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Howard, Magic welcome Wizards in season finale

Apr 16, 2008 - 1:45 PM Washington (43-38) at Orlando (51-30) 7:00 pm EDT

ORLANDO, Florida (Ticker) - Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic are headed to the postseason but they still would like to give their home crowd something to cheer about in the season finale against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.

Maurice Evans scored a career-high 27 points and Howard recorded his 69th double-double with 15 and 13 rebounds for the Magic in a 121-105 victory over playoff-bound Atlanta on Tuesday.

"I think we finished the game strong very strong and built some good momentum going into the playoffs," Magic guard J.J. Redick said. "You want to be playing your best basketball when the postseason starts. We want to have a lot of momentum going in."

Third-seeded Orlando secured its first Southeast Division crown weeks ago and will face the sixth-seeded Toronto Raptors (41-40) in the first round of the playoffs.

Reserves Nick Young, Andray Blatche and Roger Mason helped the Wizards eliminate the Indiana Pacers from the playoff hunt with a 117-110 victory on Monday.

With starters Antawn Jamison, Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler likely to sit out to rest up for the postseason, Washington will try four its fourth winning streak of at least three games since the All-Star break.

As the fifth seed, the Wizards will battle LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers (45-36) in the opening round for the third straight season. Cleveland has won the past two series.