Pistons 106
Wizards 95
December 26, 2018 | Little Caesars Arena | Detroit, MI
The Washington Wizards were able to spend Christmas with their families back in the nation’s capital, they headed for the Motor City to face the Detroit Pistons to start a stretch of five straight games against teams currently not above .500. Yes, it would have been ideal for Washington to get back to .500, but they had other things in mind to start the second half. Following into a trend they have made for themselves many times this season, the Wizards created too big of a hole to dig themselves out of. Maybe that will be a theme for their season, too.
Disaster third quarter start
Whatever Dwane Casey told his team at halftime is Hall of Fame material. Detroit began the second half on a 23-2 run where they could do no wrong. In the less than five-minute span that the Pistons turned a one-point deficit into a 20-point lead, they were 8-of-12 from the field including four three-pointers, while the road team was 1-of-9 from the field. In the quarter, Washington was outrebounded 19-8 after winning the battle on the glass 20-16 in the first half. After the Wizards created themselves a 22-point deficit with less than 17 minutes remaining in the game, they were able to cut that to a mere three points with 5:46 left to play. After Bradley Beal turned his left ankle backing into an official in #SoWizards fashion, the home team went on a 10-0 run to finish the game before a garbage time bucket from Thomas Bryant.
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Ian Mahinmi minutes
Andre Drummond is a matchup problem for the rebounding allergic Wizards. Thomas Bryant has shown promising growth on the offensive end of the floor, but he is still just a second-year player trying to battle against one of the NBA’s best rebounders. Early in the game Drummond easily shed Bryant in the post to get a simple lay-in, a few possessions later John Wall helped Jeff Green against the Pistons big leading to an open three-pointer. In the previous 34 games this season, Ian Mahinmi has been DNP-CD for exactly half of them and in the 17 that he has played, many have been garbage time minutes. Before fouling out, Mahinmi had one of his best (if not the best) games of the season with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting, five rebounds, three steals, one assist, one block, and one poster in 28 minutes. He was a +15 for the game.
https://twitter.com/HoopDistrictDC/status/1078085856177647617
Less living, mostly dying by the three
Scott Brooks wants his team to shoot more three-pointers. Analytics say that is the right thing to do, but it is not translating for Washington. The Wizards are shooting 33 percent (fourth worst in the NBA) this season from beyond the arc after converting on 37.5 percent (third best in the NBA) of deep balls last season. Against Detroit, Washington was 9-of-33 from deep for a sizzling 27.3 percent. If it were not for Trevor Ariza heating up in the second half and finishing with 5-of-10 shooting from three, the team numbers would have been much worse. It is not ideal that John Wall and Markieff Morris are combining for 3-of-13 shooting from three in a percentage standpoint as well as an attempt standpoint. That Bradley Beal goes 1-of-7 from beyond the arc is probably something you will just have to live with as an off game. The Wizards have shot less than 37 percent from three in 26 of their 35 games so far this season.
Next Game: To finish out the calendar year, Washington as a back-to-back at home starting with the Chicago Bulls on Friday.
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