Orlando Magic @ Washington Wizards
Wednesday, March 6, 2024 at 7:00 PM ET
Capital One Arena, Washington, DC | Game ID: 22300894
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
WAS 34 31 18 26 109ORL 23 30 31 35 119
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Magic rally from 21 down to win 119-109 as Wizards tie franchise record with 16th straight loss
WASHINGTON -- — Franz Wagner scored 28 points, Paolo Banchero added 25 and the Orlando Magic rallied from a 21-point second-quarter deficit to beat Washington 119-109 on Wednesday night, handing the Wizards their 16th consecutive loss.
Washington (9-53) tied a team record for longest losing streak, matching a skid from the 2009-10 season. The Wizards looked on their way to ending this slide, but were done in by a 44-point second half against one of the league's best defensive teams.
“It is a tied-together group that loves to defend, loves to cover for each other, play the right way, play for one another," Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. "We talked about that. That was the conversation at halftime.”
Orlando (37-26) has won eight of nine.
Jordan Poole scored 26 points for Washington, which hasn't won since a victory at San Antonio on Jan. 29. Kyle Kuzma added 25 points for the Wizards, who haven't won at home since Dec. 29 against Brooklyn.
Washington led by 11 after the first quarter and a 3-pointer by Johnny Davis made it 52-31 in the second. It was 65-53 at halftime before the Wizards were held to 18 points in the third quarter.
“When you play defense, you have a chance to win games. They weren’t winning games for a couple years, and they just started playing defense, they started winning games," Kuzma said. "How do you do that? You've got to want to play defense and want to play team defense. That’s what we have to learn and that’s what we have to get to if we want to not be this type of ballclub.”
A layup by Banchero tied it at 72, and then neither team led by more than three for over 14 minutes, before a dunk by Moritz Wagner — Franz's brother — made it 102-97.
Moritz Wagner added a three-point play to cap a 14-1 run, and the Magic led 107-97. He scored 14 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter.
It was the largest comeback of the season for the Magic, who last rallied from a 21-point deficit on Jan. 30, 2023, at Philadelphia. The last time Orlando had a bigger comeback was Nov. 21, 2014, at Charlotte, when the team overcame a 23-point deficit to win.
“Wasn’t really much to talk about scheme-wise,” Banchero said. “There was no reason to talk about any scheme at halftime. It was just our effort and how hard we wanted to play.”
Banchero had 10 assists.
“Paolo’s an All-Star, Franz is on his way to being an All-Star," Mosley said. "The way in which they play off each other, and then it becomes selfless, and it carries over to the rest of the group.”
WAS KarmaHide StintsShow StintsHide PMShow PMHide KarmaShow KarmaHide ScoresShow Scores
Who
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
WASBC B. Coulibaly
CK C. Kispert
DA D. Avdija
EO E. Omoruyi
JD J. Davis
JP J. Poole
KK K. Kuzma
LS L. Shamet
RH R. Holmes
TJ T. Jones
ORLAB A. Black
CA C. Anthony
FW F. Wagner
GB G. Bitadze
JI J. Ingles
JS J. Suggs
MF M. Fultz
MW M. Wagner
PB P. Banchero
WAS/ORL 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