ORLANDO, Fla. — Spencer Dinwiddie scored 23 points, Montrezl Harrell added 20 and the Washington Wizards used a 20-0 first-half run to beat the Orlando Magic 104-92 on Saturday night for their fourth consecutive victory.
Kyle Kuzma added 17 points and 10 rebounds to help Washington improve to 9-3 for the first time since the 2014-15 season. That’s much improved over last season when the Wizards were 3-9 after 12 games.
Kuzma had three straight 3-pointers in the third quarter after Orlando pulled to 59-49. Washington closed the third quarter with a 30-16 burst to turn it into a rout.
Washington shot 50% from the floor and improved to 4-0 when shooting at least 50 percent. Also, the Wizards are now 7-2 when scoring at least 100 points. Dinwiddie chipped in 11 rebounds and six assists in his fourth 20-point game of the season. Harrell added seven assists and six rebounds off the bench.
Orlando’s Cole Anthony scored 22 points, but he made just 4 of 16 shots. Mo Bamba added 14 points, 17 rebounds and three blocked shots for Orlando, which dropped to 0-7 this season when failing to score 100 points. Rookie Jalen Suggs, who had eight points, left with a right ankle sprain in the third quarter and did not return.
Up 18-14 after a hot shooting start to the game, the Magic went 8:24 - the final 5:15 of the first quarter and the first 3:09 of the second - without a point. The Wizards’ 20-0 burst during that stretch took them from down four to up 16 early in the second quarter. Washington used that stretch to build a 50-37 halftime lead.
Washington was without star guard Bradley Beal, who was mourning the death of his maternal grandmother - whom he recently referred to as “Mom 2.0.” Aaron Holiday started for Beal and scored 11 points.
“I reached out to (Beal) and he seemed like he was OK. … We want to keep him in our thoughts and prayers, uplift his family and hopefully, he’ll be back with us shortly,” Washington coach Wes Unseld Jr. said.
Washington is now 8-0 when leading after one quarter, 6-0 when leading at half and 8-0 when up heading into the fourth quarter.
The Wizards host New Orleans on Monday night.
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