Kevin Seraphin notches up a 24 point - 13 rebound double-double to help the Washington Wizards defeat Orlando Magic 93-85......
On Tuesday night at the Verizon Center, Kevin Seraphin had a career best night, notching up a double-double with 24 points and 13 rebounds, making the most out of Dwight Howard`s absence as the Washington Wizards defeated the Orlando
Magic 93-85. This win helped the Wizards put an end to a 9 game losing streak against the Magic.
Seraphin also had 4 blocks on the night, tying his career high. The Magic played a second consecutive game with ‘Superman’ absent from their line up with back problems. In the month of April, Howard has missed 4 games and the big
man`s presence has been missed by the Magic as they have now lost 3 out those 4. The loss also saw the Magic slip down to the sixth spot in the East.
Orlando had another significant player missing from their line-up in the form of Hedo Turkoglu, who has a facial fracture and it looks like he is going to be out for the rest of the season.
Jordan Crawford had 21 points in the game; John Wall contributed 15 points, and also had 7 assists to his name. Cartier Martin and James Singleton, both being under a 10-day contract with the Wizards came off the bench to score
12 points each.
Jameer Nelson was the leading scorer for the Magic with 19 points, J.J. Redick added 15 points. Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis, notched up a 3rd consecutive double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, but this one was off not
much use. Quentin Richardson came off the bench to contribute 14 points.
Magic shot the ball a very low off 36.6% from the field whereas the Wizards connected on exactly half of their shots.
Orlando relied heavily on their long range shooting, connecting 11 times from beyond the arc, but it took them 35 attempts to get those 33 points. It still was good enough to keep them close in the game.
On the night, the Wizards relied on their game in transition and also on good ball movement as they dished out 20 assists on the night.
Orlando had a great start to the game and were leading by 21-16 with 3:16 remaining in the first quarter. They closed the quarter out on an 8-2 run to lead by 11 points. In the second quarter, Orlando, had led most of the way being
ahead by 10 points and were leading by 9 with 4:37 remaining to the half. The home side however rallied back their way into the game as they closed the half on an 11-2 run to tie all scores at 41 each.
The third quarter was a closely contested contest as both teams were looking to not let up on their chances. They went head to head with each other till the end of the period with Orlando holding a minor 1 point advantage.
In the final quarter, Washington, were finally able to get their noses in front in the matchup. From the scores being tied at 69 all, Wizards managed to pull ahead with the help of a 7-2 run to lead 76-71 with 5:50 remaining in
the game.
Orlando never did offer a significant spark late in the game and the Wizards, on their part, did not allow complacency to get in their way. The lead was further extended to 10 as Crawford drove to the basket for a layup late. On
the last possession, Nelson did cut the lead to 8 with a layup of his own but it was of not much value as the Wizards won this one.
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