The Orlando Magic were back in action Wednesday night after hosting the NBA All-Star weekend last week. Couldn’t ask for a better game to get ready for the second half of the season then against the Wizards.
Ryan Anderson led the Magic with 23 points and 15 rebounds in rout to a 102-95 win against Washington.
It’s been noted this season that Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy wants more out of Anderson then just 3-point shooting. He wants him to be a solid all around player including grabbing more rebounds per game.
“Stan likes the way I get offensive rebounds and have that kind of energy on the offensive side,” Anderson said. “I haven’t been rebounding the ball defensively as well as I can. Tonight was a good opportunity for me to control that.”
The Magic shot 15 of 36 (41%) from beyond the arc, while the Wizards only shot 37%.
Orlando has won 11 of their last 15 and is only 5 games behind the Miami Heat for the division lead.
Wall scored 10 consecutive points for the Wizards followed by an assist to Maurice Evans for three with 6:57 left in the fourth quarter tied the game at 83.
However a 6-0 run for the Magic behind consecutive threes from Jason Richardson and Ryan Anderson put the game away.
“We were up big and thought we had it in the bag,” Richardson said. “If you want to be great, you’ve got to learn how to bury teams when you’ve got them down.”
Wall finished with 33 points and 4 assists. Jordan Crawford was the only other Wizard to reach double figures.
Washington (7-28) have a lot of youth and tons of questions to get answered if they want to be taken serious as a professional basketball team because their play is awful.
Howard finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks. Jason Richardson and Nelson both finished with 12 points.
The Magic (23-13) travel home to play the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight, tip off set for 8pm.
