(Photo: Washington Wizards)

Wizards 120

Sixers 115

October 18, 2017, Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.

For years, John Wall has complained about the Washington Wizards not getting enough respect from the rest of the NBA. To start the 2017-18 season, they were started to get shown some with the opener at home on national television against the Philadelphia 76ers as the first game on ESPN this season. Although the home crowd was not the greatest with several loud “Trust the Process” chants, Bradley Beal was happy to “send them back home with a nice L.” Kelly Oubre Jr. had an even better response, “I trust in God, not the process.”

The House of Guards combined for 53 points, 12 assists, and 11 rebounds, while the Polish Machine dropped the hammer on Joel Embiid and the Sixers to the tune of 16 points and 17 rebounds. Gortat played with a heavy heart tonight as he dedicated his performance to Adam Wójcik, the “greatest player” from Poland according to the Wizards center, who passed away at the young age of 47 because of leukemia. Despite 13 ties and 12 lead changes during the course of the game, Washington begin the year with a 120-115 victory, but they were far from perfect.

Issues From Last Season Rear Its Ugly Head

Last season, the Philadelphia 76ers were the sixth worst shooting team from beyond the arc at 34 percent. Even though they have a lot more talent this season, allowing the road team to shoot 42.9 percent (15 of 35) from three. Robert Covington tied his career-high with seven three-pointers, while JJ Redick among others got way too many clean looks at the basket.

“We didn’t close all the way out,” head coach Scott Brooks explained. “We got tricked a few times and that’s something we have to be cognizant of. … We need to do a better job of guarding the line.”

Everyone around the team has talked about the key to their success being defense. It was the case tonight when they were finally able to close the 76ers out. That makes it all the more puzzling about why the same reasons for poor defense are given frequently.

“Just terrible defense and we weren’t playing great one-on-one defense and once that happens, they get into the paint and guys collapse and they were able to knock down shots,” John Wall said.

Also of note was that Philadelphia was able to put up 19 fast break points including 14 in the first half.

Jason Smith Exits Early, But Exhale

It was not surprising that the stretch big started in place of Markieff Morris to start the season, but his night was quickly over after seven minutes with a right shoulder sprain suffered when trying to contest an Embiid shot. The area tightened up on Smith once he took his usual substitution out of the game. “I’ll be fine,” Smith said after the game, but official word will come tomorrow according to Brooks. “I don’t think it’s anything serious,” Gortat shared.

Should Smith miss time, the burden then falls on Mike Scott and Kelly Oubre Jr. with Otto Porter Jr. sliding to the four. A lineup seen on Wednesday night was three guards featuring Wall, Beal, and Jodie Meeks as well as Tim Frazier instead of Beal. Oubre entered a starters role by playing an effective 32:29 where he finished with 14 points and eight rebounds to complement two assists, two steals and two blocks.

There Is Still A Drop Off With The Bench

I am a firm believer that Washington’s bench improved this offseason because there was nowhere to go but up for a unit that was an example for struggling in a dictionary last year. Oubre generally had to play with the starters, which hurt the backups that nearly dropped the ball completely against the 76ers.

Tim Frazier, Jodie Meeks, Mike Scott, and Ian Mahinmi combined for just 9 field goals in an average of 15 minutes. Early in the second quarter, Philadelphia was able to go on a 13-2 run where the Washington offense was stagnant with four turnovers. The momentum shifted and the Wizards were down seven late in the first half. A similar trend occurred in a four-minute span from the end of the third quarter into the fourth as the 76ers went on a 15-2 run to quickly squander a dozen point deficit. One has to hope that the bench, once having their rotation more fixed, can find some kind of identity and not blow double-digit leads in the future.

“Some moments that we’re going to talk about tomorrow,” Brooks said about the bench. “A couple of things didn’t go their way. A couple of turnovers, and the transition was non-existent during that stretch when they were in the game. We were giving up too many points in transition and then we were giving up too many threes in that second quarter.”

Offense Has Never Been The Issue

Only 13 times last year did the Wizards score 120 points or more and three of those went into overtime. Washington was able to do that tonight without the services of Markieff Morris, who did a warm up before the game with some movement before and after his shooting motion. In those 13 games, the Wizards never had fewer than seven three-pointers nor shot less than 38 percent from deep with one exception (34.6 percent against the Kings).

Tonight, the Wizards were a miserable 6 of 22 (27.3 percent) from three-point. Wall, Beal, and Porter, the trio that led the team in makes from deep last year, were a miserable 1 of 10 from beyond the arc. Were it not for Oubre’s 3 of 6 shooting with his improved mechanics, Washington would have tied their season-low from last year. In addition to just 18 of 120 points coming from the bonus sphere, the home team had just four points in transition including none in the first half.

The main method to supplement their scoring against the 76ers was by taking 38 trips to the free throw line and converting on 30 of them, both of which would be third best throughout all of last season. Washington did not hit the century mark in points in just 14 games last year and I would be surprised if it is more than 10 games this year as the team can seemingly score at will when needed.

Closing Things Out Properly

With seven minutes to go in the game, Philadelphia led 100-99 after the Wizards had a dozen point lead late in the third quarter. Washington would promptly response with a 9-2 run to take the lead for good. Although Beal made things a wee bit interesting at the end by missing a free throw, which he was quite self-critical of post-game, the Wizards were able to keep the talented youth at arm’s length away to close out the victory fairly smoothly. Although it is just Game 1, it is pivotal for the Wizards to get off to a good start in hopes of securing a top two seed in the East.

What's Next?

Washington will host the Detroit Pistons on Friday as the Stan Van Gundy coached team began the year 1-0 with a victory over the Charlotte Hornets. The Pistons have some talent in their starting five with Reggie Jackson, Avery Bradley, Tobias Harris, and Andre Drummond, but are still inferior to Washington.