John Wall and Bradley Beal lead Wizards in much needed comeback over Magic

Wizards 117

Magic 109

November 12, 2018 | Capital One Arena | Washington, D.C.

The Washington Wizards have their first winning streak of the 2018-19 season 13 games into the 82-game schedule. Baby steps. Three days after losing to the likely lottery-bound Orlando Magic on the road, the Wizards returned home after 8 of their first 12 on the road to beat the Magic in an ugly victory. For just the second time this season, Washington won the rebounding battle and it is no coincidence that such coincides with their back-to-back victories. Everyone in the locker room knows it is now about continuing to build off of each win.

House of Guards Help Wizards Finish

A big storyline last season was how John Wall and Bradley Beal’s percentages in the clutch are not good. Heck, the same is being said about LeBron James’ free throw percentage right now. It may not have been considered in the clutch, but the Washington backcourt came through in a big way on Monday night. With less than five minutes to go in the third quarter, Orlando took a game-high 10-point lead and things could have gotten ugly for the home team. Instead, Wall and Beal each had 14 points in the second half. Wall also had seven assists and Beal had five rebounds after intermission. Washington went on a 13-0 run late in the third quarter highlighted by a Beal floater, Morris jump shot assisted by Wall, Beal three assisted by Wall, Howard and-1 layup assisted by Beal, and Beal transition dunk. In the fourth quarter, Wall had a couple assists to Jeff Green on a triple and alley-oop before he hit a couple of midrange jump shots before Beal got a layup and triple off passes from Wall.

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Scott Brooks Rolling with Hot Hands Late

For the third game in a row, Otto Porter did not play in the fourth quarter of the game. Brooks generally does not throw anyone under the bus or show his hands about possible changes (which makes sense given he works under team president Ernie Grunfeld who is the master of dodging questions), but after Monday’s game he essentially said his starting small forward did not have a good game. Porter finished with six points on 2-of-4 shooting (all from deep), four assists, and a rebound in 22 minutes of play.

To finish out the home game against the Magic, Brooks played Kelly Oubre and Jeff Green in addition to Wall, Beal, and Markieff Morris meaning Dwight Howard also sat. In Miami, Austin Rivers finished the game instead of Oubre. The backup small forward had just one point and missed all of his five field goal attempts, but Brooks seemed to like Oubre’s physicality with the likes of Terrence Ross after struggling earlier in the game. It was easy to continue to play Green as he had another superb performance with 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting (he was perfect until a last second heave from three to try and beat the shot clock) for his second straight great game off the bench.

“I mean, it’s trying to find a blend of guys that are going to compete and going to play hard and we … can’t just go out there and expect to score 130 points and win,” Brooks said after the game. “We’ve got to defend, and the last two games is the right way you have to approach the opponent, a defensive mindset. I got to stop them, like I said, there are a lot of good players and teams and scoring teams in this league, but you’ve got to give yourself the best chance and not hope that they miss and try to make them miss.”

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Three-Point Defense Still A Concern

I guess I will have to continue to harp on this until something changes, but the Wizards continue to let teams tee off from them from deep. The biggest culprit to me is not so much effort, but helping off of shooters to try and support the on-ball defender simply for it to be kicked out to beyond the arc. After being the fourth best three-point defensive team in the NBA last season at 34.8 percent, Washington was the second worst 12 games into the season at 39 percent. Brooks avoided giving an answer of what he thinks the biggest culprit is, but to me two things need to happen. The on-ball defense has to be better from the top on down. Everybody named Joe can get past the Wizards’ on-ball defense. The second is even when someone gets beat, the help cannot always come so heavily from the perimeter leaving shooters wide open. Oubre was culpable of helping a couple times leading to some of Orlando’s 15 triples on Monday.

Next Game: Washington continues their five-game homestand with a game against the lowly, LeBron James-less Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night.