By John Denton
Dec. 6, 2016
WASHINGTON, D.C – They had to hit the road for nine straight nights and travel nearly 5,000 miles, but the Orlando Magic just might have flipped the script on their season on what could ultimately go down as a defining five-game trip.
Traveling from San Antonio, to Memphis, to Philadelphia, to Detroit and finally to Washington, D.C., the Magic bonded together – on the floor and off it – and put together an impressive 4-1 record that was six minutes away from being a perfect 5-0.
Considering how the Magic played on the trip, and how they throttled the arch-rival Washington Wizards 124-116 on Tuesday with a complete performance on both ends of the floor, it’s hard to imagine this being the Orlando team that was five games below .500 and riding a four-game losing streak a little more than a week ago.
The Magic made that poor start a distant memory by routing the Spurs and rebounding from the devastation of the collapse in Memphis with resounding defeats of the 76ers, Pistons and Wizards. On Tuesday, the Magic (10-12) rode the hot hand of point guard Elfrid Payton (a career-best 25 points), built a 20-point third-quarter lead and withstood a furious onslaught from Washington point guard John Wall, a long-time nemesis who scored a career-best 50 points. Orlando’s 124 points were easily a season high, topping the 119 scored in Oklahoma City three weeks ago.
Orlando’s balanced and highly efficient offense was simply too much for Wall and the Wizards (7-13). The Magic shot 51.8 percent for the game, drilled 12 3-pointers and placed seven players in double figures in scoring. And if that wasn’t enough, Orlando also swatted 13 shots and tried making things as difficult as possible on the cat-quick Wall, who made 18 of 31 shots, five of eight 3-pointers and 11 of 14 free throws to top his previous best of 47 points.
Payton didn’t back down from his matchup against Wall, making his first nine shots and three 3-pointers. He topped his previous best scoring night ever of 24 points from Nov. 18 of 2015. He also nine assists.
Jeff Green, a native of suburban D.C., played well off the bench again with 20 points. Magic big men Bismack Biyombo (14 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots), Serge Ibaka (10 points, five rebounds and four blocked shots) and Nikola Vucevic (10 points, 10 rebounds and six assists) were dominant on both ends of the floor. Jodie Meeks (18 points and four 3-pointers) and Evan Fournier (10 points and two 3-pointers) did the rest of the damage from the outside as Orlando gashed the Wizards in nearly every way possible.
For Meeks, who was playing in just his third game after needing a third surgery in the past year to repair a fractured bone in his right foot, the performance was especially impressive. He drilled five of seven shots, four of five 3-pointers and all four of his free throws in 16 minutes.
Magic coach Frank Vogel preached patience early in the season as the squad was still learning to play together after adding nine new players over the summer. Vogel, who arranged team-bonding junkets in Philadelphia and Washington during the nine-night odyssey, was asked before Tuesday’s game what potentially being 4-1 on the longest road trip thus far would mean to his team and he didn’t hold back on the excitement.
“We have a lot of ground to make up. We’re three games under .500 and the East has a lot of teams capable of making big pushes,’’ Vogel said before the game. “I still think that .500 is not going to get you in the playoffs, so you’ve got to be better than that. So this is a big game for us.’’
Tuesday’s victory gave the Magic a 2-1 lead in the season series against the Wizards, something that could come in useful if the two teams are fighting for a playoff berth in mid-April. The victory was also significant because it was Orlando’s first in Washington since Feb. 29, 2012, a 4 ½-year stretch where it lost nine consecutive games in D.C.
Orlando ended a 12-game skid to Washington in early November, but that was a game where Wall was rested. He returned when the two teams played a second time on Nov. 25 and Washington won. But Tuesday’s result gave Orlando the upper hand on its Southeast Division rivals once again.
“I did mention that to our guys that we dropped one at home to these guys and we need to get one back,’’ Vogel said of the showdown against Washington. “We need to win a game in this building this year to at least even the series, and hopefully you get two here and you can take a 3-1 lead. I think (the Wizards) are a good team. They don’t have a great record yet, but they have two All-Star level guards and they’re very well-coached, so I think they are a team that could definitely make a push and be one of those teams that we’re competing with for a playoff spot.’’
Tuesday’s game might have been the end of the Magic’s road trip, but it was also the beginning of one of their most difficult stretches of the season. Including Tuesday’s game, Orlando will play four games in five nights – something that the NBA schedule-makers have worked to eliminate. The Magic will host the Boston Celtics on Wednesday at the Amway Center and then hit the road again for a game in Charlotte on Friday. The exhausting stretch will conclude with another home game on Saturday against the Denver Nuggets.
The Magic played nearly flawless basketball in the first half and they continued it deep into the third quarter. When Ibaka swatted a Marcin Gortat layup and Biyombo dunked on the other end, Orlando held a commanding 78-58. Washington would rally behind Wall – who had 34 points in the first three quarters – but the Magic still took a 96-81 edge into the fourth.
Just as they did early on, the Magic got great looks and drilled 11 of 19 shots (57.9 percent) and three 3-pointers in the third quarter to stay in control.
Orlando was dialed in on both ends of the floor in the first half and took an impressive 65-52 lead into the locker room at intermission. Unlike so many times before through the years when Wall would rob them of momentum, his last-second layup was swatted out of the air by Bismack Biyombo to preserve the Magic’s 13-point edge. The swat was part of seven blocked shots in the first half by the Magic with Biyombo, Ibaka and Payton each turning back two shots apiece.
Offensively, the Magic were equally impressive by carving up Washington’s defense from the inside (26 points in the paint) and the outside (seven 3-pointers in 12 attempts). The Magic began the game five of 15 from the floor, but proceeded to make 19 of their next 27 shots.
For a second straight game, Orlando shot better than 70 percent from the floor in the second quarter – 74 percent on Sunday in Detroit and 70 percent on Tuesday.
Payton came off the bench midway through the first quarter and immediately went into attack mode against Wall. He throttled the all-star guard for 22 points by making all eight of his field goals, three 3-pointers and three free throws. He also handed out four assists in the first half, and he needed just 16 minutes to do so, coming within two points of his career high point total.
Green, who hails from suburban Washington, D.C., had 30 family members and friends in the crowd and he put on another show for them. He had 13 points by halftime by posting hard in the paint and having his way from the floor (five field goals) and the line (five free throws).
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