Orlando Magic News & Notes: Magic Look For Eighth Straight Win Vs Wizards

The Orlando Magic will take on the Washington Wizards on Saturday night. The Magic, who have won seven straight games, are 0-2 against Washington this season. You can read more about that game here.

The Wizards will be playing their third game in three days.

"“Whew. It’s crazy,” Wizards guard Nick Young told reporters. “I’ve seen everything this year.”The unusual scheduling came about because the Wizards’ game against the Hawks was snowed out on Feb. 6.The league hasn’t faced such a back-to-back-to-back situation since cramming a 50-game season into four months after the lock-out of 1998-1999. Orlando played two three-game sets that season.Magic Vice President Pat Williams, then the general manager of the Chicago Bulls, remembers the Bulls playing five games in a row in the 1969-70 season. They played from Feb. 13-17, 1970 — the first three in Chicago and the next two in Madison, Wis. (vs. Milwaukee Bucks) and in Omaha, Neb. (vs. Cincinnati Royals).“One was a make-up game. We played in the snowbelt. So tell the Wizards that this is nothing,” laughed Williams."

Brian Schmitz has that story here.

The Wizards fell to the Detroit Pistons on Friday night.

"Washington’s 101-87 defeat gave Detroit its first sweep of the Wizards in a four-game season series since 2004-05. The Wizards (21-42) lost their sixth game in a row — matching their longest losing streak of the season — and guaranteed the franchise’s second consecutive losing campaign.“That’s tough to lose to any Eastern Conference team four times in a row,” Andray Blatche said after scoring a game-high 23 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. “You should get at least one out of the four. The thing about it is, we know we have them next year and we can get payback.”"

Michael Lee of the Washington Post has that story here.

Bethlehem Shoals of NBA Fanhouse says Andray Blatche has arrived.

"What’s more, there’s nothing transformative about this, which makes Blatche’s emergence all the more encouraging. He’s playing the same game that, over the last five seasons flitting around in the Wizards rotation, has been seen in flashes. Impossibly long and agile, not quite as explosive as you’d think, surprisingly refined jumper, and sneaky with his limbs around the hoop.Blatche also, as befits all tall, skinny dudes with “potential” written ‘cross their brows like in Bum Fight, can put the ball on the floor and make a pass or two. He’s no defensive mastermind, but Blatche is active and picks up blocks and steals. Similarly, he’ll never be a double-double machine, but rest assured, he could pull down 20 boards some night and only the away announcer would split a nerve."

You can find that story here.

Charles Barkley does not think the Magic will win a title.

"“[The Magic] are going to be this generation’s New York Knicks,” he said Thursday night, commenting on the Magic’s game against the Chicago Bulls. “The Knicks would have won some championships without Michael Jordan [in the league]. Because of LeBron James in Cleveland and getting Antawn Jamison, [the Magic] can’t beat the Cavs.”Barkley apparently gave Howard some advice during a TNT pre-game interview with Howard during all-star weekend.“I want to take my hat off,” Barkley said. “First, he’s a terrific kid and a terrific player. That night in the room, me and Kevin [Harlan] and Cheryl Miller, we said, ‘Listen, you’ve got to start dominating the ball more, you’ve got to start demanding it.’ ”Barkley said that Howard responded, ‘”I don’t want to yell at my teammates.’ I said not only do you have to yell at them, but when they get out of hand, you have to pop them every now and then. You’re one of the two or three best players in the world. Demand the ball.'”"

You can find that story here.

The Wall Street Journal wonders if statheads are the NBA’s secret weapon.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Twitter to follow him daily and you can get the HTD app here).