97

Final 1 2 3 4 Tot Orlando 31 20 21 25 97 Washington 25 29 26 25 105

105

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Magic-Wizards Preview

By JEFF BARTL

(AP) -- Glen Davis suffered a shoulder injury that will keep him out indefinitely when the Orlando Magic beat the Washington Wizards just over a week ago.

Orlando hasn't won since.

The Magic look to avoid a fourth consecutive defeat while sending the host Wizards to a ninth straight loss Friday night.

Davis, averaging 16.0 points and 7.9 rebounds, was diagnosed with a sprained left shoulder after he was fouled by Emeka Okafor with 47.8 seconds remaining in Orlando's 93-90 win over Washington on Dec. 19.

The Magic (12-16) have lost three games by a combined 10 points while Davis nurses the injury, falling 97-94 to New Orleans on Wednesday despite getting a season-best 28 points from Jameer Nelson and hitting a season high-tying 11 3-pointers.

"We miss him a lot - both ends of the court," said center Nikola Vucevic, who added 19 points and nine rebounds. "People think it's probably just on the offensive end because he's one of our leading scorers, but he played well on both ends of the court."

Coach Jacque Vaughn doesn't believe Davis' absence is the sole reason for Orlando's recent struggles.

"You can go on and on, but Glen's not playing right now," Vaughn said. "We have to muster our own competitive juices and not rely on anyone else. That's part of being professional and doing your job."

Orlando hopes to be getting a boost soon from Hedo Turkoglu, who has been out since breaking his left hand in the season opener Nov. 2. Turkoglu will travel with the team to Washington and said there's a possibility he could play.

"I'm going to work out (Friday) in the morning and before the game and see how I feel," Turkoglu said. "I wish I can say I'm going to play. I wish I could've played (Wednesday). It's coming soon. Maybe (Friday), maybe the day after. I don't know."

No matter who suits up, Vaughn said the Magic aren't about to take Washington lightly despite its NBA-worst 3-23 record.

"I don't think we're at a stage to look at records," Vaughn said. "For us, we're approaching each game and trying to get better."

Orlando has won 10 of the last 11 meetings with the Wizards, whose struggles continued with Wednesday's 87-84 loss to Cleveland. Though Washington allowed its fewest points during the skid and held the Cavaliers to 37.8 percent shooting, coach Randy Wittman wants to see a more complete defensive effort.

"We won't commit - all of us - won't commit to playing defense," Wittman said. "We've got too many guys that worry just about shooting the basketball and not about the other parts of the game."

Possibly a good sign for the Wizards is that Orlando ranks 27th in the league averaging 92.8 points and has committed 52 turnovers during its slide without Davis.

Washington is even worse, though, ranking last in scoring with 88.6 points per game - 84.8 during its losing streak.

Leading scorer Jordan Crawford is averaging 20.8 points over his last five and is expected to return to the starting lineup Friday. He scored 17 off the bench Wednesday after reportedly being late for the team's morning shootaround.

Updated December 27, 2012