(Photo: Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images)
Jazz 107
Wizards 104
January 10, 2018 | Capital One Arena | Washington, D.C.
Right when you think the Washington Wizards cannot have a worse loss than they have already suffered so far during this roller-coaster season, they surprise you. Not to say this loss was worse than those in Brooklyn or in Atlanta or even in Utah, but it was excruciatingly frustrating given the Jazz were without Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors, their top two centers. Mental lapses down the stretch cost Washington the game giving them their 10th loss to currently sub-.500 teams, which is tied for the second most in the NBA.
Not 1, Not 2, But 23 Turnovers
The Wizards tied a season-worst with 23 turnovers, which led to 27 Utah points, many of which came on the fast break where the Jazz were able to get 18. John Wall tied his season-high with 8 giveaways and Bradley Beal had 5. They were sloppy, at times over passing, putting themselves in bad situations and it cost them dearly.
“We have not had that type of turnover game in a long time,” Brooks said. “They did a good job of putting their hands on us and we turned the ball over too many times. With that being said, we still had a chance to win the game. Thirty-seven points in that third quarter and then 61 for the half. Talk about being a defensive team and we were in that first half, and then we stopped playing to our identity and then up one or up two, whatever it was, we gave up a critical and one, to [Joe] Ingles and then we were sucked in and gave up a three. We talk about those things. It cannot happen, and it happened twice within 30 seconds. Those are mistakes that we cannot continue to make, and we have to find guys that do not make those mistakes in the games.”
“They did a great [job defensively]. They are a great defensive team and getting hands on a lot of basketballs, getting deflections, a couple of careless ones, a couple offensive fouls–we had a lot of those–but other than that it was a good game.”
“Just too many,” Beal said. “You’re not going to win like that. I didn’t even know we had that many, but you’re not going to win a game if you turn it over that many times. And, then you give up 60 points in the second half. So, that’s the game right there. We just got to do a better job of taking care of it.”
John Wall with a Game to Remember
In his best scoring game of the season, the potential five-time All-Star point guard dropped 35 points on 14 of 27 shooting including 3 of 6 from beyond the arc. He also had 11 assists and 6 rebounds to pack his stat line. More importantly, he was hustling. He dove on the floor for a loose ball against Ricky Rubio, sprinted back from the back court to recover, and had one of his better (although still not close to perfect) defensive showings. In 42 minutes, including the entire second half, Wall did his part in trying to secure his team a victory.
Jodie Meeks is Nearing Marcus Thornton Territory
Coming into the game, Meeks was shooting 35.6 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from beyond the arc. Scott Brooks raved about the veteran as one of the best shooters in the NBA when the Wizards signed him during the offseason, but Washington has yet to reap any of those benefits this season. In 17 minutes of play, much of which came in a three-guard lineup with Wall and Beal, Meeks was 0 of 4 from the field, all three-pointers. His defense is below average and at this rate, even Tomas Satoransky is a better three-point shooter at 41.7 percent.
“Yes we are trying to get him to make some shots,” Brooks said. “When you play with John [Wall], you are going to get open threes. Unfortunately, he did not make them. He is going to start making shots. I believe in what he does. He works hard and I see it every day in practice, so I try to change the minutes. I have to give him a few more minutes with John, because he is the best in finding wing players for wide open threes.”
Kelly Oubre Dropped The Ball Late
When Brooks finally came to his senses, only partially serious, and inserted in Oubre for Meeks, Oubre did provide a bit of a spark offensively with 12 points on 4 of 5 shooting and two three-pointers, but his defensive focus was not there. After Oubre’s tip-in putback of a missed Beal jumper, he gave up a backdoor layup to Joe Ingles for an and-1 that increased the deficit from 2 to 5 with just over six minutes remaining. After Wall hit a three to put Washington up one, Oubre gambled to help on Mitchell and gave Ingles a wide-open look at a three, which he drained with 1:09 to play. Despite Ingles starting the game just 0 of 5 from deep, leaving a 43.3% shooter open is not smart.
“Mental lapses, man,” Oubre said. “What do you want me to say? It’s on me. As a player, I got to do a better job of staying disciplined. … That’s on me. I got to do a better job of pretty much locking in, making sure my man doesn’t do the things he wants to do. I put that on myself 100 percent.”
“I think it was good,” Wall said about the effort before delving into what went wrong, which alluded to Oubre’s lapses. “We just had too many turnovers. We just made simple mental lapses at the end of the game when it’s the fourth quarter, last five minutes and you have to be locked in. I think we had a couple of times where we gave up backdoors, a lot of open threes, threes in transition, not sprinting back. Little things that hurt.”
Lack of Bench Production
Taking Oubre out of the equation, Washington got four points out of a combined 42 minutes from Meeks, Mahinmi, Scott, Satoransky, and Smith. Neither Mahinmi nor Satoransky played in the second half. Walking bucket Mike Scott only took one shot that he made. Nobody on the bench had a positive plus-minus. When Beal came out of the game in the first quarter, Washington had a 27-18 lead, but in a two-minute stretch from late in the first quarter to early in the second quarter, Utah went on a 9-0 run. The Wizards have a better second unit than last season, that is without question, but they still could use a more consistent effort from the backups.