WASHINGTON _ D.J. Augustine and Evan Fournier hit a pair of 3-pointers late Wednesday night against the Washington Wizards and it looked like the Orlando Magic had something rolling, down by four points with just under three minutes remaining at Capital One Arena.
So much for that. Jabari Parker and Thomas Bryant answered with six straight points and Bryant's driving dunk in the lane sealed the victory with 52 seconds left. The Wizards handed the Magic their fourth loss in the past five games, dropping Orlando to 31-38 this season with a 100-90 loss.
The Magic saw the Wizards bench players score 58 points, led by Bryant's 21 and Parker's 19. Bradley Beal had a game-high 23 points.
Orlando was led by Nikola Vucevic's 20 points and 14 rebounds, and the team's bench managed just 20 points.
The Magic took their first lead of the second half when Jonathan Isaac hit a pair of 3-pointers, sandwiching a Jerian Grant field goal late in the third quarter, and Orlando was up 74-71. Isaac also took a charge by Washington's Bobby Portis to help the Magic build momentum, but it was short-lived as Chasson Randle hit a 3 and Beal also scored to give Washington a 76-74 lead heading to the final quarter.
Orlando flip-flopped leads 10 times with the Wizards in the first quarter, but Washington rattled off nine straight points after a Khem Birch free throw to start the second quarter and built a 12-point lead.
The Magic fought back to get within 76-74 at the break, but they ultimately couldn't grab command in the fourth quarter.
Orlando will have little time to recover, returning home to host Cleveland at 7 p.m. Thursday.
