Washington Wizards: Defense finally does the job in 103-100 win over Miami Heat

The Washington Wizards can play defense?! I never thought I’d see the day.

Something truly remarkable happened when the Washington Wizards took on the Miami Heat on Wednesday night. And no, I’m not talking about Bradley Beal extending his streak of 25+ point games to 17, passing Michael Jordan for the longest such streak to start a season. Although, that was remarkable. It doesn’t look like that streak will be ending any time soon, either.

And it wasn’t the fact that Moritz Wagner, who had turned in two solid outings in the Wizards’ previous two games, couldn’t get a single minute of playing time. Although, that too was remarkable…for all the wrong reasons.

No, the truly extraordinary thing that took place in South Beach on Wednesday night was that the Wizards secured a victory with their defensive effort. That’s right. The Wizards, for maybe the first time this season, got some stops.

Things didn’t look great early on, and the Wizards flirted with the all too familiar and all too frustrating 15-20 point hole they’re often in. The Heat stretched the lead to as many as 13 points. Then the Wizards decided it was comeback time.

The Washington Wizards finally won with defense. Can they do it again?

Watching the Wizards roar back from depressingly large deficits has become a fixture of this 2020-21 season. Sometimes, the leads are too big to overcome, as was the case when the Wizards previously faced off vs. Miami. Despite their best efforts, a 24-point hole was just too much for the Wizards that night, who wound up losing that January matchup 128-124.

This time, though, the Wizards didn’t try to simply outscore the Heat with a pace that resembles a track meet more than a basketball game. The Wizards currently rank first in the NBA in pace, but this game was a lot slower than usual due to Miami’s plodding style (22nd in pace) and the Wizards’ lack of point guards (both Russell Westbrook and Raul Neto were out).

The slow pace ended up hurting the Heat more than the Wizards, who probably appreciated a slower pace given they were in the second half of back to back. As things slowed down in the second half, the Wizards held the Heat to just 35 total points. To get an idea of how rare that is for this defense, the Wizards had given up 35 or more points in a single quarter 16 times in 17 games before taking on the Heat. In the first quarter vs. Miami, they gave up 34(!!) before turning things around. The Heat’s total at the final buzzer — 100 points — was the fewest points scored by a Wizards opponent this season.

Maybe there is still hope for the Wizards to figure things out on defense. A one-game sample isn’t enough to say things are fixed. Far from it. The Wizards still rank 28th in defensive rating. But any glimpse of defensive competence from this team is welcome and celebrated.

The Wizards won’t get much time off during this frenzied February schedule. They take on the Heat again on Friday night. We’ll find out sooner than later if the Wizards’ second-half defense vs. Miami was a one-time thing or something the Wizards can and will build off.