A 30-Point Night From Hachimura Pushes Washington Passed the Magic in a 138-118 Win
A finally healthy Wizards team dominates, propelled by a 30-point night from Hachimura, in Capital One Arena on Saturday night in a 138-118 win over the Orlando Magic. Washington never trailed throughout the night despite a second-half scare where the Magic just kept hitting on their threes to stay in it.
The Wizards as a team were lights out when it came to shooting the ball, hitting on 53% of all their shots and 52% on shots from deep. Those who shot notably well for Washington were Daniel Gafford (6-8 from the field), Monte Morris (4-5 from the field and 2-3 from 3), Bradley Beal (7-14 from the field and 2-3 from deep), Rui Hachimura (13-22 and 3-5 from downtown), and Delon Wright (5-5 from the field and 3-3 from 3).
And while the Wizards shot really well, the Magic also brought their shooting shoes to Washington. Orlando shot 46% from the field and 41% from deep. The 3-point shooting percentage was brought up by Markelle Fultz, who shot 3-4 from deep in his 23-point night, Gary Harris, who shot 3-4 from 3-point range as well, and the big fella, Mo Bamba, who hit on 2 of his 4 attempts from beyond the arc.
The setback for the Magic was Banchero. The rookie was guarded by the veteran, Kyle Kuzma, and was held to 15 points, which is 5 less than what he is used to scoring each night. The former Duke forward also shot a sub-par, 5-12 from the field, including only 1 shot falling on 4 3-point attempts.
Kuzma was great on the defensive side, holding the ROTY frontrunner and bringing in 10 rebounds, but was electric on the offensive side of the ball as well. Kuz started the game hot going 3-3 but cooled off and ended the night shooting 9-20 from the field. The former Laker was still able to score 25 points and came just 4 assists shy of a triple-double.
Beal and Porzingis both finished with 17 points, which is not a horrible night for most players but a quiet one for both of these stars. Beal had 13 of his 17 points come in the second half after a slow 4-point first half for him. Porzingis was just very inefficient offensively, shooting 3-10, and didn’t accumulate as many rebounds as usual because coach Unseld Jr. gave the Magic a different look by starting Gafford and Porzingis.
While the Wizards had all five starters finish in double digits, they also had two players, Rui Hachimura and Delon Wright, off their bench to reach that point. Wright scored 15, but Rui doubled that amount, hitting 30 points. Hachimura was also able to amass 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks, proving himself in yet another game.
The win pushed the Wizards to the 20-win mark and passed the Raptors into the 11th spot in the Eastern Conference. They sit only 0.5 games behind a Pay-In spot. They will be heading down to the Lone Star State to face Luka and the Mavericks on Tuesday. Tip-off for the game is scheduled for 8:30 pm EST.