Heat 106
Wizards 103
April 8, 2017 – Verizon Center, Washington, D.C.
The Wizards fell short against a desperate Miami Heat team that’s fighting for their playoff lives. With the loss, things got a bit more complicated if the Wizards want a chance at the three seed. Actually, it’s a lot more complicated. They now need to win out their next two games and have the Raptors lose their next two. Though winning and relying on other teams isn’t an ideal way to get good positioning, there’s plenty of reason for this team to be motivated for their final two regular season games. If they win their next two games no matter what Toronto does, they will finish with 50 wins, which is pretty cool. My boss also said before the season we’d all go to Chuck E Cheese if they win 50 games so yeah there’s plenty on the line.
1st quarter
The game opened up with strong points from the big men. Gortat scored the first four points.
Markieff Morris threw down a vicious alley-oop slam from John Wall. Chief Keef had a great quarter with seven points.
The Wizards led 17-9 until Miami went on an 8-0 run and kept chipping away. Hassan Whiteside gave the Wizards fits. He finished the opening quarter with 10 points. Tyler Johnson had nine in the first including a three that put the Heat up 28-24. A technical free throw by Beal, along with two free throws from Bojan Bogdanovic pulled Washington within one.
The quarter ended with a Bradley Beal hitting a buzzer beater jumper to put the Wizards ahead 29-28.
2nd quarter
The second quarter, like the first, had the first four Wizards points scored by a big man. Ian Mahinmi came off the bench and hit a pair of free throws and a reverse layup. Both teams traded baskets in the second quarter.
Trailing 44-41, Josh Richardson drove to the hoop but Wall chased him down and told him to get out of his house.
The #HouseOfGuards would take over from there. Beal hit a jumper, Wall hit a layup and two free throws that made it 47-50. After that, Tyler Johnson missed a layup from under the basket. Keef grabbed it and threw it football style to Wall. DC’s point guard tried to pass it to Kelly Oubre but he couldn’t hang on. Wall kept the ball from going out of bounds but the basketball ended up in Goran Dragic’s hands. Dragic dished it to Johnson. Johnson tried to pass it but Beal stole the ball from him, found Wall in the corner and the #WallStar drained the three. The phone booth was lit.
After the Heat regained the lead, Tomas Satoransky tied it with a baseline floater just three seconds before the horn. The score would be tied at 52 at the half.
3rd quarter
The Wizards never had a lead in this entire quarter. The Wizards defense had trouble containing Dragic, who had 10 of his 18 points in this frame. Wall turned the ball over three times while Beal turned it over once. Turnovers were one of the differences in this game, more on that later.
One positive for the Wizards this period was Kelly Oubre’s 11 points. Oubre got the start in place of Otto Porter, who didn’t play due to back spasms. The Wizards trailed 78-74 heading into the final quarter.
4th quarter
The 4th quarter was lit with six ties and eight lead changes. Bojan got it started with a fade-away jumper and Mahinmi followed with a basket to tie it at 78. After the Heat regained the lead, the Wizards tied it once again with a three by Bojan.
Keef started to wake up and #DeathRowDC was in full effect.
Chief Keef continued to do it all for SOSA with a tough fading jumper later on.
The Heat went back in front and led 100-97 before K33f tied it with a three with 1:21 left.
The fans at Verizon Center came to their feet and the building got even louder in the final minutes to where I was confusing this game with a first round playoff game between these clubs. The Heat got back in front with a hook shot by Whiteside but the Wizards tied it right back up with a tip-in by Gortat. Johson would later foul Wall and he hit one of two from the charity stripe to put the Wizards in front 103-102 with 20 seconds left. During the following Heat possession, Johnson layed it in to put hem in front. Down one and the crowd on their feet with 11 seconds left, I was getting flashbacks from the Agent Zero buzzer beater days and was wondering who on the Wizards would take the shot and win the game. Unfortunately, there weren’t any shots to be taken. Oubre inbounded the ball and threw it away forcing Wall to foul Josh Richardson.
Brooks believed that play was due to a miscommunication.
“It was a tough play for him. He thought John (Wall) was going to go over the top, John came towards the ball,” Brooks said at his postgame press conference. “Unfortunate that it happened, but that’s actually a learning experience. Otto (Porter) has been in that position just about every time this year. That wasn’t the reason why we lost this game. That was a tough play for us, to not have a chance to win the game.”
Richardson made both free throws to put the Heat up by three. Beal had a chance to tie it with a three but was unable to get a clean shot as Whiteside delivered a block. Wizards fell 106-103.
“It kinda came down as being for Brad (Beal). If he wasn’t open, me,” said John Wall. “I pinned down for Bogie (Bojan Bogdanovic), but they just switched out everything, so we tried to get a shot up against (Hassan) Whiteside.”
Tonight was Phil Chenier’s final regular season home broadcast and the Wizards had a touching tribute. The sellout crowd gave him a well-deserved standing ovation.
#WizHeat in a Tweet
The Game’s Top Performer
Hassan Whiteside – 30 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 assists
Whiteside was a problem for the Wizards defense throughout this contest. He was a problem in the paint for Marcin Gortat and Mahinmi. He also had a block in the end that prevented overtime. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has given the center a vote of confidence.
“Coach Spo told me, he said you are defensive player of the year in my mind, and I said when a three-time NBA championship coach tells you that it means a lot,” said Whiteside. “I said not one, not two, three. I said that means a lot coach. In my mind I was thinking that. Regardless, I said to myself I want to guard whoever gets the ball, just trying to make a big block for my team.”
A forgettable night for…
Brandon Jennings and Jason Smith
Neither of these two bench studs were their normal selves. Jennings played 15:03 of action but could only muster two points on 1-of-4 shooting. Smith saw 9:17 of action but only had a three to show for it. The Wizards need more production from these two. Mahinmi and Bogie can’t do it alone from the bench unit.
Key Stat of the Night
The Wizards turned the ball over TWENTY TIMES. When I played baseball as a kid my coach would always say, “the team with the least errors wins the game.” I’m pretty sure my house league basketball coach would have said the same thing if any of the teams I played on had that many turnovers in a game.
“They (the Heat) just did a great job getting in passing lanes, blocking shots with (Hassan) Whiteside back there. He does a great job of taking away passes that you try to find to your big man and find to the shooters. Give those guys a lot of credit,” said Wall. Beal added: “We just gotta realize that if we play like this we’re going to get swept. It’s just plain and simple. We gotta look at ourselves in the mirror and figure out what kind of team we want to be.”
What’s next?
The Wizards will finish the regular season with two road games. First up, a trip to Detroit to take on the Pistons Monday night at 8:00 on TNT. They’ll face this same Miami Heat team on Wednesday for the season finale. Washington needs to win both of these contests to finish with 50 wins.