Despite leading by 22 points at one point, the Washington Wizards fell to the Phoenix Suns, 122-116. The loss drops the Wizards to 4-3 on the season and leaves this team with a lot of questions to be answered.
On Wednesday, the Washington Wizards returned home to Capital One Arena, fresh off a 2-2 West Coast road swing. Despite leading until the 10:46 mark of the fourth quarter, the Wizards failed to close out once again, falling to the Phoenix Suns, 122-116.
Washington began the game with an explosive first quarter. They found themselves up 32-15 and in complete control of the game. It appeared as if the Wizards were finally starting to put everything together, until they came back crashing to reality. After surrendering just 15 points in the first quarter, the defense allowed 37 in the second and 35 in the third and fourth quarters.
The Wizards were without the hot-handed Otto Porter, Jr. (flu), and Markieff Morris (1 game suspension). Bradley Beal picked up the slack, and ended the contest with 40 points. Mike Scott also pitched in. In 32 minutes of play, Scott had12 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.
John Wall, on the other hand, seemed almost nonexistent down the stretch. Wall finished with 21 points of 10-18 shooting from the field. He struggled at the line, going 0-for-4, failed to connect on a number of passes, and put in a lackadaisical fourth quarter defensive performance.
Despite facing a Suns team in turmoil and having two days of rest, the Wizards fell to 4-3 on the year. Here are the three takeaways.
Bradley Beal Finds Balance
The biggest take-away from this game was the dominance of Bradley Beal.
Beal is embracing his role as the go-to man in crunch time. Finding his team down in the final minutes of the contest, he stepped up. It was Beal who took four of the final six shots of the game. Unfortunately, he missed three of them.
In 37 minutes, Beal finished 12-for-25 from the field, 6-for-12 from beyond the arc, and 10-for-11 from the free throw line. He will need to continue to put in shooting performances like this to help spark the offense as a whole.
Mike Scott has earned more playing time
In the absence of Otto Porter, Coach Scott Brooks went with Jason Smith in the starting lineup. Smith put in 15 minutes of work, but was just 1-for-7 on the night. He appeared sparingly after being on the receiving end of a hard Alex Len foul.
Mike Scott filled in extremely well for Porter and Smith. Scott’s 12 point and 8 rebound performance was his best to start the season. He moved very well with the ball and finally showed some aggression on the boards.
Morris and Porter will return to the lineup on Friday night, but with Smith still banged up, expect to see Brooks find a way to get Scott in the lineup.
Still No Defense
This was the third time this season that the Wizards have blown a 20-plus point lead. After the game, Coach Brooks said, “We didn’t have the defensive intensity for some reason. We didn’t play with urgency.” This was painfully obvious throughout the night.
T.J. Warren scored a career high 40 points on 22 shots. As a team, the Suns shot 49.4 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from three-point range.
Fundamental aspects of defensive play were nonexistent much of the night. The Wizards weren’t contesting shots or boxing out opponents. There shouldn’t be any excuses for this sort of defensive effort seven games into the season.
The Wizards host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday.