Before this season, Kris Humphries had gone more than a decade since making a 3-pointer. He hit two as a rookie in 2004-05 and none after that.
Washington Wizards coach Randy Wittman wanted Humphries to re-invent himself — and he has.
Humphries hit a career-high five 3-pointers and led the Wizards with 23 points in their 108-99 win over the Orlando Magic on Saturday night, ending a three-game losing streak.
Humphries was 5-for-8 from the 3-point line and hit one with 4:45 remaining as part of an 8-0 run for a 94-90 lead.
“You don’t expect to come out and do that every night. You’ve got to work through it when it’s not working out for you and enjoy it when it’s going for you,” Humphries said. “It’s been different this year, being on the perimeter this much. I don’t think I’ve completely made the transition yet.”
Wittman joked that before the season, reporters told him Humphries was the team’s best scorer.
“He shot with confidence,” Wittman said. “He didn’t turn them down.”
Orlando has lost its last 10 games to Washington. It was led by Nikola Vucevic’s 19 points and 13 rebounds, and Evan Fournier had 18 points.
“They’re better than we are,” Magic coach Scott Skiles said. “I mean they don’t win as many games against us over and over and over again and not be better than us. But we should be the ones flying down the floor in the third quarter instead of them doing it to us.”
Garrett Temple started in place of injured Bradley Beal and equaled a career high with 18 points and played 31 minutes. Before this game, Temple played just 35 minutes all season.
John Wall had 15 points and 11 assists for the Wizards.
After a loss Tuesday night to Oklahoma City, Wittman sniped at Marcin Gortat, who had just one defensive rebound in 27 minutes.
Before the game, he predicted Gortat would bounce back, and Gortat did with 10 rebounds and 13 points. Gortat said this week that he didn’t appreciate the public criticism.
After the game, he was asked if the past few days had been difficult.
“Clever question,” Gortat said. “It was actually a good week. My check came in.”
After allowing an average of 119 points in its three losses, Washington allowed 99. Wittman wants them thinking defense.
“I don’t want them thinking anything from an offensive standpoint,” he said.
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