Washington Wizards: 3 matchups to watch vs. Orlando Magic

The Orlando Magic host a desperate Washington Wizards team seeking their third win of the season Friday night at the Amway center.

As much as I would like to believe that this will be an easy game for the Washington Wizards, like it’s been in previous years, it won’t be. Especially with the way the team is performing on the defensive side.

However, history favors the Wizards as they have won eight of the last 10 matchups in Orlando and 12 of the last 13 games in D.C.. They do have the Orlando Magic’s number as of late, but let’s not hope that causes them to perform down to their opponents, which Washington has a tendency of doing.

This will be the test of the season. We will see how the Wizards respond from early season adversity and constant criticism over the past few days.

It really boils down to one thing, can Washington figure it out defensively? The team shows small glimpses of chemistry on the offensive side, but fail to communicate defensively. It’s been a work in progress to say the least.

The players must put their ego’s aside and put the team first because at this point everyone is on the hot seat. The Wizards must forget about the atrocious performance from the Dallas Mavericks game and put it behind them. Allowing 70 points in the first half is awful and can’t happen again.

Washington may not believe it, but the season is on the line. It will be hard to put out the fires if they can’t take care of business against a Magic team that is below .500.

With that being said, here are 3 matchups that we need to watch Friday night.