ORLANDO – The Orlando Magic defeated the Washington Wizards 123-89 at the Amway Center tonight. The Wizards were playing short handed with Beal, Hachimura, Matthews, Wall, and more missing from their line up.
This was the fourth time in a row that the Magic have beat Washington
“I mean, that’s the same team that just beat Boston and just beat Denver.” said Magic Head Coach Steve Clifford, conceding that the Wizards are in a tough spot with injuries “I don’t thinkI’ve ever seen a team with that many starters be out in the same like this. They did everything they could do and I thought our guys did a good job.”
The Magic, managed to get their 18th win on solid defense and their normal hustle, Nikole Vucevic lead all scorers with 29 tonight, followed by Evan Fournier with 19. DJ Armstron kept getting fouls as Wizards players kept going airborne on his fakes, so he jumped into them from behind the 3-point line, causing a collision, and getting 13 foul shots the process.
Markelle Fultz listed as a 40 in the +/_ column as he reeked havoc coming down the floor. His 6 points and 7 assists do not tell the story of his effect on defenses so far.
The Wizards are missing all0star guard Bradley Beal, Rui Hachimura, Garrisin Matthews, CJ Miles, Moritz Wagner, and John Wall.
Ish Smith managed to cause Fultz, as a distributer of the ball as the Magic had him well covered against shots, holding him to 9 points in the game.
The Magic now head out on a 12 day road trip out west, starting with a game on Friday against the Phoenix Suns. They return to Amway on January 22nd against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
