Wizards 96, Magic 86: Washington rallies to snap Orlando streak at two

The Orlando Magic closed their final homestand of the 2013/14 season with a 96-86 loss to the Washington Wizards on Friday, squandering a 14-point, first-half lead as the Wizards recovered from a poor start to complete the sweep of the season series.

Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 16 points on 4-of-10 shooting. Both Otto Porter and Al Harrington posted nine points and nine rebounds off Washington's bench. Nenê needed only 11 shot attempts in 20 minutes to score 17 points.

For the Magic, Arron Afflalo led all scorers with 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Jameer Nelson tallied 12 points and 11 assists for the Magic in a losing effort, coming up three boards shy of his first career triple-double.

Orlando looked well on its way to victory after limiting the Wizards to 6-of-24 shooting in the first quarter and outrebounding them by a 19-9 margin. But Washington's second unit led it back into the game, with Porter's contributions coming as the biggest surprise: he notched seven points--two shy of his career high--in the second quarter alone as Washington closed to within six points at halftime.

As the Magic's offense continued to struggle with turnovers, the Wizards continued to chip into the lead. They opened the fourth period on a 12-3 run to take a four-point lead, tying their largest of the night to that point. An alley-oop dunk from Trevor Ariza with 2:18 to go put the flagging Magic down eight and effectively ended their chances of making a comeback, given how poorly its offense had played in the second half.