Story By: Sol Tucker
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Orlando, FL–
For the second time in a week, the Wizards have found a way to lose to the Orlando Magic. This time it was self-destruction time in the fourth quarter that saw the Wizards lose another winnable game, 130-125.
After the game, Kyle Kuzma was critical of the Wizards defense, and he called it not even able to stop a stop sign. Well, for most of the game they did a decent job… perhaps give a B- minus rating. It was the dunk by former Wizard, Moritz Wagner where we say Kuzma just stand to the left of the basket helpless.
“Look at Franz and look at Paolo,” he said. “They can manipulate the game because they are so big, so strong, and just (play) downhill. They are a problem.”
Kyle Kuzma tallied 27 points and 6 rebounds for the Wizards had a decent balance of scoring from the remainder of the starters with 14 by Jordan Poole and 13 points by Tyus Jones. They however did not get what they needed out of Deni Avdija, who scored just 6 points on a 2 for 7 effort from the field in just a little over 20 minutes of total game time.
The other duo of brothers for the Magic, Franz Wagner, added 31 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists.
Orlando tied a franchise record with their ninth straight victory tonight.
“It’s not easy to stack up wins in this league,” said Moritz Wagner.
Washington has to find a better combination of its bench and starter play. They are getting good numbers from Corey Kispert and Landry Shamet but have yet to find a game where all five starters and two bench players get them over that hump late in the game and propel them to a victory.
Things don’t seem much easier for the Wizards, but they do get a few days off before facing Philadelphia on Wednesday night. The Sixers come into the weekend with a 12-7 record but have dropped their last two games.
