NBA | Wizards have no magic in 0-3 start
WASHINGTON - Gilbert Arenas winced as he walked across the locker room with a bit of a hitch in his step.
His surgically repaired left knee was just one of the many things bothering the All-Star guard after the Washington Wizards’ 94-82 defeat against Orlando on Saturday, a list that included his own poor shooting and his team’s first 0-3 start since 1992.
“It’s stiff,” Arenas said after the knee slowed him on a 10-point night. “It feels like a 5-pound weight is on it.”
He said there’s a buildup of fluid in the knee, and he might get it drained before the Wizards’ next game, Thursday at New Jersey. Washington figures to use that time off to try to get its offense going, too.
The Wizards led 67-64 entering the fourth quarter of its home opener but shot 5 for 25 the rest of the way.
Hedo Turkoglu, meanwhile, scored 13 of his 25 points in the final period - including a stretch of nine consecutive Magic points - to push Orlando to 2-1.
“I took it over,” he said.
That’s the sort of thing Arenas is used to saying and doing, but after making his first three shots Saturday, he went 2 for 12 the rest of the way. He went 0 for 4 on three-pointers, making him 1 for 17 from behind the arc this season.
“It looked like he was a little gimpy,” said Magic guard Jameer Nelson, who scored 17 points. “He’s still Gilbert. You’ve got to respect him, no matter what.”
Former Sonic Rashard Lewis scored all 18 of his points in the first half for Orlando, while Dwight Howard finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds.
Howard said, “A couple of my teammates were saying they were tired [in the fourth quarter]. I said, ‘We’ve got to fight through this, man. We can’t be tired.’ We stepped it up from that moment on.”
The Wizards trailed 76-75 with just less than six minutes left, but then went the next three minutes without a point, allowing Orlando to take control.