Washington Wizards: Wizards seek redemption against Orlando Magic
The Washington Wizards will host the Orlando Magic Monday night at Capital One Arena.
A five-game homestand begins for the Washington Wizards as they play their second game this season against the Orlando Magic. The first affair didn’t go according to plan as the Wizards lost 117-108.
The Wizards are coming off their best defensive game of the season against the Miami Heat in which they won 116-110. Still allowing to many points, but for most of the game they showed improvement on that side of the ball.
Can they continue this? That remains to be seen
What we do know is that the Wizards can’t allow 63 points with a defect of 15 heading into halftime. Being down by double digits will give the team a high probability of losing once again.
Washington showed glimpses of their true potential. Heading back to D.C. should give them more motivation to turn things around.
Let’s take a look at the game details below.
Game Info
Game: Washington Wizards vs. Orlando Magic
When: Monday, November 12
Where: Capital One Arena
TV: NBC Sports Washington, Fubo TV
Tip-Off Time: 7:00 pm Eastern Time
Injury Report
Wizards: None
Magic: Jonathan Issac (Ankle-Out), Timofey Mozgov (Knee-Out)
Projected Starting Lineup
Wizards: G-John Wall, G-Bradley Beal, F- Otto Porter Jr., F-Markieff Morris, C-Dwight Howard
Magic: G-D.J. Augustin, G-Evan Fournier, F-Wes Iwundu, F-Aaron Gordon, C-Nikola Vucevic
Prediction
Monday marks the beginning of five straight home games for the Wizards. They’ve been on the road for 8 out of their 12 games of the season thus far and haven’t performed well. This will be the time to get things going in the right direction and turn the season around.
The Wizards were man-handled in the paint by Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic. Both big men dominated the interior and had 20 plus points. Vucevic finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds and Gordon had 20 points and 7 rebounds. Markieff Morris and Dwight Howard didn’t have answer for these guys.
Morris hasn’t played well since Howard’s return and was benched for Jeff Green during the game against Miami. Green performed exceptionally well manufacturing 19 points and 10 rebounds. Morris needs to figure out how to get involved, otherwise he will continue losing minutes to Green.
Washington’s bench finally came alive and gave the team the boost it needed. Kelly Oubre Jr. played great defensively, Green dominated, and Austin Rivers remembered how to play basketball! He dropped 18 points and hit some big shots down the stretch. That’s the Rivers the team needs.
On top of this, the Wizards out-rebounded the Heat 48-36, which was their first time this season out-rebounding an opponent. John Wall was huge in the 4th quarter and throughout the game finishing with 28 points and 9 assists. He responded well to all the criticism surrounding his play.
Is this a sign of good things moving forward? I sure hope so.
If Bradley Beal can help Wall and replicate his performance the first time around against Orlando then the Wizards will be in good shape.
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Washington needs this win to restore faith for the fans. Wizards pull away towards the end of the fourth to take the victory. Redemption will be obtained.
Final Score- WSH-114, ORL-106
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