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The Orlando Magic connected on just 3-of-15 from behind the arc and shot 39 percent from the field as the Washington Wizards ran past Orlando in the second half en route to securing a 98-80 win.
John Wall finished the night with 16 points and 13 assists in 29 minutes and Trevor Ariza contributed 24 points on 8-of-9 shooting. The Wizards, as a team, shot 9-of-13 from three and the Magic, often falling in long offensive droughts, were unable to keep up.
Arron Afflalo played fantastic, scoring 21 points and collecting five rebounds, but his performance wasn't enough to keep a flailing Orlando offense from drowning. Victor Oladipo scored 13 points and grabbed six boards and Moe Harkless contributed 16 points off the bench.
Wall recorded three assists in the game's first three minutes. One came on a two-on-one fastbreak, in which Ariza flushed down a Wall bounce pass. Orlando fell behind, 15-2, in the game's first five minutes before Oladipo scored at the rim on a backcut. At the end of the quarter, Afflalo sized up Jan Vesely and drained a long two-pointer to tie the game at 22 with 1.1 seconds left on the clock.
Early in the second, Harkless dug down on a running Nene Hilario hook and snatched the ball from the Brazilian big man's hands. He passed the ball up court to Ronnie Price who dropped the ball off to Afflalo for the easy layup to give Orlando a 29-24 lead. A few minutes later Afflalo received the ball in the corner with two seconds left. He took one dribble and drilled a fadeaway over Ariza as the shot clock expired.
With just over two minutes in the second quarter, Oladipo rejected a Glen Davis screen to his left, instead choosing to cross over and drive to the lane with his right. Marcin Gortat and Nene collapsed on him but the rookie guard opted to blast through them for a two handed dunk in traffic. Near the end of the half, Wall pulled up and drained a desperate fadeawy three-pointer to extend Washington's lead to 11, 52-41. Wall finished the half with 11 points and nine assists. Ariza led all first half scorers with 19 points on seven shots.
AFFLALO IS AWESOME: this is my unprofessional assessment of Afflalo's first half. He scored 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting and grabbed five rebounds in 20 minutes of action. Oladipo registered 11 points, five rebounds and two assists -- his 30 foot bounce pass to Harkless on the fastbreak is probably the best assist of his young career.
Washington took a 14-point lead early in the third quarter when Ariza hit another corner three, his fourth make from behind the arc. A few moments later Ariza hit another three-pointer from the corner, his fifth in as many attempts. Orlando found itself down by 16, but a 10-1 run cut the Wizards' lead to seven. A couple of Wizards baskets and an electric Wall layup in transition widened Washington's lead back to 13. Eric Maynor's pull up jumper smacked off the back rim and the Magic went into the fourth quarter down 75-61.
The fourth quarter was a bit of an abomination for the Magic, who never could keep going and faltered as the Wizards lead by as much 21. Orlando, and coach Jacque Vaughn, conceded to Washington midway through the fourth, choosing to run with mostly reserve players to finish the night.
