Magic Blow 21-Point First Quarter Lead, Fall to Wizards on Butler’s Jumper
The Magic could not have asked for a better start. They looked energetic, ready to play and they pounced on the Wizards and took an early 28-7 lead. Everyone in the arena was ready to call this game, but unfortunately for the Magic, they were wrong. Washington used a 39-point third quarter to overcome the deficit and Caron Butler hit the game-winning jump shot with .5 seconds to play giving the Wizards a 92-91 victory. Butler led all scorers with 31 points. Dwight Howard had 20 points and 18 rebounds for the Magic.
Orlando raced out to 12-0 lead in the first three minutes and two seconds. After the teams split the next 14 points, Orlando scored nine straight to push their advantage to 28-7. The Wizards tried to get back in it but Jason Williams’ jumper with 2.9 seconds left pushed the lead back to 19 at 32-13. Orlando dominated the first quarter in every way possible. Orlando shot 58.3% in the quarter and held the Wizards to just five field goals on 26.3% shooting. They also forced 10 Wizards turnovers and scored 16 points off of them Dwight Howard had 10 points and six rebounds.
The Magic did not play well in the second period. Early on, they were able to push their lead to 20 but the Wizards responded. They ended the quarter by scoring the last two baskets capped by an Antawn Jamison tip-in that cut Orlando’s lead to 50-35. The Wizards shot 11-of-27 in the period and outrebounded the Magic 14-8. The Magic shot just 6-of-19 in the quarter but with a 15-point lead and their defense playing well, no one seemed to worry.
Randy Foye took over the game in the third period. He scored 19 points in the quarter and was the spark in a third quarter that saw the Wizards outscore the Magic 39-17 to take a 74-67 lead. In the period, Washington shot 11-of-16 and made three three-pointers while the Magic could not buy a bucket. They shot just 4-of-19 in the period They went 9-of-10 from the line to prevent the game from getting completely away from them.
After an early jumper by Caron Butler pushed Washington’s lead to nine, the Magic scored 11 points to take a 78-76 lead capped by Jameer Nelson’s four-point play. The lead didn’t stick because no matter what the Magic tried to do in Friday night’s fourth quarter, they could not cover Caron Butler. Butler made a beautiful moved and hit a dunk to give the Wizards an 89-88 lead with 1:07 to go. After Jameer Nelson caught a pass, he stepped back behind the three-point line and missed. Luckily, Butler, who got into the lane with ease dished the ball to Brendan Haywood who was standing out-of-bounds. The Magic then turned to Vince who drove in and missed a jump-shot. Randy Foye was fouled and only made one free throw. The Magic went to Carter again but they play broke down and Jameer Nelson found a wide open Rashard Lewis who knocked down a three-pointer to give Orlando a lead with 4.6 seconds left. That was too much time for Caron Butler, who made a 19-footer on Matt Barnes to win.
After the game, Butler discussed his big shot.
"“I had a great situation with Matt Barnes on me, and there was some air space so I followed through and hit the shot.”"
Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy aid that they deserved to lose.
"“We deserved, I mean, it was a nice comeback in the fourth, Rashard hit a huge shot, but quite honestly we deserved to lose. The way we came out and played in the fourth quarter, defensively, put nothing into it.”"
Orlando’s defense was fantastic in the first half. The Wizards had just 35 points on 16-of-46 shooting and turned the ball over 11 times. The Magic just could not stop the Wizards in the third period and had no answer for Caron Butler in the fourth. The Wizards actually were held to just 92 points and shot only 43.0% from the field, but after the opening period, Orlando’s offense was awful.
After a 32-point first quarter, they scored just 59 points for the rest of the game. Dwight Howard pointed out that the Magic shot “way too many jump-shots.” They shot just 18-of-59 from the field after the first quarter.
Van Gundy agreed with Howard’s assessment of poor shot selection.
"“We took a ton of bad shots.”"
Washington’s backcourt of Randy Foye, who scored 19 third quarter points and Caron Butler, who scored 14 fourth quarter points, were the difference.
Matt Barnes said the Magic just couldn’t stop Butler no matter what they tried.
"“He was hot, but we allowed him to get into that rhythm. We came out pretty flat in the third quarter and him and Foye went on a nice run. And as a team we have to come out with more focus in the second half and do our jobs.”"
Vince Carter had another terrible shooting performance. He scored 21 points because he was able to hit 10 free throws on 10 attempts but Carter shot just 5-of-17 from the field, had only two rebounds and did not have an assist. Neither Carter nor Van Gundy would comment on his performance. When a reporter asked Van Gundy about the way he shot the ball, Van Gundy said “I’m done talking about it.” Carter also shot down a reporter who asked about his struggles.
Game Notes:
- Dwight Howard had 20 points and 18 rebounds yet the Magic were still outrebounded 52-41. They were outrebounded 55-41 in their first meeting with Washington.
- The Magic are 5-12 when they are outrebounded.
- Orlando had just 11 turnovers and forced 19.
- Orlando’s bench, which has played so well, scored just 20 points.
- Jameer Nelson had 12 points and five assists in his return, but had a lot of trouble on the defensive end (as did Jason Williams). Van Gundy did point out that Nelson “played hard.” Nelson played 28 minutes.
- Mickael Pietrus also returned from injury and scored four points in just under 14 minutes.
Next Up: The Magic travel to Boston to host the Celtics on Sunday afternoon.
Final Thought: A team should never blow a 21-point lead.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)