Washington Wizards @ Orlando Magic
Wednesday, November 29, 2023 at 7:00 PM ET
Amway Center, Orlando, FL | Game ID: 22300259
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
ORL 31 35 36 37 139WAS 26 30 33 31 120
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Magic beat Wizards 139-120 for their eighth straight win
ORLANDO, Fla. -- — Franz Wagner scored a season-high 31 points, Jalen Suggs added a season-best 22 and the Orlando Magic rolled to their eighth straight victory, 139-120 over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night.
One night after being eliminated from the NBA's inaugural In-Season Tournament by a tiebreaker, the Magic shot 60.7% overall and made 17 of 27 from 3-point range in the opener of a two-game series. The teams play again Friday in Orlando.
“I’m going to stick with one game at a time,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “We’ve got Washington again on Friday, so we’ve got to prepare for it the right way.”
Cole Anthony had another big game off the bench with 25 points. The Magic's win streak is one short of the franchise record set in 1994 and matched twice in this century.
“You start analyzing the schedule and things like that, you start to lose,” Suggs said. “Attention to detail, I think that’s one thing that’s made this run, and this start of the season, so special for us. We’re so locked in in any situation.”
Kyle Kuzma led Washington with 24 points. Deni Avdija added 22 and Jordan Poole scored 19. But the Wizards, who have lost 10 of 11, couldn't keep up with the Magic in the second half.
The Wizards kept the margin in single figures for most of the game, but Wagner beat them down the court and dunked on a pass from Joe Ingles with 2.4 seconds left in the third quarter to make it 102-89.
“At half we were down 10, still within striking distance, but they got it going from 3 in the second half,” said Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. “We tried to amp up the pressure a little bit which opened up some 3s, but they move the ball. They're set and ready. We just have to get there with a little more urgency.”
The big offensive games by Wagner, Suggs, Anthony and the Magic bench (65 points, 19 assists) more than compensated for Paolo Banchero 's least productive game of the season. The Magic's top scorer had six points and four turnovers before turning his ankle and leaving the game in the third quarter.
“I think it’s really cool the way we're figuring out how we want to play, and this game was a good example,” said Wagner, who shot 11 for 14 with four 3-pointers. “The first half we were up 10 but we weren’t playing the way we want to play, and it’s good that we have that awareness. We don’t (just) want to be really good now; I want to be really good at the end of the season, and that’s why we’re going to keep getting better.”
Orlando’s bench took over in the final quarter and stretched the lead to 21 on a spectacular dunk by Anthony with 6:40 remaining. It was Anthony’s sixth straight game of 15 or more points, all off the bench. In those six games he has averaged 20.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists.
WAS KarmaHide StintsShow StintsHide PMShow PMHide KarmaShow KarmaHide ScoresShow Scores
Who
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
ORLAB A. Black
AS A. Schofield
CA C. Anthony
CH C. Houstan
CO C. Okeke
FW F. Wagner
GB G. Bitadze
GH G. Harris
JI J. Ingles
JS J. Suggs
MW M. Wagner
PB P. Banchero
WASAG A. Gill
BC B. Coulibaly
CK C. Kispert
DA D. Avdija
DG D. Gafford
DG D. Gallinari
EO E. Omoruyi
JB J. Butler
JD J. Davis
JP J. Poole
KK K. Kuzma
LS L. Shamet
TJ T. Jones
ORL/WAS the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur