Having been trampled by Bam Adebayo and the Miami Heat, the Washington Wizards now will turn their attention to another high-scoring offensive force, Paolo Banchero, when they visit the Orlando Magic on Thursday night.

The game pairs an Orlando team that’s used five straight wins to move into fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings against a Washington club that’s dropped nine in a row to remain in contention for the worst record in the league.

The Wizards added to their misery Tuesday night when they earned national headlines for allowing Adebayo to record the second-most points ever in an NBA game. Washington sent the Miami big man to the free throw line 43 times en route to watching him score 83 points in the 150-29 home win by the Heat.

An overabundance of fouls often has been a problem with the Wizards this season. They rank third in the NBA in foul shots allowed, giving up an average of 26.9 per game, narrowly trailing the Detroit Pistons and Utah Jazz.

But for one night anyway, Wizards coach Brian Keefe didn’t think his team’s defense necessarily deserved the preponderance of whistles.

“There’s a lot of fouls called — 16 free throws (for Adebayo) in the fourth quarter,” he noted at his postgame press conference. “We tried to take the ball out of his hands. He got some free throws 40 feet from the rim. I can’t explain some of those calls.”

The Wizards gave Trae Young the night off in Miami after his return from a lengthy absence with 19- and 18-minute stints in losses to Utah and New Orleans, respectively. His first two games for Washington resulted in a total of 29 points and 14 assists in those 37 minutes.

Young had not played since Dec. 27 due to knee and quad injuries. He is expected to play against the Magic.

This won’t be the first time the Magic have seen Young the season. Playing then for the Atlanta Hawks, the four-time All-Star had 25 points in a 111-107 win at Orlando in October.

The Magic have won two of three games against the Wizards this season. The clubs met March 3 in Orlando, with the Magic using 32 free throw points in 37 attempts as the foundation for a 126-109 win.

Banchero had 37 points in the win. It was his first of two 30-point games this month. He scored 33 points on Sunday in a 130-91 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Desmond Bane has shared in the offensive highlights during Orlando’s winning streak, topping 25 points three times, including a game-high 35 against the Cleveland Cavaliers in a 128-122 win on Wednesday night.

Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said his team had a secret weapon Wednesday night — the Kia Center home crowd.

“There’s going to be different ways to win games and we keep finding those ways,” Mosley told the media postgame. “Games are going to look different. But it’s taking it one game at a time.

“The goal (Wednesday) was take care of this game, take care of home. Our fans were absolutely fantastic. It’s people on their feet, cheering with the defense, getting our guys going. The energy of this building is just incredible. That’s a big piece of what this game means to us.”

– Field Level Media

Two-time major champion Collin Morikawa withdrew from The Players Championship on Thursday after playing one hole.

The PGA Tour cited a back injury as the reason for the withdrawal of the world’s fourth-ranked golfer.

Morikawa began the opening round at TPC Sawgrass on Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., on the 10th hole and made a par. In taking some practice swings on the 11th hole, he appeared to be in discomfort. After talking with the trainer, Morikawa withdrew.

His playing partners, Ludvig Aberg and Si Woo Kim, will finish the round and play together Friday as a twosome.

In five events so far this season, Morikawa has a win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and two top-10 finishes — a tie for seventh at The Genesis Invitational and fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Also on Thursday, Ryan Fox withdrew prior to the start of the tournament due to illness. David Ford will replace Fox in the field.

–Field Level Media

The San Antonio Spurs have been the hottest team in the league since Jan. 1.

They will look to continue their run of success on Thursday when they host the Denver Nuggets.

The Spurs boast MVP candidate Victor Wembanyama and a supporting cast that seems to showcase a different player every game, They have won five straight games and 16 of their past 17 games.

San Antonio is 24-8 since the calendar turned to 2026 and undefeated during an 11-game stretch in February.

The Spurs kept rolling on Tuesday, as Wembanyama scored 39 points while hitting a career-high-tying eight 3-pointers in a 125-116 win over the Boston Celtics.

“I’m adapting to what the defense gives me,” Wembanyama said. “I think that’s something that defines me. It’s something I don’t want to lose, ever. Someday, the goal is to be kind of unguardable.”

The Spurs led by seven entering the fourth quarter but were only up 106-105 before Wembanyama delivered a powerful dunk followed by a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions.

“He did a good job with his mechanics of being disciplined, and he’s shown he can obviously get out and make shots, and it really can put defenses in a tough place in terms of how they want to play,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “Because if you take the gravity away from him, obviously he can open up the rest of the floor.”

De’Aaron Fox added 25 points and nine assists for the Spurs in Tuesday’s win.

Wembanyama was listed as questionable for Thursday’s game because of a gimpy ankle.

The Nuggets will play the second game of a back-to-back set on the heels of a 129-93 win over visiting Houston on Wednesday.

Jamal Murray led Denver with 30 points in the victory while Christian Braun had 19, Cameron Johnson added 17 and three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic collected 16 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds.

Denver shot 55.2% from the floor and forced 15 turnovers while outscoring the Rockets by 30 points after halftime.

Wednesday’s victory snapped a two-game losing streak for the Nuggets, who had their preferred starting lineup intact for just the 11th time this season. Denver is now 9-2 with that group starting a game.

“When the group was whole, we were 8-2 with a top-five defense and top-five offense.” Denver coach David Adelman said before Wednesday’s game. “We lost two fourth-quarter leads. We could’ve easily been 10-0 to start the season.

“But since then, it has been different, just different lineups every week, every day. If we can get enough games under our belt and lucky enough to get in (the playoffs), we’ll be an issue. We’ll be a problem.”

Denver has 16 games left in the regular season to climb up the Western Conference standings and get back into sync.

“There’s going to be some growing pains,” Adelman said. “Patience is the key. We had (a full rotation) for 10 games to start the season which went really well. Just get them back into the fold, get the flow back in. When you go into the playoffs or play-in (tournament), you want to be going up. You want to feel you’ve hit your mark. So we do need time.”

–Field Level Media