Before Wednesday’s game against the Orlando Magic, Wizards coach Eddie Jordan smiled when he was asked about a possible match-up with the Magic in the postseason.
“It would mean we’re in the playoffs,” Jordan explained, careful not to suggest that he relished a match-up with Dwight “Superman” Howard.
Later in the evening, the Magic showed why no team in the Eastern Conference should want to face them as they took apart the over-matched Wizards, 122-92, before 17,745.
Howard (20 points, 11 rebounds) did his customary work, but it was the play of his supporting cast that hurt the Wizards. Rashard Lewis (17 points), Maurice Evans (17 points), Jameer Nelson (9 points, 10 assists), and Keith Bogans (17 points) contributed in a thoroughly dominant performance.
“They took it to us. They were the aggressors,” said Jordan. “It was very disappointing the way we caved, as far as our personality.”
In becoming the first team to beat Washington (29-31) twice this season at Verizon Center, Orlando (40-23) handed the Wizards their worst home loss. The Magic hit 56 percent from the floor.
“They set the tone. We couldn’t get into any kind of rhythm,” said Antawn Jamison (19 points, 6 rebounds). “We played poorly on both ends of the floor. They got too many layups.”
After a rough first period, the Wizards began the second quarter with a reserve-fueled 9-0 run, triggered by Roger Mason (14 points), who hit back-to-back shots from the perimeter, and Oleksiy Pecherov (15 points), who dunked on a feed from Andray Blatche (2 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists).
But Orlando responded with points on 10 of its next 11 possessions to take a 57-41 lead. Bogans, a reserve guard and a graduate of DeMatha High in Hyattsville, came off the bench to hit 5-of-5 shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, in the period.
“I had the family here, friends, a lot of people who watched me play when I was younger,” said Bogans, who said he purchased between 30 and 40 tickets. “They weren’t coming down here to watch me sit on the bench.”
It only got worse in the third period as unheralded guard Evans scored 14 of his 17 points, dunking three times and hitting a pair of shots from beyond the arc.
The only rise the crowd got in the fourth quarter came when former Duke All-American J.J. Redick (5 points) answered an explosion of boos with a quick pair of jumpers.
“It’s funny. It wasn’t a surprise [being] booed tonight,” said Redick. “But they were frustrated. We played very well. Any time we get 34 between Bogans and Mo Evans, that’s great.”
