The burden is off the Orlando Magic’s shoulders now.

They ended their four-game losing streak Wednesday night, beating the lowly Washington Wizards 109-103 at Amway Center.

“We’ve still got to get a lot better,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “But I think what sort of breaking the ice does in getting a win is now it allows you to get your mind on getting better instead of your mind on, ‘God, we haven’t won a game in forever.’ “

Goodness knows, his team has a long ways to go these days.

The Magic will gladly take a win at this point. Any win.

But in the victory, the team still struggled to protect the basketball, to rebound the basketball and just bring the ball up the court.

Ryan Anderson scored a team-high 23 points, including a trey with 42.2 seconds left that put the Magic ahead 104-97.

“We didn’t want to focus too much on that streak, because that’s a week we’d all like to forget and those games we’d like to just forget about,” Anderson said. “We can move forward and get a win next game and then just start a little run. I think this started our confidence, but we need to follow through with it.”

Dwight Howard scored 21 points and collected 18 rebounds. And J.J. Redick added 21.

They received a huge boost when Chris Duhon and Von Wafer made 3-pointers a couple of possessions apart to put the Magic ahead 77-71 early in the fourth quarter.

In all, Orlando went 13-for-30 from beyond the arc.

Orlando also contained Washington’s super-fast second-year point guard, John Wall.

Wall went 1-for-12 from the field and didn’t make his basket until a driving layup with 3:08 left in regulation. He did have 10 assists and only three turnovers.

“You’re going to go through some periods shooting the ball, and you can’t just rely on that,” Wizards coach Randy Wittman said.

After Orlando had completed its shootaround Wednesday morning, Van Gundy told reporters that he expected his players to begin the game with plenty of energy.

And they did, jumping out to a 25-14 lead with 1:22 to go in the first quarter.

Then came adversity.

Washington went on a 22-5 run.

The Wizards ended that run when Kevin Seraphin followed Trevor Booker’s missed layup with an emphatic dunk. The slam put Washington ahead 36-30 with 7:01 remaining before halftime.

The burden is off the Orlando Magic’s shoulders now.

They ended their four-game losing streak Wednesday night, beating the lowly Washington Wizards 109-103 at Amway Center.

“We’ve still got to get a lot better,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “But I think what sort of breaking the ice does in getting a win is now it allows you to get your mind on getting better instead of your mind on, ‘God, we haven’t won a game in forever.’ “

Goodness knows, his team has a long ways to go these days.

The Magic will gladly take a win at this point. Any win.

But in the victory, the team still struggled to protect the basketball, to rebound the basketball and just bring the ball up the court.

Ryan Anderson scored a team-high 23 points, including a trey with 42.2 seconds left that put the Magic ahead 104-97.

“We didn’t want to focus too much on that streak, because that’s a week we’d all like to forget and those games we’d like to just forget about,” Anderson said. “We can move forward and get a win next game and then just start a little run. I think this started our confidence, but we need to follow through with it.”

Dwight Howard scored 21 points and collected 18 rebounds. And J.J. Redick added 21.

They received a huge boost when Chris Duhon and Von Wafer made 3-pointers a couple of possessions apart to put the Magic ahead 77-71 early in the fourth quarter.

In all, Orlando went 13-for-30 from beyond the arc.

Orlando also contained Washington’s super-fast second-year point guard, John Wall.

Wall went 1-for-12 from the field and didn’t make his basket until a driving layup with 3:08 left in regulation. He did have 10 assists and only three turnovers.

“You’re going to go through some periods shooting the ball, and you can’t just rely on that,” Wizards coach Randy Wittman said.

After Orlando had completed its shootaround Wednesday morning, Van Gundy told reporters that he expected his players to begin the game with plenty of energy.

And they did, jumping out to a 25-14 lead with 1:22 to go in the first quarter.

Then came adversity.

Washington went on a 22-5 run.

The Wizards ended that run when Kevin Seraphin followed Trevor Booker’s missed layup with an emphatic dunk. The slam put Washington ahead 36-30 with 7:01 remaining before halftime.

Turnovers had given the Wizards (4-18) all the boost they needed.

The burden is off the Orlando Magic’s shoulders now.

They ended their four-game losing streak Wednesday night, beating the lowly Washington Wizards 109-103 at Amway Center.

“We’ve still got to get a lot better,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “But I think what sort of breaking the ice does in getting a win is now it allows you to get your mind on getting better instead of your mind on, ‘God, we haven’t won a game in forever.’ “

Goodness knows, his team has a long ways to go these days.

The Magic will gladly take a win at this point. Any win.

But in the victory, the team still struggled to protect the basketball, to rebound the basketball and just bring the ball up the court.

