November 28th, 2008 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
After the Orlando Magic-Washington Wizards game on Thursday, I had an epiphany; well, not exactly that, but a truth did come out: Magic center Dwight Howard is the best center in the NBA. He illustrated that as he had 17 first-half points, toying with the Wizards’ frontcourt at his leisure. The end result? Orlando embarrassed Washington 105-90 at Verizon Center.
As previously mentioned, Howard had his way with the Wizards’ big men as he scored 14 points and grabbed 9 reobunds in the first 8:45, boosting the Magic to a 25-11 lead; moments later, Howard went to the bench. Washington took advantage of his absence, going on a 19-3 run to cut Orlando’s lead to 38-34 early in the second quarter; the Magic went into halftime with a 55-44 lead.
After Washington’s JaVale McGee made a layup to begin the third period, reducing Orlando’s advantage to 55-46, the Magic responded by going on a 16-3 blitz to make it 71-49 with 6:57 left in the quarter. From there, Orlando coasted to the victory. Orlando was led by Howard with 26 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and 3 blocked shots while Hedo Turkoglu added 20 with 10 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal; Rashard Lewis and Mickael Pietrus scored 17 each – with Lewis grabbing 5 rebounds, dishing out 4 assists with a steal while Pietrus grabbed 4 rebounds, dished out 3 assists along with 3 steals.
Washington’s high scorer was Caron Butler with 25 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists and a steal while Antawn Jamison added 17 with 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. Orlando (12-4) plays again on Saturday when they return home to host the Indiana Pacers while Washington (2-11) remains at home to host the Atlanta Hawks – also on Saturday.
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