Orlando Magic vs. Washington Wizards (Dec. 30, 2022): 3 Things To Watch, Odds and Prediction

The Orlando Magic face the first game with a depleted roster because of team-wide suspensions as they take on the Washington Wizards in an important battle for the team’s postseason chase.

Orlando Magic (13-23) vs. Washington Wizards (15-21)

Time/TV: 7 p.m./Bally Sports Florida
WATCH MAGIC-WIZARDS ON FUBO TV
FOLLOW LIVE: @OMAGICDAILY
Line: Wizards by 5
Tickets: $36-$1,673 on StubHub
Season Series: Tonight in Orlando; Jan. 21 in Washington, D.C.; March 21 in Orlando; March 31 in Washington, D.C.

OMD Prediction

Under normal circumstances, the Orlando Magic would be looking at an important game against a team that is right above them in the standings. This would be a big test of how serious the team is about its postseason dreams. This would have been proof they are really in it.

And this would have been a decent matchup against a similarly big Washington Wizards team that is not an active rebounding team and does not get to the foul line often. The Magic are just playing this game with one or two hands tied behind their back.

Instead, the Magic faced suspensions that have gutted the roster. Orlando will have only eight players available in this game with just one point guard in Markelle Fultz and one center in Bol Bol. That is going to make it hard for the team to function. And they are going to need to play with far more urgency and intensity than they have the last two games.

Being shorthanded might do that. But the Wizards are a much more put-together team at this point. The Magic are held together with scotch tape and glue.

3 Keys To Watch

Bol Bol at center

The NBA’s rule suspending players in alphabetical order proved to be a stroke of bad luck. The Orlando Magic lost their backup point guard in Cole Anthony and both of their centers in Wendell Carter and Mo Bamba. Not to mention Moe Wagner was suspended for two games. That leaves the Magic extremely shorthanded at center.

Bol Bol likely slots in at the center position in the starting lineup. And that brings with it lots of uncertainty.

While Bol is 7-foot-2, he rarely plays center. According to Basketball-Reference, Bol has played just 20 percent of his minutes at center. According to lineup data from NBAWOWY, Bol has played 186 minutes this year without Wendell Carter, Mo Bamba and Moe Wagner on the floor at 113.9 points per 100 possessions and 122.7 points allowed per 100 possessions.

The most used lineup with Bol out there without any of the other big men for the Magic was a 20-minute stint in one game Gary Harris, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero and Caleb Houstan. That group had a -13.3 net rating (117.5/130.8 offensive/defensive rating split).

The next most-used lineup was a 13-minute stint in one game with Kevon Harris, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero and Caleb Houstan. That is a group the Magic could see Friday night. It played at +25.7 points per 100 possessions (141.7/116.0).

These are really small sample sizes, of course. Who knows what will carry over now that the Magic are going to have to lean on it more? And that does not even get into Paolo Banchero playing center, another thing likely to happen this year.

Mother of Invention

Necessity is the mother of invention. And this Orlando Magic team has not been afraid to try out new things.

This season has been about experimenting. The injuries the team faced early in the season were a big part of that. The team had to try things out — including running Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero as the team’s main ball handlers.

The one thing they have not necessarily tried is Paolo Banchero as the team’s center. According to Basketball-Reference, Banchero has logged only three percent of his minutes so far at center. He has played only 27 minutes without any of the Magic’s other big men on the floor so far this season.

As much fun as it was to try Banchero as the main ball handler, his potential to do that while playing center seemed like the natural evolution for the team.  Having Banchero be the ball handler while attacking centers seemed to go to the next phase of the team’s positionless evolution.

Who knows if the team would have given this a try without these suspensions? So if there were any stray experiments the team wanted to try, this is the time to try them.

Cool Kuzma

The Washington Wizards have struggled some to find offensive consistency. Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis are proving to be a potent tandem and are both putting up their usual All-Star-level numbers (Beal is QUESTIONABLE for Friday’s game with left hamstring soreness). But the big boost the Wizards have gotten is from Kyle Kuzma, who is having a career season.

Kuzma is averaging 21.6 points per game on a career-best 53.8 percent from beyond the arc. He has found plenty of pockets to score and has done well to give the Wizards some burst games. In wins, Kuzma is averaging 23.2 points per game and shooting a 56.1 percent effective field goal percentage compared to 20.5 points per game and a 52.0 percent effective field goal percentage in losses.

His play is usually the thing that tips the Wizards over the top for wins. Considering how lopsided the Wizards are with their scoring — beyond Bradley Beal, Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Kuzma only Rui Hachimua is scoring in double figures.

Finding a way to make Kuzma inefficient is a big key to slowing down the Wizards.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.