ORLANDO, Fla. _ The Orlando Magic battled back from a 19-point first-quarter deficit Friday night only to see their offense fail them in the final minutes of the fourth quarter against the Washington Wizards.
The Magic took an 80-76 lead with 6:22 remaining, but then their offense went dry. From that point on, they struggled to generate good shots out of timeouts and went 4 of 9 from the field.
The result: a 94-91 loss at Amway Center.
The Magic have lost three consecutive games _ a dangerous stretch of negative momentum as a five-game road trip looms following a home game Sunday.
Washington regained the lead at 84-83 on a layup by Marcin Gortat with 4:57 to play.
Another blow arrived a few minutes later.
John Wall drove down the center of the lane and made a layup as he absorbed a foul by Elfrid Payton. The three-point play extended the Wizards' lead to 91-87 with 1:00 left.
Orlando wasted a 17-point, 17-rebound game from center Nikola Vucevic and a 19-point performance from Serge Ibaka.
The Wizards (5-9) dominated the Magic (6-10) early.
Coach Frank Vogel called his third timeout after the Wizards took a 26-7 lead with 3:01 remaining in the first quarter. Magic fans showered the court with boos _ perhaps the loudest first-quarter boos the Magic have received at any home game since the start of the 2012-13 season.
The Magic made only five of their 21 shot attempts in the first quarter. They also turned the ball over eight times.
No wonder Washington raced out to a 19-point lead.
Desperate for offense, Vogel dusted off Mario Hezonja in the first half after Hezonja didn't play in five of the Magic's previous seven games. Hezonja added an emphatic alley-oop dunk off a pass by D.J. Augustin, cutting Orlando's deficit to 32-22 midway through the second quarter.
The play fans will remember from Friday night occurred late in the second quarter.
It's destined for blooper reels.
Evan Fournier, stationed near the top of the arc, tried to pass the basketball to Augustin in the right corner. Instead, the ball hit off the top of teammate Bismack Biyombo's head and ricocheted out of bounds. Biyombo never saw the ball coming.
That's how discombobulated the Magic looked in the first half.
The Magic drew within 40-33 with 2:58 remaining until halftime, but the Wizards pushed the lead back to double digits before halftime.
On Nov. 5, Orlando beat Washington 88-86 at Amway Center. But that Magic victory carries an asterisk: The Wizards rested Wall that night because he had surgeries on each knee during the offseason, and the Wizards were playing on the second night of a back-to-back.
On Friday, Wall scored 26 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out 10 assists.
He was on the court when the Magic gained the momentum during the third quarter.
Orlando went on a 15-5 run that included a 3-pointer by Jeff Green from the top of the key to cut the deficit to 63-60.
The Magic tied the game 72-72 on a pull-up jumper by Elfrid Payton with 10:31 remaining in the fourth quarter and took its first lead of the night on a 3-pointer by Fournier with 8:19 to go.
Less than a minute later Biyombo and Washington's Kelly Oubre got into a shoving match, prompting both Vogel and Wizards coach Scott Brooks to go onto the court to prevent the minor fracas from escalating. Biyombo, Fournier, Oubre and Bradley Beal each received technical fouls.
A short while later, the Magic went ahead 80-76 when Augustin converted a three-point play.
That's when the offense started to sputter.
