Wizards 127, Magic 110: Big nights from Wagner, Fultz not enough for Magic

Markelle Fultz always puts on a show while playing in his hometown of Washington, and this time Franz Wagner got in on the act.

But big nights from both wasn’t enough as the Orlando defense struggled all night and the Magic lost to the Wizards, 127-110.

Wagner opened the game strong, scoring 13 points on 5-for-8 shooting in the first quarter as the Magic built an early lead.

That included a pair of threes, with the Magic combining to go 6 of 11 from deep in the first quarter. Back-to-back threes by Chuma Okeke capped a 13-1 Orlando run that opened a 35-23 lead.

The Magic shot 48 percent overall in the quarter, committing only one turnover, to take a 35-28 lead after one.

Fultz was in playmaker form early in the second, assisting on four Magic buckets over a three-minute span to put Orlando back up by 12.

Over the next five minutes, the Magic were held only to a three by Ignas Brazdeikis, their only make from deep in seven attempts during the second. The Wizards went on a 14-3 run to pull within one at 50-49 and went into the half with a 58-56 lead following a last-second dunk by Rui Hachimura.

Kristaps Porzingis scored 16 first-half points as the Wizards shot over 51 percent.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored nine points in the third, including a jumper that increased the Wizards’ lead to 82-69 with 2:48 left in the quarter. Fultz went coast-to-coast at full speed for the lay-in plus the foul to start a 7-0 Magic run that cut their deficit to 84-79 late in the third.

Daniel Gafford scored some easy buckets inside to open the fourth, and went on to score eight of his 15 points in the fourth, pushing the Washington lead to 94-85.

Porzingis added 13 of his season-high 35 points in the fourth, finishing 11-for-18 from the field and 10-for-13 from the line. Caldwell-Pope added 25 points on 5 of 9 shooting from deep. Tomas Santoransky was scoreless but had 13 assists and 10 rebounds.

With the Wizards’ lead reaching double figures, the story in the fourth for the Magic was Fultz, who scored 12 of his season-high 19 points in the quarter. When a timeout was called with five minutes remaining and Fultz around the 19-minute mark for the game, it was assumed Jamahl Mosley would take him out. But Fultz returned, going on to hit a pull-up jumper shortly after to set his new high and eclipsing the 20-minute mark for the first time this season.

Fultz went 7-for-14 from the field to go along with seven assists and just one turnover in a season-high 21:15, topping his previous high for playing time this season of 19:42.

Wagner finished with 28 points on 11-for-20 shooting, making all three of his attempts from three while also showing his ability to knife through the lane...

The Magic return to Orlando for three straight home games, starting on Friday against the Raptors.