(Photo: Los Angeles Lakers)
The Washington Wizards entered the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers up 79-69 and were less than seven minutes away from a victory still up by 10 points. Then, things came to a halt as the road team lost control of the game, which allowed the young L.A. squad to gain confidence and eventually come out victorious.
Poor Three-Point And Transition Defense
Although the Lakers shot just 7 of 30 from beyond the arc, the way that the Wizards were leaving them open, they were playing with fire. Los Angeles would go on to make 4 of their last 10 three-point attempts, which helped them complete the comeback in regulation and win the game in overtime. Although they were not all made, I found 10 instances in the fourth quarter or overtime where Washington demonstrated poor defense of the three-point line.
There were also a couple instances of poor transition defense too make matters worse.
Washington Misses In Make Or Miss League
One of NBA coaches', including Randy Wittman, favorite quotes and subtle excuses for losses is that it comes down to making or missing shots that percentages may dictate otherwise. There were about 10 shots from the fourth quarter on that could have easily gone done given the clean look. Even if just a couple fall for Washington, the Wizards may very well be 4-0. A couple of Wall's misses came after Julius Randle was switched onto him, which the former could not consistently take advantage of.
Come On Zebras!
Washington came up on the short end of 50-50 decisions from the officials late in the game. A Wall and Gortat seemed to be fouled without a call and Julius Randle got away with a lane violation on a missed free throw.
Final Play Of Regulation Was Rough
Lakers had the ball down two looking to force overtime or win with a three-pointer. Brandon Ingram was matched up against Kelly Oubre Jr. who was beat on the initial drive, but Ingram lost control of the ball on his first shot attempt. The Wizards did not crash the glass for the defensive rebound as they should have and allowed Ingram a game-tying putback. Wall and Porter needed to be in the paint getting physical instead of spectating.
The Final Sequence Was Even Worse
After Wall was not rewarded with a foul call with 11 seconds to play, Washington needed to foul immediately to put the Lakers on the line in hopes of getting the ball back with enough time to get another good shot attempt. Jodie Meeks had the opportunity to foul Kyle Kuzma, a 63 percent shooter in college, with 10 seconds left, but inexplicably did not. It led to Randle getting an easy bucket and six more seconds coming off the clock. The Wizards still had a chance to tie the game with 4.5 seconds left and usually Scott Brooks has strong ATOs, but Wall's desperation heave was not the best move. First, he received the ball to deep in the front court wasting precious time, he did not swing it to Beal in the slot (which he acknowledged he should have after the game), and he did not even get up a three-point attempt.
