Wizards ride balanced attack to rout of Magic
Otto Porter Jr. led five players in double figures with 20 points, and the Washington Wizards ran by the host Orlando Magic 115-98 at Amway Center on Saturday night.
Washington matched a season high with its fourth straight win despite playing without the injured John Wall.
Tomas Satoransky, who has started in place of Wall, hit 7 of 9 from the field and had a career-high 19 points. Bradley Beal finished with 18 points and eight of his team’s 35 assists, while Markieff Morris scored 16 points for the Wizards.
Washington center Marcin Gortat had a big game at both ends of the floor, finishing with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The struggling Magic fell short of winning consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 10-11. Jonathon Simmons scored 15 points and Elfrid Payton added 14 for the Magic, who struggled with 20 turnovers.
The Wizards are 17-2 in their last 19 games against the Magic. Washington was 46-of-85 from the field (54.1 percent) and made seven shots from beyond the arc.
The Wizards led by nine at the break and continued to pull away in the third quarter. A jumper by Satoransky provided a 69-54 margin with 8:55 left in the third.
Jodie Meeks made a long jumper that increased Washington’s lead to 93-73 with 9:52 left in the game. The Magic struggled to make shots the rest of the way. Marreese Speights finally managed a 3-pointer with 2:55 left, but Orlando still trailed 111-91.
Orlando forward Aaron Gordon has been dealing with a hip flexor and did not play for the third straight game. Speights once again started in his place and finished with 10 points.
Washington got off to a quick start and led 25-15 on a layup by Gortat with 3:29 left in the first quarter. Beal made a jumper in the final seconds, the Wizards shot 60 percent and maintained a 31-25 lead heading into the second quarter.
The Wizards continued to stay in control and led 56-47 at the break and never trailed again.
--Field Level Media