Effort against Warriors is blueprint for Wizards the rest of the way

Warriors 126

Wizards 118

January 24, 2019 | Capital One Arena | Washington, D.C.

The Washington Wizards are playing better basketball of late, winners of seven of their last 10 games, but faced a different kind of challenge on a Thursday night in the district – the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors. With the return of DeMarcus Cousins, the road team literally had a starting lineup of five All-Stars. Scott Brooks joked before the game that he has had the privilege of coaching two All-Star games and now he gets to coach against one. The Warriors were ahead for most of the game and despite keeping things close and interesting until the very end, the Wizards fell in an offensive juggernaut.

The effort and hustle were there for Washington as has been the case over the past month. Golden State was simply too talented. On a night that Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant combine for 4-of-16 shooting from beyond the arc, the Warriors pounded the home team down low to the tune of 70 paint points on nearly 70 percent shooting. The Wizards played small ball for most of the game as Thomas Bryant only played 21 minutes and Ian Mahinmi was given the night off. Jeff Green, Sam Dekker, and even at times Otto Porter was given playing time at center even if DeMarcus Cousins or Kevin Looney were on the floor. Cousins had an impressive game with 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting in just 24 minutes.

“We went on four, five runs and they were able to get it back and also score like 10 points in a row, seems like effortless,” Satoransky dejectedly explained. “It’s really tough against them and you just got to give them respect, they are really offensively one of the best teams in history.”

With Washington scoring 118 points, you might think that they had a stellar offensive performance, but things could have gone much better. Bradley Beal and Otto Porter combining to go 1-of-16 from beyond the arc is uncanny even if Golden State has multiple stellar wing defenders. The rest of the team tried to make up for it with 14-of-26 shooting from deep, but things would have been a whole lot more interesting if Beal and/or Porter shoot to their averages. Beal was hounded all night by the Warriors barrage of defenders from Durant to Thompson to Andre Iguodala. Despite not being named an All-Star starter, which John Wall believes he should have, Beal still put everything he had on the line trying to will his team to a victory, but fell a little short.

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If you were to ask Beal about his biggest grievance of the game (and you guaranteed he would not be hearing from the league office), then he would explain that Curry was getting some ridiculous foul calls in the Warriors favor. With 3:16 left in the game and Washington down by 10, Beal set a screen for Tomas Satoransky against Curry. It freed Sato up for a drive to the rim from the left corner, but Curry fell down and flopped drawing an offensive foul call. It was a bad call and changed the complexion of the game as the Warriors would extend their run to 18-5 to put the game to bed. To the soon to be two-time All-Star, that one play summed up the entire game from an officiating standpoint.

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It also was not a single anomaly where the former two-time MVP got the benefit of the doubt on a call as there were a handful of times that Curry was rewarded a whistle. In the first half, Washington rookie Troy Brown Jr. was given an opportunity to potentially provide a spark with six minutes of play. On one particular play, Brown got matched up on Curry and played solid, tight defense with his hands up as if a cop had just told him to freeze. Curry then leaned into him, initiating all contact, and went up with the shot to sound of a referee’s whistle. Brown expressed his displeasure in the so-called infraction against him after the game. Not so much related to Curry, but backup point guard Chasson Randle felt he could have had a couple whistles go his way for potential four-point plays as he finished the night 3-of-3 from deep. The former G League guard was also flagged for a super late whistle when defending Shaun Livingston when Golden State began their final run.

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At the end of the day, it was not the officials that cost Washington the game, it was the lack of talent that the entire NBA is dealing with right now relative to Golden State. The Wizards played pretty well all things considered and hope to put forth the same effort showcased on just their second national television game for the rest of the season. If they do that, then they feel good about their chances of making the playoffs.

“We’ve been really competing against anyone and we’re on a good way. Need to continue to do that,” Satoransky said.

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You never want to see players get hurt, but the reality of the situation is currently No. 6 seeded Brooklyn is without their sixth man Spencer Dinwiddie. Maybe the Wizards could climb to that No. 6 seed with a possible first-round matchup against the Victor Oladipo-less Indiana Pacers? There is still a lot of work ahead of them to get to any such point, but the opportunity is there for the taking. Washington has a quick turnaround as they face the Orlando Magic from Disney World on the second night of a back-to-back on Friday.