The Orlando Magic defeated the Washington Wizards 136-131 in overtime on Thursday at the Kia Center. Orlando improved to 8-2 in games on the second night of a back-to-back, tied for the best record in the National Basketball Association.
“I saw the second night of a back-to-back take place,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “Guys got ahead a little bit. They did a great job of playing with pace and playing with speed. Give Washington a ton of credit. What they’ve been dealing with over the past couple days. They came out, played hard. That was a big portion of it.”
Jalen Suggs led Orlando (37-28) with a season-high 28 points, while Tristan da Silva had a career-high 26 points. For the Wizards (16-49), Bilal Coulibaly had a career-high 29 points, 18 of which came in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Orlando extended its win streak to six, the longest streak since December of 2024. The Magic’s longest winning streak in franchise history occurred in 2023, winning nine in a row.
Orlando held the lead for most of regulation, including a 17-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter. The Magic’s largest lead came halfway through the third quarter at 19 points, but the team’s momentum came to a halt after Jonathan Isaac suffered a left knee sprain.
“[We had to] just come back and regroup ourselves and come back to a positive mindset is huge,” da Silva said of Isaac’s injury. “For me personally, I try to think about what he would be thinking. Just being out there and playing that hard for him.”
After suffering a lower leg injury midway through the third quarter, Suggs returned at the start of the fourth and made an instant impact. Suggs stole a pass from Wizards guard Jamir Watkins and laid it in.
The Wizards trailed until Coulibaly hit a three with 5.8 seconds remaining, capping off a 42-point quarter from Washington. Washington came back without starters Alex Sarr and Trae Young, as both sat for the entirety of the fourth quarter and overtime.
Coulibaly gave Washington the lead for the first time two minutes into overtime. The Magic went on to outscore the Wizards 9-3 to close the overtime period, including five-straight from Suggs. da Silva had a clutch block on Coulibaly with 41.2 seconds left and collected an offensive rebound with 18.9 seconds remaining as well.
Orlando improved to 5-0 while wearing their City Edition jerseys and have only one contest remaining (March 26 vs. Kings) with those uniforms. The Magic are also 9-3 since the All Star Break and currently sit at fifth in the Eastern Conference.
Next up:
The Magic travel down south to Miami to face the Heat on Saturday. Miami and Orlando have the second- and third-longest active win streaks in the NBA, only trailing their fellow Southeast Division rival Atlanta Hawks.
“I think this game today was kind of a reality check too,” da Silva said. “You gotta be locked in every single time you’re on the court.”
Tip-off against the Heat is set for 8 p.m. on March 14.