As confidence boosters go, they don’t get much better than Washington’s 87-86 win Wednesday night in Orlando. But as the Wizards prepare to face the woeful Miami Heat tonight, perhaps a dose of humility is in order.
For evidence of the dangers posed by underwhelming teams, coach Eddie Jordan can point to recent home losses to New York, Charlotte, and Atlanta.
“We play a depleted Miami team,” said Jordan. “Let’s see if we can play as well as we can to win a game on the road. It’s always tough no matter what that record says.”
Each of those recent home losses came following emotion-sapping victories that were decided in either overtime or on the final possession. Wednesday’s win at Orlando falls in that category.
Washington (34-33) had one of its best defensive efforts of the season, harassing Orlando (45-25) into 33.8 percent shooting from the floor. Center Brendan Haywood out-scored Dwight Howard, 10-3, holding the All-Star to his season low.
It was a reversal of fortune from their meeting two weeks previous when Howard out-scored Haywood 22-0, leading the Magic to a 122-92 romp at Verizon Center.
“I had a lot of motivation. I think we had a lot of motivation as a team,” said Haywood. “He had a phenomenal game in D.C. He was dunking, posing, staring at people.”
So what will the Wizards do for motivation against a Miami team coming off a 96-54 loss at Toronto Wednesday? Armed with only seven healthy players, the Heat had the third lowest point total since the NBA’s instituted the shot-clock (1954-55).
Wizards at Heat
When » Tonight 7:30
Where » AmericanAirlines Arena
TV » Comcast SportsNet
Radio » 980 AM
» The Heat (12-55) has the worst record in the NBA. Top scorer Dwyane Wade and top rebounder Udonis Haslem have been shut down for the season with injuries. Newly-acquired Shawn Marion (back) has been in and out of the lineup the last week. F Ricky Davis (13.6 ppg) is the top healthy threat. G Jason Williams (9.1 ppg, 4.7 apg) has a sore thumb. Washington owns a pair of double-digit victories, both in December, over Miami.
