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Washington Wizards 114, Orlando Magic 93
January 19, 2007 - Amway Arena
1 2 3 4 F
WIZARDS 21 24 38 31 114
MAGIC 23 22 30 18 93
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Game Time: 7:00 PM ET

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Dwight Howard Figurines (first 5,000 fans)


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During each Magic home game, the Baseline Blog will bring you closer to the action - both on and off the court - at Amway Arena. Logon at game time and follow the action throughout the night as we'll be blogging with new updates every 5-7 minutes during the game.

By Matthew Gardner | OrlandoMagic.com

Through 2 1/2 quarters, it seemed like the type of back-and-forth division battle that basketball fans crave. Unfortunately, it was also around that point that everything turned painfully sour for the Orlando Magic.

The Washington Wizards departed Orlando on Friday evening with a convincing 114-93 win at Amway Arena with a strong second half - one that the Magic would soon like to forget.

It was a two-point game with 3:36 left in the third quarter after Jameer Nelson found Dwight Howard open for a two-handed monster dunk. But the Wizards scored the game's next eight points and entered the fourth quarter with an eight point lead.

From there, things headed south in a hurry for the Magic as the home team was outscored 31-18 in the final period and when the final buzzer sounded, it was a 19-point Washington win.

The Magic received a 24-point effort from Grant Hill, even though the veteran missed several minutes in the fourth quarter after he injured his finger and went back to the locker room. Hill would late return to the game with a dislocated pinkie finger on his left hand.

Howard finished with a double-double for Orlando with 20 points and 13 rebounds, while Nelson had 15 points and Hedo Turkoglu and Keyon Dooling each scored 11.

The Wizards, who improved to a Southeast Division-best 23-16, were led by Antawn Jamison with his season-high 31 points and 16 rebounds. Scoring machine Gilbert Arenas scored 30 points and Caron Butler added 21.

No rest for the Magic as they will quickly try to regroup before Saturday's battle in New Jersey with the Nets. Tipoff is slated for 8:00PM.

7:32PM: Well, unfortunately, tonight's Baseline Blog is going to be brief...very brief. That ball that went flying into media seating in the first few minutes of the game crashed directly into my laptop and shattered the screen. So while the Baseline Blogtop goes in for a facelift, we're going to have to call it a night. But check back after the game as we'll have a recap of tonight's game.

7:12PM: Opening tip has Howard and Haywood in the middle and the game's first possession goes to....the Magic. First time down the floor and they quickly get the ball inside to Dwight who dribbles around Haywood for an easy two. Magic 2, Wizards 0.

7:01PM: Starting lineups time. For the visiting Washington Wizards it will be the big three - scoring machine Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler, along with former Magic player DeShawn Stevenson and Brendan Haywood. And for the Magic - Dwight Howard, Tony Battie, Hedo Turkoglu, Grant Hill and Jameer Nelson.

Inactives tonight: For Washington - Darius Songalia, Michael Ruffin and James Lang. For the Magic - J.J. Redick, Trevor Ariza (MCL) and James Augustine (D-League).

6:59PM: Greetings from Amway Arena and welcome to tonight's big Southeast Division battle. Should be a fun one! Starting lineups coming soon.

TONIGHT’S OPPONENT:
Jan. 19 vs. Washington (Orlando, FL): Orlando is 44-26 all-time vs. Washington (28-7 at home, 16-19 on the road) during regular season action, including 1-1 this season (see recaps below)…The teams split 2-2 last season...Orlando has won 21 of the last 31 overall meetings with the Wizards and 25 of the last 37...Orlando has won nine of the last 10, 18 of the last 20 games and 24 of the last 27 at home…The Wizards have won eight of the last 12 matchups at Washington…Grant Hill played at South Lakes High School in Reston, VA…Keith Bogans played four years at legendary DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, MD…J.J. Redick went to Cave Spring High School in Roanoke, VA…Assistant Coach John Kuester was the head coach at George Washington University from 1985-90…For last season’s stats and Magic career numbers vs. Washington, see p. 291 of the media guide.

Dec. 29 @ Washington – Wizards 112, Magic 111: Gilbert Arenas continued his torrid December, pouring in a game-high 36 points, as Washington edged Orlando, 112-111, at Verizon Center. Arenas also tallied nine rebounds and seven assists. Antawn Jamison recorded 25 points and 11 rebounds for the Wizards, while Caron Butler added 20. Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu and Keyon Dooling each scored 20 points for the Magic. It was Orlando’s fourth straight loss, extending their season-long losing skid. Orlando led 31-26 after the first quarter and 63-59 at halftime. Washington responded during the third quarter, outscoring the Magic, 26-19, and led 85-82 heading into the final stanza. With the game tied at 108, Butler drained a jumper from the baseline with 44 seconds left, giving the Wizards the lead. After a pair of free throws by Jamison and a three-pointer by Dooling on the other end, Washington led by one, 112-111. Butler stepped to the free throw line with 2.8 seconds left, but missed both free throws. Orlando had a chance to win, but Dooling’s attempt from the right wing was off the mark.

