If this season is like a roller coaster, it would be like “The Griffon” at Busch Gardens. It looked like the Wizards were finally getting back on the upswing after an exciting win over the Pistons Friday night. That big win came 48-hours after a devastating loss to the Hornets that began the longest road trip of the season. The Wizards headed to Dallas looking to avenge a loss in DC that came on Nov. 7 to the Mavericks. Like that famous ride at Busch Gardens, the Wizards came straight down and dropped an even worse loss than the one last Wednesday, falling to the Mavericks 98-75.
Here is what Scott Brooks, Bradley Beal and John Wall told the media about the game.
Scott Brooks states the obvious.
“This offense… we couldn’t make a shot. I mean we couldn’t make a wide-open shot, we couldn’t make a layup, and we couldn’t even make non-contested free throws. It was one of those nights. Offensively, we got a lot of good looks, we got a lot of good three’s and they just don’t fall. I thought we were competing throughout the game. We had enough defensive effort and energy, we just couldn’t make any shots. Like I said, we got to the free throw line. We missed a bunch of shots there also.”
The reason why this game was so bad was because of the poor shooting. The game started off fairly even and the first quarter ended with the score knotted at 22. Then things got worse. The Wizards only scored 15 points in the second quarter and 17 in the third quarter. In the third frame, the Wizards shot 4-of-18 (22.2%). Overall, the Wizards hit just 26-of-85 of their shots (30.6%). From three-point range, the Wizards finished 7-of-32. At the charity stripe, the Wizards were 16-of-27. In the paint, the Wizards were outscored 42-20. The 75 total points that the Wizards scored was the second lowest mark they had this season, the worst being 69 points in Utah back on Dec. 4.
Bradley Beal talks about the lack of momentum from the Pistons win.
“You want to view each game as an individual game but that’s definitely some momentum we should’ve built off of and continued to push forward, especially against a team that beat us early in the year and on top of it, had our number for the last decade almost. I feel like our effort and energy was where we needed it to be, it’s just if we put the ball in the basket it would’ve been a different story.”
Beal was right. This contest should’ve helped build the momentum from Friday’s win. Unfortunately this isn’t the first time any of us has said that. In fact it’s been a narrative all season long. Let’s take a look at another point in the season where everyone thought they Wizards finally hit their stride. The biggest example comes from the holiday season. After the Wizards defeated the Celtics on Christmas Day, they came back down to reality falling to the Hawks. In other words, they beat the best team in the Eastern Conference and then lost to the worst team in the Eastern Conference.
While the magnitude of Friday’s win over the Pistons is certainly different than the one that came over the Celtics, you would’ve thought the team got the message that Scott Brooks gave them after last Wednesday’s dismal performance. Monday night’s loss came to the second worst team in the Western Conference.
John Wall talks about rookie Dennis Smith Jr.
“Basically what he said to me was that he looked up to me and the things I did. He has some similarities: an athletic point guard, very quick to the rim. I always admired his game from a distance. I think he’s having a good rookie campaign so far. They’re not winning as much but he’s improving the game better each game and he has a lot of great veterans over here and a great coaching staff that’s helping him out.”
Like John Wall, Dennis Smith Jr. also grew up in North Carolina. Going up against his childhood idol, Smith scored 17 points on 7-of-16 shooting including 2-of-6 from three. Those numbers also included six asssits and two steals.
John Wall on the other hand finished with 11 points, five assists, three rebounds and missed all four of his three-point attempts. Wall wasn’t quite 100% as he was initially a game-time decision with a migraine but he still played. Smith shut down Wall in the second half. Wall didn’t score and only had one assist.
Things got a little chippy, but Beal said trash talk is part of the game.
“They saw it as a challenge to play against two guys like John and I and they did a good job. It was chippy, there’s trash talk all the time and it was a little physical but I didn’t think it was gonna escalate past that. They were making shots, we weren’t making shots so that’s where the trash talking came and I think it was nothing out of the ordinary.”
Bradley Beal is talking about the trash talking that unfolded between himself and Dennis Smith Jr. after Smith locked arms with him at midcourt in the third quarter.
Also in the third, Salah Mejri was ejected from the game and Kelly Oubre Jr. waved goodbye to him.
John Wall and J.J. Berea also exchanged strong words at each other in the fourth quarter. Barea told the media after the game, “Now I have somebody in the NBA that I don’t like.”
It was almost like watching a Redskins vs. Cowboys game, though those contests on the football field between Washington and Dallas are just a tad bit more intense.
Next up for the Wizards is a Thursday night TNT game at the Oklahoma City Thunder. National TV and an elite NBA team, what could possibly go wrong?