It had all the hallmarks of the kind of game the old Wizards lost in the first half of the season: hot opponent (Chicago came in having won four straight) but decent start, unlucky injury (Josh Howard’s left knee) and subpar second quarter (7 turnovers) resulting in a double-digit halftime lead for the visitors.
Except this isn’t the first half of the season, and apparently, not the same team. So the Wiz won.
The Wizards opened the third quarter with a 16-2 run, they opened the fourth quarter with an 11-2 run, and even when Derrick Rose looked like he was fast enough to dodge bullets in the the lane and Flip Murray was an eerily familiar kryptonite – since he played that role for Charlotte in Washington’s final loss before the all-star break – the Wizards both executed and played tough defense when it matter to hold on.
“We all got together,” said Andray Blatche. “JaVale [McGee], he was the one who actually said it. He said we’ve been in this situation before but we let it slide past us in Toronto. That brought more focus and guys just finished the game out.”
That’s Blatche of the three double-doubles in four games giving credit to McGee of 2 for 4 shooting (50 percent, people) with only one turnover. Their corner of the locker room was an afterthought last month. With Blatche blowing up (another blog post coming up later on him), with McGee showing signs of discipline and control, with yet another game in which this new group has played hard and together and well, there’s more evidence of what was missing before last week’s trades, of what indeed was stale with the Big Three.
“I think our players have more of a sense of urgency,” said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders. “Not to take away from the guys we had, but I think at times they thought, we’ll just play and we’ll get back into it when we have to, and that doesn’t always work.”
What does? Outrebounding Chicago, 43-36, and holding Chicago to 46 percent from the field while shooting 50, and adding another 19 assists.
“It kind of seems like [a pickup game with a bunch of strangers] at times,” said James Singleton. “But we’ve drawn a couple plays during shootaround, and a lot of times I’m lost out there. But whenever in doubt, go set a screen and listen to your other teammates.”
After Rose trimmed the Washington lead to 96-95, the Bulls didn’t score again. Not after an Al Thornton turnaround. Not after a Randy Foye Jumper. Not after one more free throw from Singleton.
“I knew it was a talented group, man,” said Thornton. “But I didn’t realize they’d come out every night and play hard. That’s the thing that coach has been preaching around here. If we come out here and play hard and compete and give ourselves a chance to win at the end of the game, good things happen. I think we’ve been doing that.”
Now, the loss of Howard could hurt. We’ll find out how he’s doing tomorrow, but it would seem unlikely that he’s back on Wednesday, to say the least.
“Josh is one of the go-to players on this team, and he gets buckets with ease,” said Thornton. “The way he went down, it was like, ‘Oh man, I hope it’s not serious.”
I’m giving the last word again to Mike Miller. Can these results be sustained?
“It depends how serious you are about winning,” said Miller. “Obviously, with this team, talent-wise, we aren’t on top of the league. But we’ve got one niche – we play hard, and playing hard can win a lot of games for you. We’ve shown that so far, and our goal the rest of the year is just to play harder than the other team.”
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