Nov. 6 vs. Washington – Magic 106, Wizards 103: Carlos Arroyo came off the bench and led the Magic with 23 points, as Orlando edged Washington, 106-103, at TD Waterhouse Centre. Arroyo was 9-of-13 from the field, including 3-of-4 from three-point range. Hedo Turkoglu netted 18 points for Orlando, including 14 during the first quarter, while Dwight Howard recorded 14 rebounds and five blocked shots. Antawn Jamison led the Wizards with 29 points and 10 rebounds. Etan Thomas recorded 14 points, a game-high 15 rebounds and a career-high six blocked shots. Orlando shot 50.6 percent from the floor and was 9-of-18 from three-point land. Trailing 99-96, Arroyo nailed a three-pointer from the left wing to tie the game at 99 with 4:11 left. The three-pointer started a 9-0 Magic run, capped off by another Arroyo jumper with 2:19 remaining, giving the Magic a six-point lead. Washington had a chance to tie on the final possession, but a three-point attempt by Gilbert Arenas was off the mark.
BEST ALL-TIME SCORING PERFORMANCE VS. WIZARDS: 62 pts., Tracy McGrady (@ Orlando, 3-10-04)
BEST ALL-TIME SCORING PERFORMANCE VS. MAGIC: 40 pts., Gilbert Arenas (@ Orlando, 3-10-04)
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POSTGAME QUOTES

NEXT HOME GAME:

vs.

Tuesday., January 23, 7:00PM
Amway Arena
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Orlando Magic Guard Keyon Dooling:
“We got outworked. It wasn’t our intent to get outworked, but you know the game is played on the floor. All the loose balls, like coach said, they came up with. All the hustle plays, all the little things you need in basketball to win games, they did tonight better than us.”

“We just have to work out of it. There’s going to be some peaks. There’s going to be some highs, there’s going to be some lows during the season. We just have to stay together, trust our habits, work hard, and hopefully we’ll just get back on the same page and start killing it again.”

“I think in the second half, they shot around 25 free throws, killed us on the offensive boards, and they flat out just outworked us. We didn’t execute well. Dwight was 8-for-9 and we didn’t get him enough touches. When a guy is 8-for-9, we have to do a better job of getting him the ball. We just have to do a better job of executing on the offensive end.”

“It’s one game at a time. When we’re winning, we try and build momentum. But when we’re losing, we try not to get in a funk. We try and think that every game we’re going to come out of it and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to go into New Jersey tomorrow and we’re going to play as hard as we can. Obviously they’re a team that is playing better. Vince is playing well. Jason Kidd, with all he is going through he is starting to play well. We have to go up there and try and handle our business.”

Orlando Magic Forward/Center Dwight Howard:
(On what they need to do different)
“Keep playing, play hard. Tonight I don’t think we gave it everything we needed to win the game and they did. They wanted it worse than we did.”

“It is an embarrassment when you come in a game in your hometown and you let somebody else come in and blow you out. That’s always embarrassing. Especially losing to a team that we know we can beat. We just have to come back, regroup and get ready for tomorrow.”

Washington Wizards Head Coach Eddie Jordan:
“Well, it was a great defensive effort I thought. We tend to turn people over and that is our game. We got out in the break where we are aggressive in the open floor, we made plays in the open floor. I thought Gilbert had a terrific floor game. Outside of being a scorer, he really defended well, passed ahead to the guys who were out sprinting and that was our main theme tonight – lets get out and sprint and push and dictate the tempo. We thought they were in the game in Washington and they dictated the tempo and we couldn’t have that tonight.”

On capitalizing on Magic turnovers…
“Well that is what most teams do. When you have athletes on the floor who turn the ball over, you really want to get out and run and get some easy baskets, and that’s what we did. We are not particularly tall or big – they come in with big people, Darko and they have Battie and they play those two big guys together whether it is Battie, Darko or Dwight. They have Turkoglu at 6-10 at small forward, Grant is 6-8 at the two guard… so they are big, and we have to rely on our quickness and just playing in the passing lanes and digging back in the paint, whether they throw in the post or they start driving. Our thing is, we get a lot of turnovers when we dig back in the paint and have active hands in the paint while we are helping out. That’s what we did tonight.”

On the balance of the team…
“That’s a credit to Gilbert – Gilbert is our point guard. He did a good job looking up the floor and passing ahead when we got stops and turnovers. Even after makes, we emphasized getting that thing out and pushing it. If we don’t get a pass ahead, keep going, keep pushing it and stay organized. We almost followed that to the letter in the third and fourth quarter.”

“Etan and Brendan are really playing well. First of all, they want to be defensive-minded and want to protect the rim, and that’s what they did and that’s why we got some good stops without even digging back. We didn’t really double-team the post – we just kind of helped with some dig backs, and those two guys playing defense like that allowed us to not get in rotation.”

On if he was surprised at the margin of victory..
“I don’t know. I was happy to see that. We forced them into some turnovers and there were some plays that they normally would have made. That is a good team. They are very efficient offensively and they have high numbers as far as their ranking in the league on offense, but we knew that they were 29th or 30th in turnovers – they are low – and we wanted to capitalize on that.”

POSTGAME NOTES
• The Magic are now 22-18 with a 114-93 loss to the Wizards.
• Dwight Howard recorded his 30th double-double of the season with 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting and 13 rebounds.
• The Wizards did not attempt a free throw in the entire first half. This is third time this season that a team has failed to attempt a free throw in a half.
• The Magic played in front of their 11th sellout of this season. There were 10 sellouts all of last season.
• The Magic had five players in double figures led by Grant Hill with 24 points. Dwight Howard scored 20, Jameer Nelson 15, Hedo Turkoglu 11 and Keyon Dooling 11.
• Antawn Jamison led the way for the Wizards with 31 points and 16 rebounds. This was Jamison’s season high for rebounds.