

Many big men have had trouble dealing with Dwight Howard. But if this was a statement game for Lopez to show he’s on his way to challenging Howard for the title of best center, he screamed he’s not ready.

Or maybe it was Howard who stood up and stuck out his chest and said to Lopez, "it’s not your time yet."

“Dwight is a very good defender,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “Dwight is very, very quick; he’s very, very strong. He’s probably one of the few guys Lopez runs up against that’s as strong as he is or stronger. He’s a strong guy, but he doesn’t get that advantage over Dwight.”

After manhandling Lopez, Howard said humbly, “He probably just had an off night.”

That’s probably all it was for Lopez. But there is a reason he had an off night. His name is Dwight Howard.

Their lines told the major story of this game:

Howard: 9-for-13 from the field, 12-for-16 from the line, 30 points, 16 rebounds, one block.

Lopez: 3-for-17 from the field, 4-for-4 from the line, 10 points, five rebounds, no blocks.

Then, to add injury to insult, Lopez sustained a black right eye, courtesy of Howard.

“It didn’t show up there itself,” Lopez said.

It was a crushing game for Lopez. You saw it in his face and heard it in his voice. He’s a conscientious young man, who cares about his team and how he plays and he knows this was a night he would like to have back.

“It was rough,” Lopez said. “I definitely rushed my shots a lot. I think they out-physicaled me. I definitely hurt the team. But we fought strong for the majority of the game. Our second unit played very well tonight.”

Outlaw -- a starter -- and the second unit were impressive.

The Nets racked up 51 first-half points against one of the top defenses in the league and did so with Humphries shooting 5-for-5, Outlaw making three-of-three from three and Williams also hitting all three of his first-half threes.

Those three unexpectedly combined for 32 points in the first half as the Nets shot 8-for-12 from three.

Then the Magic came out after halftime and played with urgency. They held the Nets to 39 points and rolled to the victory the way just about everyone in the building expected.

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Coach’s Corner

“Tough loss. Tale of two halves. I really liked our effort in the first half. Even though they scored 48 points, they were 42 percent from the field. We were doing a good job on the rest of their guys. But man, that third quarter they just came out with a flurry and got us on our heels and took control of the game at that point. And we battled back again in the fourth and got it to 10. We didn’t make the extra pass which we were talking about which got us back in the game and then they took control from there.”

- Coach Avery Johnson on the loss

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Follow me on Twitter: @Al_Iannazzone

Al Iannazzone covers the Nets for The Record (Bergen County, N.J.)