Wizards 114
Hawks 98
January 2, 2019 | Capital One Arena | Washington, D.C.
Entering 2019, Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards still have playoff aspirations despite the loss of five-time All-Star John Wall. In the weak Eastern Conference, the Wizards were just 4.5 games behind No. 6 Charlotte (who they just beat) despite their 14-23 record to begin the new year. With the return of Otto Porter from his right knee contusion/strain that had sidelined him since December 10, during which time Washington was a miserable 3-8, the home team took care of business against the lottery-bound Atlanta Hawks. There was a sliver of doubt in the result in the fourth quarter when Atlanta erased a 14-point deficit to tie things up at 94, but a 20-4 run finish over the last six-plus minutes from the Wizards sent fans home happy.
In today’s NBA you need star players to be successful. Washington has two guys on the roster that, when at their best, are stars in this league, but without one of them, everyone in the organization will tell you that each player has to step up. Beal cannot make up for the gap all by himself. Porter cannot make up for the gap all by himself. Collectively, they can make up for the gap a little bit at a time. That was the theme for Wednesday’s victory with all five starters in double-figures and three players off the bench with at least seven points. But did not mistake the back-to-back wins without Wall as the Wizards being better off without him, because like last season they will eventually cool off after a bit of honeymoon separation.
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The way you know that Bradley Beal is having a really good season is that you consider 24 points on 9-of-20 shooting, six assists, and four rebounds in 36 minutes a below average night of work. As Scott Brooks joked after the game, most guys would love to average those numbers for a given season, but it was a wee-bit underwhelming for his “elite scorer.” Luckily for Beal, he had help from his teammates.
Jeff Green had 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting, six rebounds, and six assists. Even though he has a different style of game than Mike Scott, the similarities of a backup power forward on a veteran’s minimum contract are off the charts. Thomas Bryant continues to be a diamond in the rough find for Washington (give Ernie Grunfeld and his staff a bit of credit for that) with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting and a career-high 15 rebounds in 39 minutes of work. Partially because of Markieff Morris (upper back/neck stiffness) missing time (as he sees a specialist – gulp) and partially because of his ridiculous level of production, Bryant is being given the opportunity to finish games instead of just starting halves. Even with the stellar play, the second-year center’s biggest contribution to the team remains his infectious good nature.
“His activity, his ability to predict the paint is getting better,” Brooks analyzed. “Obviously his rebounding. He rebounds outside of his area. He has good hands. He finishes. He catches and finishes. He can finish with either hand. He’s a good player. He’s really improving as the season’s going on. He’s getting some opportunities, and he’s earned it. He’s playing well, and we’re going to continue to need it, and we need a good TB on the road because we have a bunch of tough road games coming up.”
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One might refer to Tomas Satoransky as a glue guy because he does all the little things that help a team win. For your sake, do not call him a glue guy in front of Bradley Beal who shared Wednesday that he hates the term. To Beal, a glue guy is not able to score 14 points, grab 11 rebounds, and hand out seven assists in one game. Last year when Wall was sidelined for half the season, the Wizards were pleasantly surprised with Satoransky’s game. Now they just expect a solid outing from him night in and night out because he is all about getting the victory.
“He’s about winning,” Brooks repeated from previous time this season. “He’s a winner. He’s just about winning, making good plays. He’ll be the first to tell you that he only focuses on helping the team win. He’d love to have three more assists tonight–he probably won’t tell you that–to get the triple-double. He just plays hard. You just love the way he plays, he gives you great effort. He just makes the right reads. He has a pure heart, and just he wants to do the right thing. He’s a great teammate who plays hard every night.”
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Trevor Ariza chipped in with 12 points and I think this team can be even better offensively when he starts consistently knocking down his shot. Otto Porter came off the bench because of a minutes restriction of 20 and had nine points, all in the second half. Sam Dekker added eight, while Chasson Randle contributed another seven to go with three steals. After getting rotation minutes in the first half, Brooks opted not to play Troy Brown meaningful minutes after intermission in a tight game.
“Otto was a little rusty but he had a good stretch in the first half,” Brooks evaluated. “You could tell he hasn’t played in 10 games… I don’t even know how long is that. Three weeks? But his second time in, I thought he had a good stretch to help us during that stretch. Hopefully, he feels good tomorrow, which I anticipate that he will, and his minutes can ramp up. It’s hard to come back and only play five or six minutes at a time, and he’s been playing. But I thought the minutes the first one rust but he got comfortable in the second half.”
Washington has a tough stretch of games on the road over the next week (Miami, Oklahoma City, and Philadelphia) as they desperately look to improve their 4-16 record away from Capital One Arena.
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