Ryan Anderson scored a team-high 23 points, including a trey with 42.2 seconds left that put the Magic ahead 104-97.

“We didn’t want to focus too much on that streak, because that’s a week we’d all like to forget and those games we’d like to just forget about,” Anderson said. “We can move forward and get a win next game and then just start a little run. I think this started our confidence, but we need to follow through with it.”

Dwight Howard scored 21 points and collected 18 rebounds. And J.J. Redick added 21.

They received a huge boost when Chris Duhon and Von Wafer made 3-pointers a couple of possessions apart to put the Magic ahead 77-71 early in the fourth quarter.

In all, Orlando went 13-for-30 from beyond the arc.

Orlando also contained Washington’s super-fast second-year point guard, John Wall.

Wall went 1-for-12 from the field and didn’t make his basket until a driving layup with 3:08 left in regulation. He did have 10 assists and only three turnovers.

“You’re going to go through some periods shooting the ball, and you can’t just rely on that,” Wizards coach Randy Wittman said.

After Orlando had completed its shootaround Wednesday morning, Van Gundy told reporters that he expected his players to begin the game with plenty of energy.

And they did, jumping out to a 25-14 lead with 1:22 to go in the first quarter.

Then came adversity.

Washington went on a 22-5 run.

The Wizards ended that run when Kevin Seraphin followed Trevor Booker’s missed layup with an emphatic dunk. The slam put Washington ahead 36-30 with 7:01 remaining before halftime.

Turnovers had given the Wizards (4-18) all the boost they needed.

The burden is off the Orlando Magic’s shoulders now.

They ended their four-game losing streak Wednesday night, beating the lowly Washington Wizards 109-103 at Amway Center.

“We’ve still got to get a lot better,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “But I think what sort of breaking the ice does in getting a win is now it allows you to get your mind on getting better instead of your mind on, ‘God, we haven’t won a game in forever.’ “

Goodness knows, his team has a long ways to go these days.

The Magic will gladly take a win at this point. Any win.

But in the victory, the team still struggled to protect the basketball, to rebound the basketball and just bring the ball up the court.

Ryan Anderson scored a team-high 23 points, including a trey with 42.2 seconds left that put the Magic ahead 104-97.

“We didn’t want to focus too much on that streak, because that’s a week we’d all like to forget and those games we’d like to just forget about,” Anderson said. “We can move forward and get a win next game and then just start a little run. I think this started our confidence, but we need to follow through with it.”

Dwight Howard scored 21 points and collected 18 rebounds. And J.J. Redick added 21.

They received a huge boost when Chris Duhon and Von Wafer made 3-pointers a couple of possessions apart to put the Magic ahead 77-71 early in the fourth quarter.

In all, Orlando went 13-for-30 from beyond the arc.

Orlando also contained Washington’s super-fast second-year point guard, John Wall.

Wall went 1-for-12 from the field and didn’t make his basket until a driving layup with 3:08 left in regulation. He did have 10 assists and only three turnovers.

“You’re going to go through some periods shooting the ball, and you can’t just rely on that,” Wizards coach Randy Wittman said.

After Orlando had completed its shootaround Wednesday morning, Van Gundy told reporters that he expected his players to begin the game with plenty of energy.

And they did, jumping out to a 25-14 lead with 1:22 to go in the first quarter.

Then came adversity.

Washington went on a 22-5 run.

The Wizards ended that run when Kevin Seraphin followed Trevor Booker’s missed layup with an emphatic dunk. The slam put Washington ahead 36-30 with 7:01 remaining before halftime.

(Sports Network) – The Orlando Magic try to avoid a fifth straight loss this evening when they welcome the hapless Washington Wizards to Amway Center.

Orlando’s latest loss came in Philadelphia on Monday, as the Magic dropped a 74-69 decision to the Sixers.

Dwight Howard led the way for Orlando with his 16th double-double this season, scoring 17 points with 11 boards. Ryan Anderson also had a double-double with 14 points and a season-high 20 rebounds but Orlando dropped its fourth straight.

“For whatever reason we are struggling. I don’t want to make excuses,” said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, whose team played its sixth game in eight days. “I think we’ve identified some things (to fix) but we haven’t had a lot of practice time.”

The Sixers held the Magic to 33.3 percent shooting and forced 15 turnovers. Orlando, of course, was without its starting backcourt of Jameer Nelson (concussion) and Jason Richardson (rest) for the sixth time in eight nights, but still managed only nine points in the third quarter.

“It’s easy to come up with the reasons,” Van Gundy said for his team’s poor play recently. “I could be a sportswriter doing that. I don’t mean that even jokingly. … It’s always easy to find the reasons. That’s not hard. The hard part is to solve it. To make it better.”

