Clippers 107, Wizards 81 There were at least three things in abundance Saturday night at Verizon Center.
First, there were the fans, a season-high 19,419, attracted to the spectacle that has become the Los Angeles Clippers this season.
On cue, second-year forward and NBA all-star Blake Griffin delivered the second item worth counting, though it was difficult to keep track of his seemingly endless reel of highlight dunks and alley oops, including four in the first quarter alone.
Third, there were the boos for the Wizards (4-20), which certainly haven’t been unusual of late, and were hardly unexpected. But the occasions of crowd displeasure were numerous enough to tally during a tragically comic third quarter in which Washington waved the white flag of surrender in an eventual 107-81 blowout loss. The fourth straight defeat, by the third largest margin of the season, helped wipe away any fleeting notions of improvement that the Wizards had seen in their week and a half under interim coach Randy Wittman.
“I think we embarrassed ourselves,” Wizards forward Rashard Lewis said. “We didn’t do nothing tonight as a unit, all of us, we didn’t come out to play. We basically didn’t play well at all. I can take a loss, but when you come out and lose like that on your home court, it’s embarrassing.”
Lewis should know. The second-highest paid player in the NBA – Lewis will make approximately $22 million this season – managed only two points, two steals and was at the center of the Wizards’ unraveling after halftime, by which point they were already down by 24 points.
First, Lewis intercepted a Chauncey Billups pass and set off on the fast break. Throwing the ball to John Wall (14 points, seven assists), Lewis received the ball in return but got rid of it once more, sending it over Wall, who was preparing for an alley oop feed, and into the stands.
Moments later, on another steal and fast break, Lewis passed the ball into the back of Nick Young (14 points on 16 shots), who wasn’t looking. Then, after making his only shot of the night, Lewis committed an offensive foul and traveled on consecutive possessions.
Wittman and Wall responded to the mess by jawing their way into a pair of technical fouls. Power forward Kevin Seraphin chipped in with a high-arcing mess of an entry pass to Young, who was posting up on the baseline 15 feet away from the basket. Wall tried to stop the bleeding, but dribbled into Griffin and ended up on his back pleading for a timeout. On the ensuing possession, after getting a play diagramed in the huddle by Wittman, the Wizards had a shot clock violation.
“I’m just disappointed in how we came out tonight,” Wall said. “We wasn’t prepared, and they came with a statement and just blew us out of the water, kept playing hard and at times it was like we was down, and they just kept playing. A team like that is going to try to demolish you as much as possible.”
Indeed. Mo Williams (17 points, eight assists) later delivered a no-look feed to Griffin (21 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists) for an alley oop and an 81-50 lead for the Clippers (14-7).
“It’s pitiful, man,” Wall said. “It’s like they did whatever they wanted whenever they wanted all night.”
DeAndre Jordan (18 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks) then followed Griffin’s free throw miss with a slam over top of JaVale McGee (four points, four rebounds, two blocks) and right in front of his mother, Pamela McGee, making a face that could’ve been mistaken for a message to someone who’s looking for her son to get the same kind of contract (four years, $43 million) that Jordan signed in December.
Caron Butler, in his first return to Washington since being traded away from the Wizards two years ago, scored 14 points, and Billups added 12 by hitting all four 3-pointers he attempted. It was more than enought to make up for just two points from Chris Paul, who had seven assists and three steals.
“Playing a team of this caliber, one that we didn’t seem to be ready to match, especially up front. I thought we got dominated again in every category,” Wittman said.
With the home team down 87-53 at the end of the period, some fans started for the exits. The Wizards, meanwhile, have to come back on Monday to face the Raptors, who beat them by 17 points on Friday night in Toronto.
