Washington Wizards Don’t Believe in Magic

On Friday, the Washington Wizards Wizards pulled a trick out of their hat, to beat the Orlando Magic, 125-119.

On Friday, it was a very close matchup, but the Washington Wizards pulled a trick out of their hat, to beat the Orlando Magic, 125-119. Orlando was looking for their first win of 2018—they will have to look elsewhere.

Although the Magic are a sub-.500 team, they battled to the very end. With all of their starters putting up double digits. The Wizards starters also put up great numbers, however, unlike Orlando, they had a lot of help from their bench.

John Wall and Bradley Beal, along with their bigs, Marcin Gortat and Ian Mahinmi, fought every inch of the court, to close out the game and secure the win.

Last time these two teams met, the Wizards crushed the Magic, 130-103. Orlando was depleted at the time, since they were without Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier, Jonathan Isaac, and Terrence Ross (out indefinitely with a sprained right MCL and non-displaced fracture).

Nikola Vucevic was injured in that December matchup, after undergoing surgery, he won’t return to the Magic lineup until February.

On Friday, Orlando was still depleted, but this time around Gordon and Fournier were on the floor. However, if you were just looking at the scores during the game, one would think Dikembe Mutombo was also there, instead of Orlando’s Bismack Biyombo.

Biyombo owned the paint, and played his best game of the season. He finished with a career-high 21 points and 13 rebounds. On most of Orlando’s offensive plays, the big man would position himself underneath the basket, just waiting for the ball to put it home. He did it with such ease.

He also made his presence felt at the free throw line, making 5 of his 6 shots. Biyombo shot 8-for-9 from the field, and the Wizards didn’t have an answer for him.

When the Wizards played the Magic in December, Elfrid Payton also had a career-high with 30 points. On Friday, he finished with 27 points and 8 assists.

Mahinmi’s big night

However, on the other end of the court, Ian Mahinmi rocked the paint. He finished with a season-high 17 points and 8 rebounds, which also counts for the most points during his Washington tenure.

His defensive efforts wasn’t limited to rebounding, as he added three blocked shots.

Against the Magic, this was the best Mahinmi has looked in a Wizards’ uniform. He didn’t look stiff, and was active inside the paint, destroying the rim with his dunks, and active outside the paint helping in pick-and-roll situations.

The big man was actually sprinting down the court. Sprinting in comparison to what fans are used to seeing.

https://twitter.com/NBCSWizards/status/951997156788965377

Coach Scott Brooks on Mahinmi:

"“I give Ian credit, he caught every pass that [Wall] threw and in offensive rebounds, he was good around the basket. That’s something that we’ve been telling them, we need to get better. We’re not looking for him to have big nights like this, he’s a pick-and-roll defender, he’s a rim protector, he’s a ball mover. It’s nice to have some points out of him.”"

Beal continues his All-Star campaign

Bradley Beal is on fire this season. He finished with 30 and 7 assists. Amazingly, none of those points came from the three-point line.

He was aggressive inside the paint, driving the lanes, and drawing contact. He went to the line eight times, making six of his shots.

The sharpshooter, which is now only a small part of his all-around game, shot 12-for-17 from the field. He played a little over 36 minutes, and was locked in for every second of it.

The Magic hit a Wall

As John Wall was driving to the basket, it appeared that he was dragging Magic players with him. No matter how much contact he received, he would finish at the rim. Could the fastest player in the NBA, also be the strongest? All jokes aside, Wall was driving through players, around players and over players.

During this game, Wall became the youngest player in franchise history to reach 10,000 points.

He also finished with 30 points and had 9 assists. Including three blocked shots.

Gortat recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. He wasn’t just making layups, but sprinkled in some short jumpers.

Regarding his comments early in the day as to retiring  where he started his career with the Magic, he cleared the air.

"“I do want to play in Washington. Just because I want to finish my career in a year and a half, doesn’t mean I don’t want to play in Washington. I think today was blown a way little too much. I have a year and a half, I want to make a run with this team.”"

Otto Porter finished with 9 points, while Markieff Morris had 7 points.

Kelly Oubre continues to shine, ending with 10 points, including two from 3-point range.

Both the Wizards and Magic played with high energy to start and finish the game. However, the Magic got to the line 31 times, making 21 of their free throws. While Washington only shot 13-for-19 from the line.

However, the Wizards scored a season-high 74 points in the paint.

The fact that it was a close game, and all Magic starters ended in double digits, shows that Washington still needs to work on their defense. Some may argue that Washington played down to their competition, but in this instance, the Magic played very hungry, searching for that elusive first win of the new year.

Although it was closer than it should’ve been, the Wizards were able to close the deal. And that my friend, is a good first step to the start the remaining half of the season.