On Wednesday, the Utah Jazz defeated the Washington Wizards 107-104. It’s their second win over Washington this season and fifth straight overall.
The Washington Wizards (23-18) lost their fifth-straight matchup to the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, this time in devastating fashion. Not as bad as their 47-point loss to Utah, but bad, nonetheless.
With seven seconds left in the game, down by three, Bradley Beal (23 points) came off a great screen and had the ball with a chance to tie it. He rose up, but was discouraged by Jazz rookie Donovan Mitchell flying at him. The flailing Mitchell caused Beal to drop the ball in mid-air, and fittingly, the Wizards dropped their second-straight game, 107-104.
Beal’s turnover was the team’s 23rd of the night, tying their season high. Meanwhile, his backcourt mate John Wall put forth a season-high effort of his own, finishing with another double-double, 35 points and 11 assists.
The Jazz, led by Ricky Rubio (21 points, four steals), had a balanced offensive attack, with four starters reaching double figures. Sharpshooting wing Joe Ingles (10 points) had just one three. However, it proved to be the biggest shot of the game as it put Utah up 104-102 with just 1:09 left on the clock.
Here are the takeaways.
Sloppiness on Offense
The Wizards were rolling offensively in the first quarter due to a commitment of pace. They shot 70 percent in the opening frame. Wall racked up nine points and six assists as his team took a 32-25 lead.
In the second quarter, Wall and his teammates were starting to show signs of carelessness. They ended the half with nine turnovers, four of which came from their floor general. Utah capitalized and closed the gap at halftime, 50-46.
Coming into the matchup, Utah ranked second in the league in steals. They used 15 steals to create 27 points.
The sloppy effort didn’t please Wizards head coach Scott Brooks. “We haven’t had that type of turnover game in a long time,” Brooks told NBCSports Washington.
It was a poor time to revert back to the reckless ways of old, as they’ll now have to deal with a season sweep to a team that already posted a 47-point win against them in December.
All-Star Backcourt Shines
NBA All-Star weekend is about a month away and both Wall and Beal proved again they are worthy of a trip to Los Angeles. Once again, they accounted for more than half of their team’s offensive production. The duo combined for 18 assists, while the rest of the team combined for just seven.
Though Beal didn’t have a great scoring second half, he was actively engaged in other aspects of the game. He competed on the defensive side and did his best to keep the uptempo pace.
This alley-oop during the early stages of the third quarter, got the home crowd on their feet and sparked a run that would put Washington up 60-52.
Brooks decided to play Wall the entire second half. Washington needed every bit of his game-high 42 minutes as he dropped 14 points in the fourth quarter, including two clutch 3-pointers down the stretch.
Lack of Bench Production
Brooks’ hand was forced when it came to Beal and Wall’s minutes because of another suspect showing from the bench.
Utah’s bench, led by Joe Johnson (16 points), outscored Washington’s second unit 35-16.
Kelly Oubre has consistently shown that he’s the team’s sixth man this season. With the return of Otto Porter, Oubre returned to his role, scoring 12 of the 16 bench points.
Utah forward Rodney Hood (7 points) was ejected near the end of the third quarter after arguing a missed foul, yet he still finished with more points combined than Washington’s bench scorers Mike Scott (2 points) and Jodie Meeks (0 points, 0-4).
Brooks even trotted out veteran big, Jason Smith–who hasn’t been used lately–to inject some kind of energy into the team. That move was just as futile as all the others on this night, however.
The Wizards will look for more of a complete team effort on Friday when they host the Orlando Magic.