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Wednesday, Jan. 31 7:00pm ET
Late Magic rally snaps Wizards' streak

RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After Darrell Armstrong made the big steal in the final minute, he decided to try his spin move one more time.

Tracy McGrady
Tracy McGrady slices toward two of his game-high 25 points. The Magic star also grabbed nine rebounds.

It hadn't worked earlier against Chris Whitney, but this time Richard Hamilton was guarding him. The Orlando Magic guard spun, got free and launched a sky-high layup over Calvin Booth to help clinch Wednesday's 100-96 victory that ended the Washington Wizards winning streak at five.

"I'll tell you what -- I saw Booth coming, and I've been watching DirecTV a lot lately," Armstrong said. "I felt like if I couldn't get it way up there, he would've blocked it. I laid it way up there high. Y'all should check to see if that ball's still up there."

Armstrong had 16 points and seven assists for the Magic, who overcame an 11-point, fourth-quarter deficit over the final seven minutes to win their second straight. Tracy McGrady, who started the game-winning rally with two free throws and a 3-pointer, had 25 points on 9-for-21 shooting and nine rebounds.

"Even with six minutes left, I felt good about our chances," coach Doc Rivers said. "We crept back in it. It wasn't an explosion. But you could see they stopped doing what they had done."

The Magic had plenty of heroes down the stretch. A half-court trap stopped Washington's scoring cold for more than five minutes. Don Reid had a particularly heroic stand, blocking Mitch Richmond twice in one possession.

Pat Garrity then a hit a 3-pointer with 46.9 seconds to play to give the Magic the lead at 96-94. Armstrong then poked the ball away from Hamilton for a steal that set up his looping layup with 22.6 to go. After a Wizards basket, Troy Hudson's two free throws finished off the win.

Booth had career highs of 18 points and six blocks and also had nine rebounds for the Wizards and was nearly the winning streak's newest hero. The second-year forward was serenaded by a new MCI Center cheer -- "Boooooth" -- as he led the 18-6 run that gave the Wizards a 74-66 lead at the end of the third quarter.

But coach Leonard Hamilton took Booth out of the game just as the Magic were rallying in the fourth. Hamilton said Booth was getting tired, but Booth didn't quite agree.

"When you're going like that, you don't really get tired," Booth said. "I think he felt he needed to change it up in case I ran out of gas."

Juwan Howard had 17 points and nine rebounds, and Whitney had 15 points for the Wizards.

Whitney made three consecutive 3-pointers to put the Wizards ahead 91-81 with 7:20 to play before the Magic rallied to make it close again. Whitney missed badly on another 3-pointer, and McGrady was fouled on a fast break and made both free throws to close the margin to one, 94-93, with 3:22 left.

The score didn't change for more than 2½ minutes. Then Garrity finally made the big 3-pointer.

"It's one of those games that you always remember this little play and that little play," Leonard Hamilton said. "You try to figure out what happens, and they just made some shots down the stretch."

The Magic worked the backdoor with ease against a flat-footed Wizards defense and took an 11-point lead midway through the second quarter. Orlando was shooting better than 50 percent until late in the period, when the Wizards went on an 8-2 run to finish the half trailing 51-47.

Booth was a power under the basket in the third quarter as the Wizards took the lead, but they couldn't hold it in the fourth.

Game notes
Orlando's Bo Outlaw returned to the starting lineup after a one-game suspension for striking a referee in Saturday's game against Miami. ... Rod Strickland, who appeared in court on a drunken driving charge Tuesday and has lost his starting job, was the only player on the Wizards' bench not standing and cheering during their big third-quarter run. Strickland didn't play in the second half, and coach Hamilton said after the game that Strickland's hamstrings had tightened up.


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RECAPS
Boston 102
Indiana 96

Orlando 100
Washington 96

Atlanta 102
Toronto 97

Detroit 112
New Jersey 103

Milwaukee 116
Denver 111

Minnesota 96
LA Lakers 83

San Antonio 92
LA Clippers 70

Phoenix 101
Vancouver 92

FROM
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Tracy McGrady Official Site

Juwan Howard Official Site


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