Wizards offer little resistance against Howard, Orlando
Fans had plenty of suggestions for Ed Tapscott in his second game as an NBA head coach Thursday night. They were easy to hear as there was little competition from a sparse, sleepy Thanksgiving Day crowd at the Verizon Center.
“Play Juan Dixon.”
“Where’s Nick Young?”
“Suit up, Gilbert.”
Those were some of the clearly audible (and printable) exclamations from fans in the Wizards’ dreadful, 105-90 loss to the Orlando Magic before an announced crowd of 13,295.
With center Dwight Howard (26 points, 14 rebounds) dominating the Wizards for the second time this month and receiving perimeter support from Hedo Turkoglu (20 points, 10 rebounds), Rashard Lewis (17 points), and Mickael Pietrus (17 points), the Magic never trailed.
“It’s tough to defend a guy like that. Every time he gets the ball in the paint you got to foul him,” said Wizards forward Caron Butler. “When you double him, guys on the perimeter make big-time shots. They’re one of the best teams in the league. They’re rolling.”
Washington (2-11) had no answer for Howard. His dominance was illustrated by Wizards’ center JaVale McGee (six points, seven rebounds) committing five fouls in 16 minutes. His backup, Andray Blatche (five points, five rebounds) hit his limit of six fouls in 12 minutes.
“It’s hard to front him. He takes up a lot of space,” said Tapscott. “It’s like a quarter-mile around those shoulders.”
In winning its sixth straight road game, Orlando (12-4) functioned smoothly on offense despite the absence of Jameer Nelson (hip flexor). Anthony Johnson (12 assists, 0 turnovers) filled in more than adequately. Orlando went on an 11-0 run on their way to 38 first-period points.
The Magic players were so confident that they didn’t attempt to disguise their plays.
“To me it’s embarrassing, when you’re shooting free throws, they let you know what play they’re running,” said Wizards forward Antawn Jamison. “They’re calling out the play, ‘We’re running this.’ Loud. I told the guys, that’s embarrassing.”
Butler (25 points, 6 assists) and Jamison (17 points, 12 rebounds) got little help. Starting guards DeShawn Stevenson and Dee Brown hit a combined 3 of 13 shots in 49 minutes. Darius Songaila (12 points) was the lone spark off the bench.
The Wizards only good stretch came at the start of the second period when they held the Magic scoreless on seven straight possessions, cutting a 13-point deficit to four. But Orlando quickly resumed control.
In the second half, the biggest cheers came during a timeout when a man in blue tights shot T-shirts into the crowd.
“On a back-to-back night and a fifth game in seven nights, I thought it was a great effort,” said Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy. “[Dwight] had a dominant first half. He scored, rebounded and made plays.”
Washington tries to rebound Saturday night at home against Atlanta and forget Thursday’s debacle.
“We’ve got to find a way to play with some pride,” said Jamison. “You’ve got to find a way to make it difficult for their big guys and you can’t let their role players get off. You can’t win many nights when you have that kind of effort defensively.”
UP NEXT » Hawks at Wizards
When » Saturday, 7
Where » Verizon Center
TV » CSN
Radio » 980 AM
The Hawks were 9-5 going into last night’s game at Toronto behind SG Joe Johnson (23.4 points per game, 5.4 apg), who has been bothered by a sore toe, PG Mike Bibby (15.1 ppg, 4.4 apg), and F Marvin Williams (14.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg). F Josh Smith has been out three weeks with an ankle sprain. The Wizards led at Atlanta on Nov. 19, but surrendered three 3-pointers in the final two minutes of a 91-87 defeat.
