(Photo: Getty Images via Washington Wizards)
Wizards 109
Suns 99
December 7, 2017 | Talking Stick Resort Arena | Phoenix, AZ
Coming off of one of the most entertaining Washington Wizards games of the year in Portland, the D.C. ballers headed south to Phoenix in hopes of exacting some revenge. The Suns came into Capital One Arena on November 1 and made fools of the Wizards as TJ Warren dropped 40 points on Washington. With each team’s best player sidelined, John Wall (sore left knee) and Devin Booker (hip abductor), the Wizards came out victorious after an early hiccup and late pushes from the Suns, 109-99.
Another Slow and Inexcusable Start
With Phoenix without Devin Booker, Washington thought the Suns were going to move aside and give the Wizards a road win. Bradley Beal admitted as much at halftime when saying, “they punched us in the mouth first.” The home team got off to a quick 24-12 run midway through the first quarter as they begin the game shooting 10 of 14, 71.4 percent, from the field. The Wizards on the other hand started just 3 of 10 from the field. Scott Brooks was infuriated by his team giving up 19 points before getting to five minutes into the game, 183 points per game average, and burned two timeouts. Luckily, that seemed to get through to his players and begin a turnaround. “I think we gave up 20 points in the first 6 minutes and then we dialed in and realized we were in an NBA game where we had to compete to get the win, and we did,” Scott Brooks said after the game.
Bradley Beal Provided An Encore
There was no way that Beal was going to top his career-high 51 points, but he certainly put on another show on the road. In the first half, Beal had 22 points, which was more than he had before halftime against Portland (19). Beal finished with 34 points on 13 of 22 shooting and four assists in under 37 minutes of play. The soon to be All-Star already has five 30+ point games this season after having just four in his first four seasons in the NBA. Beal is on pace to have more 30+ point games this season than last when he had 13.
Markieff Morris Revenge Game
As his own Wizards teammates would admit, when Morris left Phoenix, many thought he was an asshole. That is because they were only hearing one side of the story, the Suns. In fact, Morris is a chill dude that is willing to go to war with his teammates any day of the week. Keef was simply soured by the Suns’ decision to trade his brother Marcus after both had taken pay cuts to be teammates. Markieff Morris has clearly shown his worth of a first-round pick that Washington traded for his bargain contract and he took some frustration out on the Suns in terms of production for the Wizards. Morris finished with 21 points on 8 of 12 shooting to go along with six rebounds, two steals, and an assist in 32 minutes of play.
Ian Mahinmi Is Slowly Improving
Granted, the bar is not set that high right now despite his $64 million price tag, but Ian Mahinmi is at least proving that he should be a part of the rotation, unlike earlier in the season when it seemed inexcusable that Jason Smith remained on the bench. Mahinmi still has his head shaking moments on offense, but has improved his defense slightly. In 25 minutes, Mahinmi fouled out, but had 10 points on 4 of 5 shooting to go along with 8 rebounds. If the backup center is able to show better hands, which he works on every game before tip, and rim protecting without fouling, he will be another boost to an already improved bench.
Keys To Victory Are Clear
As Wall, Beal, and Brooks will preach until the end of days, the secret for Washington’s success is defense as they have too much fire power on offense for that ever to be a consistent issue. When the Wizards hold their opponents to fewer than 100 points, which was the case tonight, they are 11-1. Over the last three years, the Wizards are 54-9 (.857) when holding their opponents under the century mark. Another subtler secret x-factor for the Wizards, which is somewhat tied into their defense, is scoring 20+ points off turnovers in a game. Washington had 23 points off of 14 Phoenix turnovers on Thursday and improved to 8-2 on the year when doing so.
Next Game: Washington will travel to Los Angeles to take on the Clippers who will be without Blake Griffin in their last game on the West Coast of this road trip.