A motivated Jason Richardson led the Orlando Magic to a 99-94 win over the Milwaukee Bucks Saturday night.
Richardson after only playing a few minutes and missing his first three shots from the field in the first quarter motivated a Bucks fan behind the Magic bench to yell, “You’re washed up!”
I’m a competitor,” the 31-year-old Richardson said. “I love when people talk trash to me.”
Richardson took that comment into the locker room at half and thought it over.
“I thought about what he said,” Richardson said. “I said, ‘You know what? Just go out there and just play.’ I got in a zone. The shots started falling. I don’t mind trash talking, but that was the one that got to me.”
Coming out of the locker room at half time with the Magic down 43-49 the second half would belong to Richardson, scoring 28 of his season high 31 hitting 9 of 11 from beyond the arc.
“People think that once you turn a certain age, you don’t have it anymore. You don’t have the certain style of play you used to play,” Richardson said. “I’m still young, so I had to show the guy I still had energy.”
Dwight Howard only finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds, followed by Hedu Turkoglu’s 19 and Redick’s 14 off the bench.
The Bucks did a great job defending Howard with Drew Gooden and help side defense.
“I don’t think he took me out of my game,” Howard said of Gooden’s defense on him. “I missed a lot of shots that I normally don’t miss. They weren’t doing anything special.”
Milwaukee was led by Drew Gooden’s 21 points and 8 rebounds.
Orlando (17-11) will host the Minnesota Timberwolves Monday night at Amway, tip off set for 7pm.