Orlando will have a terrific opportunity to make it better tonight, as they face a Wizards team that is just 4-17 on the season and is coming off an embarrassing loss at the hands of the Chicago Bulls on Monday.

Derrick Rose lit the Wiz up for 35 points in that one and Washington fell, 98-88.

John Wall scored 20 points, while Nick Young had 17 and JaVale McGee added 16 points with nine rebounds for Washington, which has dropped seven of nine.

The Wizards learned earlier that forward Andray Blatche is expected to miss between three and five weeks with a strained calf.

“Rose just had a hell of a game,” said interim coach Randy Wittman. “He’s a hell of a player. He made shots, from a man-to-man perspective, that there’s nothing you can do (about).”

Washington has dropped seven straight to the Magic.

Everyone is talking about what is going to happen when the Magic lose Dwight Howard.

What will they get in return? Will the team remain competitive?

Who will step up as the de facto leader in the absence of the three time Defensive Player of the Year?

I believe that last one we have an answer to, at least. Ryan Anderson has quickly emerged as one of the best three point gunners in the NBA, and the look of satisifaction after he makes one, is tantamount to the proverbial “money shot.” It’s nice to see a player who enjoys his success that much without making an arse of his opposition by taunting them. After LeBron James jumped over John Lucas, he looked over his shoulder at Lucas as though he was supposed to do something, like prostrate himself before King James. Anderson and many of the NBA’s more humble stars don’t go for those kinds of theatrics.

Anderson is a legit star at this point and is now averaging exactly what I set the over/under at him on going into this season, 16.6 points per game. He started off red hot, leading the Magic in scoring, but has had some particularly poor performances off set the rest of his brilliance. On the 23rd, at Boston, Anderson scored 0, going 0 of 8 from the floor, including 0 of 4 from behind the arc. If you throw out that game, a 5 point game, and an 8 point game, his scoring average would be over a full point higher at 17.7 per game. I realize that is like saying “take away all of a player’s bad games and this is what he is,” but who cares. The point is that as long as a shooter like Anderson isn’t having a horrible night, he can still make a pretty big impact.

He did that last game against the Philadelphia 76ers, grabbing 20 boards in a game which the teams combined for only 143 points. The Magic failed to score 70 once again, and are beginning to draw serious criticism from around the league. How can a team go from dominating the likes of the Lakers, to losing badly to a New Orleans Hornets team without their best player in Eric Gordon?

I guess Howard is as good as gone at this point, but I’m placing my faith in Anderson. Will he carry the Magic to 50 wins? No, probably not, not unless the Magic get a decent compensation package for Howard, but Anderson could team up favorably with a good point guard if the Magic could land one in the deal. There has been talk of a Blake Griffin for Dwight Howard swap, but that is another article for another day.

Anderson would team favorably with a lot of players who could be on the block, because he doesn’t have to clog the paint and he stretches the court, which opens up passing lanes and driving lanes. When Anderson and teammate J.J. Redick get cookin’, the result is Jameer Nelson playing a lot better, and Dwight Howard drawing less aggressive double teams. Anderson’s impact on other players goes largely unnoticed though, because he averages less than one assist per game (0.7).

Maybe at some point Anderson will gain the ability to begin to create for teammates, most especially because he is a perimeter player. It was something Redick couldn’t do when he entered the league out of Duke, but since he has learned to pump fake and put the ball on the floor, and Anderson has shown an ability to do that at times too. The problem is that when Anderson does it, he doesn’t seem to keep his head up to the possibility of finding teammates. That may come in time.

All in all, with Anderson you are getting a guy who I compared to Troy Murphy in his prime with more upside back before the season began on November 30th. That projection has seemed to be deadly accurate, as Anderson is ranking in the top 10 in Fantasy Basketball leagues, for those who enjoy pure statistics as a measure of impact.

But Anderson has been good for some time. His offensive rating this year is 125, and it was 122 last year and his usage rate is 22%, which is very high for a non-guard. If he starts picking up assists, that number will further rise.

There are other things it would be nice to see from Anderson, but it may be asking too much. He doesn’t block many shots for a guy who stands a true 6’10″, but he has limited athleticism, and isn’t going to rise high above the rim and throw shots in the second row like his teammate Dwight Howard does.

But you can’t ask for everything. Anderson is already on his way to remaining a top power forward for a long time because he is only 23 years old, still many seasons away from hitting his true prime.

The Magic may lose Howard, but whatever they add to the mix to compliment Ryan Anderson very well may keep the Magic relevant—at least as a playoff team.

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