ORLANDO – The good news on Wednesday for an Orlando Magic team about to take off on its longest road trip of the season was that it got to play an injury-ravaged and short-handed Washington Wizards squad as a favorable sendoff.
The bad news, however, is that the Magic are now finished playing Washington after beating them for a fourth straight time.
Nikola Vucevic scored 29 points – one shy of his season high also set against Washington earlier in the season – and Evan Fournier added 19 more to lead five players in double figures as the Magic throttled the Wizards 123-89 at the Amway Center.
Orlando (18-20) beat Washington (12-25) to sweep the season series against their Southeast Division rivals. The Wizards have beaten Denver, Miami and Boston in recent weeks, but they were once again overwhelmed by the Magic. Orlando won the four meetings by four, seven, 21 and 34 points while scoring 125, 127, 122 and 123 points.
``We knew coming into this game that it was a game we should win if we had the right intensity and focus and that’s exactly what we did,’’ said Fournier, who had 93 points in the four wins over Washington. ``(The Wizards) are still dangerous because they just beat Boston without (Bradley) Beal. Obviously, they have a lot of injuries, but that’s a team that can still really score. We’ve been talking about defense lately and that was good effort for 48 minutes.’’
The Magic, who begin a six-game, 12-night road trip on Friday in Phoenix, won for the fourth time in their past five games overall. Orlando is 14-4 on the season against teams with losing records, but just 3-16 against those with winning marks. The Magic led by as much as 36 points on Wednesday and were up 25 before the start of the fourth quarter. They improved to 15-1 this season when leading or tied after three periods.
``It was good to win these games before we go on this trip because it’s a very hard trip, obviously, for us,’’ said Vucevic, who scored 79 points in his three games against this Wizards this season. ``West Coast trips are always tricky, and we are going to play some very good teams out there. For sure, these wins help with the confidence and feeling good about where we’re at. I think we’re taking steps forward, especially on the defensive end. In the last 10 games, we’ve been much better after some slippage on that end. And I thought offensively (on Wednesday) we were really good. That’s how we have to play and hopefully we can carry it onto this trip.’’
D.J. Augustin, who had 25-point and 24-point efforts against Washington earlier in the season, poured in another 18 points on Wednesday. The 6-foot Augustin continued to confound defenders by getting them in the air, drawing contact and getting to the free throw line. Augustin, now the team leader in made free throws, hit 10 of 13 free throws and was fouled three times on 3-point shot attempts on Wednesday.
``We kept (Augustin’s scoring total) under 20, so that’s a bright spot,’’ Wizards coach Scott Brooks cracked sarcastically. ``I think we fouled him four times on jump shots. He jumps into you and gets those calls. (The Magic) played well. That’s two games in a row that we’ve played this (Orlando) team a step slow. That’s a good (Orlando) team that’s going to get there now that they’re starting to play much better.’’
Converted power forward Khem Birch (11 points and nine rebounds) and Aaron Gordon (10 points and seven rebounds) played well on both ends of the floor. Magic point guard Markelle Fultz, who was coming off a career-best 25-point night on Monday against Brooklyn, added six points, seven rebounds and seven assists against a Washington franchise he grew up rooting for while being raised in Upper Marlboro, Md.
``Every time I step on the floor, I want to get a win, but (winning) against the home town (team), now I’ve got a little bit of leverage to talk trash to some of my friends back home who are die-hard Wizards fans,’’ said Fultz, whose plus/minus ratio in nearly 31 minutes was a plus-40 – the highest for a Magic player since Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu did that in 2009, according to StatMuse. ``The biggest thing is we got two wins in a row at home, so that’s big.’’
Rookie Admiral Scofield scored 18 points for Washington, while Troy Brown Jr. added 18 points and 11 rebounds and rookie center Anzejs Pasecniks chipped in 16. Ish Smith, who spent two stints with the Magic earlier in his career, came into the night having scored 32 and 27 points in his previous two games was held to nine points on four of 13 shooting.
The Magic caught an enormous break when all-star guard Bradley Beal was held out of the game with a lower right leg soreness. That injury meant that the Wizards had just nine players available and it left them without the guard who had averaged 34.3 points in three games this season against the Magic.
After setting several season highs in the previous games with Washington, Orlando made 49.4 percent of its shots and 10 3-pointers on Wednesday. Washington shot 42.9 percent and turned the ball over 23 times leading to 35 Magic points.
Orlando came into Wednesday 3-0 this season against Washington, largely because it had averaged 124.7 points a game and shot 49.3 percent overall and 41.6 percent from 3-point range. To put that into perspective, the Magic came into Wednesday averaging just 103.2 points per game and shooting 43.2 percent overall and 33.4 percent from the 3-point arc.
``That’s the same (Washington) team that just beat Boston and Denver,’’ Magic coach Steve Clifford said. ``Golden State has obviously had brutal injury situations, but other than that I don’t think that I’ve ever seen a team with that many starters or guys who are in the rotation be out at the same time. … They did everything that they could do, and I thought our guys did a good job.’’
The Magic leave on Thursday for a six-game, 12-night trip with games ahead against Phoenix (Friday), Sacramento (Monday), the Los Angeles Lakers (Jan. 15), the Los Angeles Clippers (Jan. 16), Golden State (Jan. 18) and Charlotte (Jan. 20). The road trip is the Magic’s longest of the season – both in terms of nights and consecutive games on the road.
The Magic are scheduled to practice in Phoenix on Thursday and face the Suns on Friday (tipoff: 9 p.m. ET). Orlando whipped the Suns, 128-114, on Dec. 4 at the Amway Center. That night, Gordon torched the Suns for a season-best 32 points and five 3-pointers by making 13 of 15 shots.
Clifford is encouraged most by Orlando’s improvement defensively despite the losses of Jonathan Isaac (left knee sprain), Michael Carter-Williams (AC sprain in his left shoulder) and Al-Farouq Aminu (right knee surgery). The Magic came into Wednesday second in the NBA in defensive rating over the previous 10 games – a trend that likely must continue in the days ahead on the road for the Magic to have a winning trip.
``If we’re consistent with our defense and we’re consistent playing the defense that we’re capable of playing, it should give us a chance to win any game,’’ said guard Terrence Ross, who had nine points on Wednesday. ``We need that (defense) big time.’’
The Magic ended an incredibly streaky first half with a 28-10 burst to give themselves a 69-52 edge at intermission. Orlando led by as much as 10 in the first quarter, surrendered a 19-9 Washington run to briefly lose the lead and then closed the half strong.
Vucevic and Fournier both played well in the first half – often by setting up another up with purposeful passes. Vucevic had 13 points, six rebounds and two assists by halftime with the final two points coming on a thunderous dunk with nine seconds left in the second period.
Fournier also scored 13 first-half points. He made three of his first four 3-point shots, including one from the corner that grazed off the top edge of the backboard and went in as he playfully glared at the Magic bench behind him. That shot wiped out a 47-46 Washington lead and the Magic never trailed again in the game.
Augustin continued to show a knack for getting to the free throw line. His two 3-pointers and five made free throws (in seven attempts) gave him 11 points by halftime.
``He’s really good at getting that (call) because people still go for that (fake),’’ Vucevic marveled at Augustin, who has made a team-best 113 free throws on the season. ``When you’re a shooter (like Augustin), it’s tricky because you want to contest it, but his pump fake is really good and he’s also so good about creating that space. It’s not easy to defend and he got them a few times tonight. But D.J. has been around for a long time and he knows what it takes to get it done.’’
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