(Photo: Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images)
Wizards 125
Magic 119
January 12, 2018 | Capital One Arena | Washington, D.C.
If you’re a basketball fan who loves offense and high scoring affairs, then this was the game for you. This contest between the Washington Wizards and the Orlando Magic was a back and fourth contest that over 48 minutes of action featured 12 ties and 13 lead changes. In the end, the Wizards pulled away with a 125-119 win over the Magic. The victory snapped a two-game losing streak.
Offense, offense and more offense
“Well.. you wanted offense? You got it.”
That was how Scott Brooks opened up his postgame press conference.
The Wizards and the Magic lit up the scoreboard on Friday night combining for 196 points the fourth quarter even started. Each Magic starter posted double figures with Elfrid Payton leading the charge 27 points. On the Wizards side of things, they got big nights from John Wall, Bradley Beal and Marcin Gortat on the starting unit, while Kelly Oubre Jr. and Ian Mahinmi carried the bench.
John Wall hits a milestone and the House of Guards combine for 60 points
On this driving layup by John Wall, he became the the youngest player in Wizards history to record 10,000 points at 27 years and 128 days. Wall recorded his second consecutive 30-point game and has averaged 25.3 points per game in his last six games dating back to the final day of 2017.
Wall had an injury scare at the end of the first half as he rolled his left ankle on a rebounding play in the final seconds. He was limping in pain but came back out after the half. In the third quarter he had 10 points and in the fourth with the Wizards only ahead two, hit two big jump shots to help put the game away.
Beal also scored 30 points which marked the ninth straight game he has posted 20 or more points, the second-longest of his career. This game was the first time in Beal’s career that he scored 30 points without recording a three.
A big night off the bench for Ian Mahinmi
Ian Mahinmi tallied a season-high 17 points, marking the most points he’s scored as a member of the Wizards. His previous highest mark came on an 18-point night back on March 29, 2016 as a member of the Pacers. Mahinmi had his best game in a Washington uniform with solid defense and a bonus 7 of 8 shooting from the field. The backup center modestly attributed his strong showing to being in the "right spot at the right time."
"With our bigs, we try to keep everything pretty simple, great screens and roll hard," Brooks said. "And when they have two guys on our point guards or our playmakers, our bigs are going to have to roll with their thumbs out because John's firing the ball to them. I give Ian credit, he caught every pass that he threw and in offensive rebounds, he was good around the basket. That's something that we've been telling them, we need to get better. We're not looking for him to have big nights like this, he's a pick-and-roll defender, he's a rim protector, he's a ball mover. It's nice to have some points out of him."
Going hard in the paint
The Wizards tallied a season-high 74 points in the paint which marked the most points they have scored since having 80 in the paint in a triple overtime win at Toronto on Feb. 27, 2014. With only four made three-pointers on the night, Washington had to find other ways to score and they did.
"Just being aggressive," Beal said. "Being in attack mode, putting the ball on the floor, making plays, try to force the ref to blow the whistle a little bit. Stay in attack mode. When Biyombo [Bismack] isn’t in the game they don’t have too many shot blockers, so we took advantage of that. Even when he was in the game, try to attack him and get him in foul trouble. We just did a good job of hitting our bigs on rolls and guards penetrating."
The Wizards led the magic in points in the paint by 22 and that margin is the largest the Wizards have had this season.
"Just have to do a better job on defense starting with me," Magic wing Jonathon Simmons said about their paint defense. "My defense was atrocious tonight, so just going back and just looking at the film and just trying to tighten up those loose screws on the defensive end."
Good offense = Bad defense
As the old cliché goes, it couldn’t be more true. On the Wizards side of things, they nearly had another scare against a sub-.500 team. The Magic came into the contest losers of 15 of their last 16 games. In the first half, Orlando shot 63.2% from the field and 44.4% from beyond the arc.
"When we missed, they got the rebound, they ran, and they ran, and they ran," Brooks said. "Our transition defense wasn't good, and it's been pretty good. Our defense has been pretty good for most of the year. Our offense has been taking a step back recently. We focus on offense, and it always happens, you focus on offense, the defense shows some slippage. And the pick-and-roll coverage. [Bismack] Biyombo just got so many easy points around the basket and we fouled and gave them too many and ones. That's two games in a row we gave their guys and ones, and if you want to foul, you got to put them for two free throws, not one."
"Well, we just did a great job of taking better shots, but also getting back in transition, but even in the end, we gave up four quick layups," Wall said about the difference in the fourth quarter. "We do a better job in transition. They are team with [Elfrid] Payton, even though we made or missed, he was pushing every time, trying to find guys. We kinda went small and was able to switch everything and did a better containing the ball."
The Wizards defense improved in the second half as they held the Magic to 40.5% shooting. In the fourth quarter, Washington locked in to hold Orlando to 21 points after allowing 98 points in the previous three quarters combined.
"We were two different defensive teams," Beal said about the improved defense late. "Sixty points in the first half [are] way too many. They got a lot of layups in the first half -- just easy transition buckets, easy rolls to Biyombo [Bismack] with no tags on the weak side. It was too easy. We got them out of their comfort zone in the second half. Got into them, we were aggressive. We weren’t worried about fouls, but just playing all out, playing for each other. Just being aggressive."
Next Game: The Wizards will be back at it on Saturday night as the Brooklyn Nets come to DC for the first time this season. Washington will look to avenge two tough road losses to the Nets.