Eastern Conference Semis - Game 7
Celtics 115
Wizards 105
May 16, 2017 - TD Garden, Boston, MA
The immediate emotions following a Game 7 for both players and fans are understandably that of disappointment with a hint of anger.
“Twenty-nine teams will be disappointed.” - Scott Brooks
“I hate losing, especially when we feel like we were the better team." - Bradley Beal.
That is as well as you can sum it up for the Washington Wizards season, which ended on May 15th for the third time in four years. The franchise will now continue to look to get over the Eastern Conference Finals hump.
Who had Kelly Olynyk winning the whole darn thing?
If Isaiah Thomas scored 53 points again in a Celtics win, maybe you just tip your cap and just take the loss. When a bench player goes off for 14 fourth quarter points … the old adage is that role players play better at home, “but come on” the Wizards have to be thinking. Kelly Olynyk scored 26 points on an efficient 10 of 14 shooting including a dagger three-pointer with 3:26 to play to put Boston up 10.
Olynyk was 7-for-7 around the rim as he was able to get good looks either off pick and roll or driving from the three-point line. It didn't matter if it was Marcin Gortat, Ian Mahinmi, or Jason Smith, Olynyk either had his way or caused the defense to rotate giving opportunities to his teammates.
Olynyk’s 26 points were most off the bench by any player in a Game 7 since Leandro Barbosa had 26 for the Suns in 2006 vs. the Lakers. After Eric Gordon’s 31 with the Rockets on January 2, this was the most points Washington had given up to a bench player all season. Olynyk only had one other 20+ point game this season.
Probably the reason Olynyk’s performance hurts even more is that it underscores the biggest reason for the Wizards loss and struggles throughout the season: the bench. In 36 minutes, the Wizards bench had all of five points, which all came from Bojan Bogdanovic. Boston led in bench scoring 45-5 by the end of the game. The reminder of little cap space this summer probably rubs salt into the deep wound for Wizards fans.
Bradley Beal’s three-point shot finally began to (f)all, for nothing.
After Game 6, I asked Beal if he was making a concerted effort to attack inside the arc. When I had mentioned his 0-for-7 start from deep in the game, he looked away in disbelief. He said he didn’t know what was going on with his three-point shot, but it would start falling soon. Soon was tonight, three nights later.
Beal had his best game in his playoff career with 38 points, which was one point short of tying the team’s franchise record for most points in a Game 7 with Elvin Hayes (4/29/79) and Phil Chenier (4/25/75) who both had 39. Beal tied is playoff career high with five three-pointers, but did so efficiently on just 10 attempts after coming into the series shooting just 24 of 91 (26.3 percent) in these playoffs. Beal had five 30 point performances in the 2017 playoffs after having just five 30 points games in his entire career before this season. “He has another decade of a lot of good basketball [left],” Brooks said.
“I’m more disappointed we lost more than anything,” Beal said. “I don’t care about how well I played. I don’t care if I would have played bad. The end result, and the only thing that matters, is the win. These stats don’t really mean too much of nothing to me.”
John Wall had a bad finish, but do not forget what he has overcome.
To begin the game, you might have thought Wall was going to drop a 40 spot on Boston. He had 18 points on an efficient 8-for-12 shooting by the 7-minute mark of the 3rd quarter. From there on out, Wall missed his remaining 11 shot attempts.
“I wish I would have played better,” Wall frankly stated.
First, the statistic is misleading as it includes a three-quarter court heave and a couple three-pointers that he put up late in the game just trying to get a quick score. Two, Wall had seven assists so he was still impacting the game. Three, Wall essentially played the entire second half ignoring the late sub at the end of the game and even if Brooks does not want to admit so, 44 minutes can take a player’s legs out of his jump shot.
That is just for those particular 20 minutes, but Wall was amazing these entire playoffs.
Let’s also not forget that Wall’s overall season comes after undergoing double knee surgery that cost him his entire offseason. To think he is not an “impact” player or ready for the spotlight because of less than 20 minutes of play instead of looking at the larger sample size is infuriating.
“The first thing I said, I thanked him and I love him,” Scott Brooks said about greeting John Wall after the game. “I love how he plays. That guy is a true winner. He plays with a lot of toughness. He’s exactly what you need to lead your team. He’s exactly what I need to be my point guard. I love the way he plays, I love the way he competes and he’s only going to get better. … We’re going to have a big summer. … The future is bright because he’s leading us.”
Weathering the storm early, just to lose focus in the second half.
In Game 5, Washington was dead to rights after just one quarter. Going into Game 7 they had it on their mind to not let that happen again. The accomplished that part. By all accounts, it was an electric TD Garden before tip and throughout the game. When Boston goes up 10-2 in the opening minutes, all begin to cringe fearing a repeat of the Spurs demolition of the Rockets. Washington began shooting 1-for-7 from the field, but responded with a 10-0 run. Thanks to a 19-11 run to end the first half, the Wizards led 55-53 at intermission.
If only games finished after 30 minutes. Washington led 70-64 midway through the third, Otto Porter Jr. had just drawn an offensive foul on Jae Crowder and things were going swell. Then, it unraveled. The Wizards had an empty possession and the Celtics responded with a Horford and-1. In a 73 second span late in the third quarter, Boston hit three straight three-pointers to go on a 9-0 run. That was extended to 18-2 two minutes into the fourth quarter and the game was all but lost as Washington could never lock in on defense.
At the end of the day, the future is still very, very bright.
“It’s not a satisfying season to me,” Wall said about the team not reaching the Eastern Conference Finals. That is certainly a reasonable one-hour after the game ended response, but that does not mean it was a successful season. Washington is still the first team to win 49 regular season games after starting 2-8. This is still the most wins the team has had in 38 years as well as the deepest the Wizards have been in the playoffs since then. This one will sting for quite a long time but with the strong possibility of the starting five back for a second year under Scott Brooks, one would think this team only gets better from here.
“We felt that we made strides this year to get to the next step and we have,” Brooks said. “We accomplished a lot as a team this season. We had nine new players, a new coach, a new coaching staff and we established an identity of how we want to play going forward and its pretty good basketball. But we still have a lot to improve on. That’s the good thing about our team, is that we have a young enough team that we should be better next year. With a good summer work, they should come back better players. Brad and John, it’s almost like having two first round picks that are going to keep improving for the next five years. I like the future where we are going.”