(Photo: Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images)
Washington 110
Sacramento 92
November 13, 2017, Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
The homestand is over and despite a disappointing loss to the Dallas Mavericks to begin things at home, the Washington Wizards are now 8-5 after beating the Sacramento Kings for their third straight victory. Seven players scored in double-figures as the Wizards coasted in the second half.
Another Slow Start Defensively
In similar fashion to Thursday’s Lakers game, the Wizards had a poor start to the game from a defensive standpoint. Against Los Angeles, Washington gave up 34 points in the first quarter, but then held them to a total of just 95 for the rest of the game. On Monday, the Wizards gave up 32 points in the first quarter to a lottery bound Kings team. Sacramento jumped out to a 27-17 lead with three minutes to go in the first frame, which had some questioning if the home team really had turned the corner on defense.
But, Finishing Strong
During the last three quarters of the game, Sacramento only scored 60 points in 36 minutes. After starting 11 of 19, 57.9 percent, from the field, the Kings finished the game shooting just 35.3 percent, 23 of 65. For the third straight game, Washington has held their opponents under 100 points for the first times since March 2016 under Randy Wittman.
“After the first six minutes, the defense was good, a lot of good on-the-ball defense, a lot of good help defense, and then the passing,” head coach Scott Brooks said. “I'm pleased with the way we played, and I'm pleased with the way we finished off our homestand, we held the last three games in the 90s now we got to go do it on the road.”
“Defense,” John Wall said about the change in the last three games. “That’s the key. For one, we’re not worried about shooting the ball, that’s what we were good at last year – no matter who scores or who is the leading scorer any given night we just have to play well and make the right reads. We just have to let our defense dictate. Other than that first quarter we played great defense tonight. In the first quarter they almost had 40 points, but to hold them under 100 I think we did a great job. Our second unit gave us a boost to start the second quarter.”
John Wall: The King Of Sacramento
In 54 minutes this season against the Kings, Wall has 42 points on 15 of 19 shooting, including 9 of 10 from three, and 18 assists. Against the rest of the NBA, Wall is 5 of 32 from deep so far this season. “I think I'm taking the same exact shots, I think I just make them against them for some reason,” Wall said. “Everybody else, I be clanking.” Brooks shared a similar sentiment that Wall coincidentally had two good shooting nights against Sacramento, but hopes that it will continue in the future.
“John’s ability to see the floor,” former Wizards guard and current King Garrett Temple said about Wall’s strength. “I think that’s one thing that he was underrated – and still is underrated – he’s an underrated passer. His ability to throw cross-court passes [and] see plays happen before they happen. [De’Aaron] Foxy can pass, but John is at that high-high level.”
The Bench Is … Good
After scoring a season-high 54 points against the Hawks on Saturday, the bench totaled 38 points against the Kings on Monday. The all-bench unit that Brooks will likely stick for the foreseeable future, had a 15-2 run during the first four minutes of the second quarter to turn a seven-point deficit into a six-point advantage.
“Then I think their second unit came in and gave them a great spark and they got aggressive,” Kings head coach Dave Joerger said. “Kelly [Oubre Jr.] and Jodie [Meeks] both particularly got in the paint a bunch, and then with Mike Scott roaming around the perimeter, making shots. He's basically a small forward playing power forward, got them going.”
“They gave us [a boost],” Brooks said. We didn't have the defense that we wanted to. And then we gave up 32 points in that first quarter and our second unit, I think we got six or seven out of eight stops to start the second quarter and that created points. We generated points off of our defense. We're at our best when we defend and when we try to score off our defense. When we're not, when we just want to out shoot teams and out offense teams, it comes to who's going to make the last shot. We got some good shooters but that's not the way to play, that's not how we play our best. We play our best when our defense is active, we score off our defense. The way the game is played there's a lot of possessions and we want to play fast but holding a team to 40 percent in the last couple of games has been really good for us.”
