ORLANDO, Fla. -- This wasn't exactly the same as Stephen Curry's 3-pointer over Tobias Harris in the closing seconds at Golden State.
But for the second time in barely a week, the Orlando Magic were left with a sickening feeling Wednesday night knowing they let what should have been a victory slip away.
"We pretty much just handed them the game in the last two minutes. That's disappointing," Harris said after the Washington Wizards outscored the Magic 7-0 in the final minute to pull out a 91-89 win.
As was the case against the Warriors, the Magic led almost the entire second half against a team far superior to them on paper. The Wizards, who had already beaten the Magic twice this season and six straight times dating back to last December, got a lot of easy baskets but also gave up a bunch of them.
The Magic were back home after completing a six-game road trip with victories at Utah and Sacramento. In those games, however, they came perilously close to squandering leads of 17 and 16 points.
So even before Bradley Beal took Andre Miller's halfcourt inbound lob with less than a second to go and laid it in at the buzzer over Victor Oladipo, the Magic were becoming experts at tempting fate.
"As I was explaining to Vic earlier, it's no one person's fault," said Willie Green, one of two players -- rookie Elfrid Payton being the other -- who Magic coach Jacque Vaughn used for the entire fourth quarter. "They executed down the stretch. They're a veteran team."
"It boils down to more than one play," Vaughn said. "But at the end of the game, we've seen this year that you can shoot the basketball in .3 seconds like Courtney Lee did with Memphis. So there are plenty of options in .8 seconds."
Still, when Harris slammed home Channing Frye's missed 3-pointer with 1:38 remaining to give the Magic an 89-84 lead, a last-second scenario seemed the last thing on anyone's mind.
The natural inclination would be to single out Oladipo for not getting his body on Beal or for missing two baskets down the stretch. On the second of those misses, a scramble for a loose ball between Green and the Wizards' Rasual Butler resulted in a foul against Green that was just as questionable as the charge called against Harris moments earlier.
"How do you call a foul like that toward the end of the game when we're both going for a loose ball and neither one of us crashed into each other?" Green said. "He (Butler) dove on the ball and called a timeout. If anything, it was a timeout. It wasn't a foul, in my opinion."
Fortunately for the Magic, Butler failed to put the Wizards ahead when he only split the two free throws. That good fortune didn't hold up for much longer.
While neither team led by double figures all night, the Magic looked poised to put an end to their recent shortcomings against the Wizards. Oladipo, still playing with a protective facemask, asserted himself on offense. The same went for Payton, who put on a couple dazzling moves that had defenders flying by helplessly.
Oladipo and Payton were paired together over the final 6:40 in what should be a sign of things to come.
"They were switching a lot and staying at home, not really helping off of shooters. So that's why I took a lot of shots tonight," said Payton, whose 15 field-goal attempts tied his single-game high.
"His ability to get into the paint is good for us," Vaughn said. "We love paint points, and he's a guy that can get downhill and create."
But Payton's play was reduced to an afterthought as the Magic fell to 2-6 at home in a manner most unpleasant.
"You've got to give them credit," Harris said of the Wizards. "They fought back. They played a tough game. But everybody in this locker room is disappointed and upset in the way we lost the game. And you can't get that one back."
Added Green: "We're trying to take a page out of their book because obviously we want to be there eventually as a team."
You can follow Ken Hornack on Twitter @HornackFSFla or email him at khornack32176@gmail.com.
