Washington Wizards Three Takeaways: Playing Behind Catches Up to Wizards In Minnesota
By Ryan Eugene
Washington Wizards looked to complete a 5-game road trip undefeated, but the young Minnesota Timberwolves dominated on Monday night.
Coming into Monday’s game in Minnesota as the two-seed in the East, the Washington Wizards had a target on their back.
With another Monday comes a slew of awards and accolades as well. The Wizards were ranked #1 on CBS Sports NBA Power Rankings, #3 on ESPN, and have widely regarded as the top threat in the East to Cleveland’s hope for a third straight Finals appearance.
On Monday, John Wall was honored as Eastern Conference Player of the Week, after last week’s 4-0 performance on the road.
As Washington becomes an “elite” team, other teams’ and players’ perceptions change as well.
The Wizards have shown throughout this and previous seasons that they “get up” for marquee games against great teams, and now Washington is on the other side of that equation.
Washington has trailed early recently against Orlando, Phoenix (after leading big), Sacramento, Portland, and Minnesota, all in the last 9 days.
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Coming into Monday’s game, the Wizards were back at it after being down by 15 in Sacramento at the end of the third quarter, and down 21 at halftime in Portland.
Both times the Wiz prevailed in OT, but tonight they couldn’t get within 5 points late in the fourth quarter.
For the Wizards to regain their strength, it will start with defensive intensity, after giving up 114+ points in six straight games, all against teams well below .500.
Another Poor Start With Bad Defense
We’ve seen bad stretches by this team, but usually not so quick out of the gate.
Washington was behind 3-9, 12-22, and 14-35…in the first 10 minutes. The Wizards also opened the game with three straight turnovers.
In the first 9 minutes and 13 seconds, Ricky Rubio had 10 assists.
The Wolves looked like the young team they are, and did most of the damage with Karl-Anthony Towns on the bench with two fouls. Unsurprisingly, Washington in its alternate blue unis, began a methodical comeback, but was still down 18 points after the first quarter.
Minnesota’s season high 41 first quarter points were mostly by way of three pointers (5), and fast break points. As has been the case since the All-Star break, the team’s defense is lacking, and they gave up quite a few fast break points in the opening period.
Washington simply played the first quarter like the weather outside in Minnesota: Ice cold.
Rough Perimeter Shooting
One of the keys to the terrific play of Washington has been its outstanding shooting from deep.
On the season, the Washington Wizards are 4th in three point percentage at 37.8%. In Minneapolis, the team shot 7-26 (26.9%).
In the previous 4 road games, the team was 41% (39-95) on three pointers.
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On Monday night, Bradley Beal was 3-11, Bojan Bogdanovic 1-6, Otto Porter 1-3, and Markieff Morris 0-1.
Coach Scott Brooks knows the team can’t win consistent with poor shooting, and should prioritize getting the team rested after a grueling road trip with five games in seven nights.
The team did a good job of getting open looks, but simply missed them.
At one point, Porter had two open shots rim out – shots that would have brought the team closer
Aggressive Play by the Backcourt
Wall, fresh off his ECPW award, showed the relentless attack that the team needs to see on occasion in this game. He shot an insane 19 free throws, making 14, and seems to be getting more “superstar” calls than ever.
As a pass first point guard, Wall routinely looks for the open 3-point shooter or trailer when driving deep in the paint. With the team struggling from outside tonight, Wall decided to keep driving the ball for fouls and layups more often than usual, leading to the extremely high number of free throw attempts.
Beal, coming off an incredible week of play as well, was important to the final comeback as well.
He sliced his way to the rim on a few occasions, and hit a big 4 point play to bring the game within eights points with eight minutes left.
On the night Wall and Beal combined for 47 points on 37 shots.
The Wizards trailed the entire game, only outscored the Wolves in one quarter, and were outplayed in almost every facet of the game. Yet, they sit in good shape heading home for matches against Dallas and Chicago.
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Washington managed to go 4-1 on a five game road trip for only the third time in franchise history, and is still only 2.5 games behind Cleveland for first place in the East. Boston is now 0.5 games ahead of the Wizards in the race for second.