“We know it’s a work in progress not having Keef [Markieff Morris] and having Kelly [Oubre Jr.] and guys in the starting lineup,” Wall began. He’s getting those guys used to the five guys that they’re going to have out there and building that confidence up. I think they’re doing a great job out there. Tim [Frazier] is more comfortable and is running the team trying to figure out when you’re going to get shots and when to get guys shots. I think the most important thing is that both units are letting their defense dictate the offense. In the past we let the offense dictate the defense and that’s why we had so many bad lapses.”
Mike Scott and Kelly Oubre Jr. were the biggest forces off the bench for Washington against Sacramento. Scott finished with 15 points on 6 of 8 shooting including 3 threes to go along with 5 rebounds. Oubre had 12 points on 5 of 10 shooting, eight rebounds, two steals, and some thunderous dunks.
“I like how he plays,” Brooks said about Scott. “He just knows how to play. He's in the right spot. He's not searching for shots, he's just playing. And we want to build our mentality as good-to-great passing, he makes the extra pass. If he's open, he shoots it. He gives you a great effort on the defensive end. He's a good basketball player. I'm still learning his game but I like him as a person, I like how he competes, I like how he practices, I like how he comes in every day before practice and he stays after, he wants to win the free throw game that we have every day. He's just a great professional for our team.”
“I think he’s our best scorer off the bench,” Wall stated. “We know what he could do against our team, he did it a lot when he was in Atlanta when he was playing in their rotation. I think he’s a great backup behind Markieff [Morris], someone who can score in the post if they switch and have mismatches and he can definitely shoot the ball from three. He plays the right way. Sometimes he has open shots and he’s willing to make the right pass or the extra pass and it helps our team. I think we’re all starting to figure it out together.”
“I've been a facilitator,” Scott said about his role on the second unit. “Getting my teammates involved, and of course being a scorer, especially on a mismatch. Kind of the same way I played in Atlanta, just keeping the ball moving, being energetic, bringing energy off the bench, and scoring. Doing a little bit of everything.”
Marcin Gortat Comes Alive, But Keeps It Real
The Polish Machine gets a lot of dissension from the Wizards fan base and I believe that is unfair a lot of the time because much of what he provides does not show up in the box score or stand out when watching the game. Gortat even admitted after the game that when he racks up screen assists that he is sacrificing his own ability to be in position for rebounds or get up shots himself. Against the Kings, while battle Willie Cauley-Stein and Zach Randolph, Gortat had one of his best games this season with 18 points on 7 of 11 shooting and 7 rebounds in 31 minutes.
“He was really good,” Brooks said. “He was roll into the spots. They're going to put in a lot of times. Teams are doing, putting two guys on our ball-handlers John and Brad, and even when Tim [Frazier] comes in, so you have to be able to set the screen-and-roll to the proper spots so we can have good spacing. And a lot of times if they're not going to help, he has a great hands around the basket and finish with either hand. But his defense has been really key for us. He gets up on screen-and-rolls, he stops the basketball, which is not easy with little guards in the league coming at him. But I thought all-around game, might have been his best game of the year.”
One of the reasons I appreciate Gortat is that he doesn’t give you some fake quotes to try and cover his ass. He tells it like it is even if it might get him in trouble. He admits that as a team they should not have lost to the Suns or the Mavericks at home. Personally, he also criticized his own game over the past week.
“We have teams like Phoenix and Dallas coming here and punking us in front of our home crowd and, it’s not nice,” Gortat said. “It’s definitely not nice. We are a better team than we show in those two games That is why we came to the gym, we work hard, we compete against each other, we almost killed each other in the practice.”
“There’s no secret, I’ve been playing very bad,” Gortat said. “I have the last three, four, five games, stretch of those games, I was awful. Specifically, on the rebounds, on the glass. I pretty much didn’t exist offensively. It has to change from me personally for us to win games.”
Next Game: Washington has finished their four-game home streak and now will begin a home-and-home series with the Miami Heat on Wednesday in South Beach before hosting them on Friday.