Tired Orlando Magic fall to Washington Wizards 108-99

The Orlando Magic came out flat in the second half and could not put away the Washington Wizards in their 108-99 loss.

In the NBA, there are nights where the schedule seems to be playing against you. Tonight seemingly was one of those nights.

The Orlando Magic were on their second game of a back to back and the Washington Wizards had not played since Tuesday.

But this is life in the NBA. The Magic will not accept that as an excuse, and Scott Skiles most assuredly will not accept that as an excuse as the Orlando Magic lost to the Washington Wizards 108-99 on Saturday at Verizon Center.

Nikola Vucevic (ORL) — 19 pts., 13 rebs.; Evan Fournier (ORL) — 18 pts.
Kris Humphries (WAS) — 23 pts.; John Wall (WAS) — 15 pts., 11 assts.

The Magic came out strong in the first half behind Evan Fournier and Nikola Vucevic. The duo helped Orlando jump out to an early 15-5 lead. Orlando’s offense was firing on all cylinders. The ball was moving as well as it had all year.

Eight of Orlando’s 19 assists came in the first quarter.

Unfortunately for the Magic, the defense did not click nearly as well in the first quarter. The Wizards were firing on all cylinders from deep early. The Wizards were able to bury five 3-pointers (one more than the Magic made all night).

The second quarter for the Magic went a lot better from a defensive standpoint. The Wizards were only able to make one 3-point shot and the Magic offense continued to roll thanks to Magic forwards Tobias Harris and Aaron Gordon. Orlando outscored Washington 29-21 in the quarter and took a six-point lead into the half.

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The second half is where it all fell apart for the Magic and that did not take long to figure out. Reminiscent of the game against the Toronto Raptors, the Magic quickly saw their halftime lead evaporate. The starters came out flat.

Orlando’s big man duo of Channing Frye and Nikola Vucevic finally began to show some cracks when playing together defensively. Washington’s guards completely blew away Frye and Vucevic, and the duo did not challenge many attempts at the rim.

In addition to Orlando’s big men issues, Washington completely ran Orlando’s wings out of the place. Garrett Temple and Otto Porter were able to get easy buckets by outrunning Magic players after made shots.

The saving grace for the Magic in the second half was their bench.

Aaron Gordon, Dewayne Dedmon and even Mario Hezonja played well in the second half. Dedmon controlled the paint on the defensive end, and his lack of demand on offense allowed Orlando’s offense to move the ball much better in the second half.

The Magic bench was able to wrestle back the lead from Washington. When the Orlando starters entered the game the score was 88-86.

Not so coincidentally, the Magic starters came out flat in the fourth as well. The ball movement was nearly non-existent, and the interior defense was poor and eventually ended in Orlando’s 108-99 defeat to the Wizards.

      Game Notes:

• Aaron Gordon’s murderous intent seems to have faded. I no longer feel his desire to posterize everything in his path when he catches the ball.
• Elfrid Payton had his ups and downs today, but he single handedly kept Orlando in the game when the rest of the starters stunk it up in the third quarter.
• Mario Hezonja has some work to do before he is a big-minute player. But, for now, the Magic need to focus on getting him open via screens, he seems to thrive there.
• Dewayne Dedmon was excellent tonight, it is a shame Scott Skiles did not reward him by letting him play more later in the game.