76ers 103, Wizards 90 Should anyone on a team that has won only once in 12 games actively campaign for selection to NBA All-Star Game?
No matter the Wizards’ record, JaVale McGee made quite a case for himself in Saturday’s 103-90 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at Verizon Center. The question is whether his bumper statistical night, as well as that of Nick Young and John Wall, amounted to much in a contest that was friendly in the box score but largely uncompetitive over the final three quarters.
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McGee hit 11 of 13 shots from the field for a season-high 23 points, pulled down a career high-matching 18 rebounds and made a season high-matching five blocks. Young added 16 of his team- and season-high 27 points in the second half, but the Wizards also didn’t get within nine points of the lead after halftime.
Wall (19 points, nine assists, nine rebounds) came within an assist and a rebound of a triple double but also committed a season-high eight turnovers, including seven in the first half and three in the decisive second quarter, in which Washington was outscored, 29-14. It was the 20th time in 48 quarters played this season that the Wizards failed to score at least 20 points.
“I feel like I lost the game, you know what I mean,” Wall said. “Basically, they scored all the fastbreak points off that, just from them jumping in the passing lane, not reading them and some of them, I was just careless and lost the ball, and they got out to runs.”
McGee, who recently changed his Twitter picture to a montage of pictures that say “Vote JaVale” and has retweeted those who have endorsed his bid for an All-Star nod, bounced back from an ugly 4-for-13 performance in a 120-89 loss at Philadelphia the night before by making his first eight shots. Instead of 15-foot jumpers, McGee found his rhythm with a variety of hooks, layups and slam dunks. He also chased down Spencer Hawes to block the Sixers center from behind on the fast break and helped the Wizards finish with a dominant 53-37 rebounding advantage.
“Whenever you’re losing, it’s hard to get things of that nature: All-Star and players of the year, defensive, most improved, stuff like that,” said McGee, who was fifth in voting for Eastern Conference centers last week. “It just doesn’t come to players that are losing, but I mean, just whatever.”
McGee still missed an occasional rotation and landed on Lou Williams (24 points) twice in block attempts that instead turned into fouls, but his biggest blemish might’ve been three misses in four attempts from the line. His greatest challenge remains putting together consistent performances on a reliable basis.
“He played how we would’ve liked him to play last night,” Wizards coach Flip Saunders said. “That’s how he has to play from the standpoint of protect the rim, not chase shots, let things come to him, play off other people. He had a very solid, all-around game.”
But the Wizards (1-11) might’ve owned a larger advantage than 26-23 after the first quarter if it weren’t for Wall’s errant ball handling and passes, which helped the Sixers (9-3) pile up 21 points off 13 turnovers by halftime.
Wall wasn’t helped by the Wizards frontline of Chris Singleton, Trevor Booker and Rashard Lewis, who were a combined 4-for-22 from the field and scored a total of eight points. Lewis missed nine of 10 shots while Andray Blatche missed his third straight game with a sprained right shoulder.
“The first half looked like Space Jam, when everyone lost all their talents and couldn’t do anything for a while,” Saunders said. “But I told them when you haven’t passed the ball very much, and you’ve been holding the ball, all of a sudden as a team when you try to start doing it, it’s like guys aren’t ready.”
Led by a 42 points off the bench just from Williams and Thaddeus Young (18 points) – nearly triple the production from Washington’s entire second unit, which scored only 15 – and 23 points from Andre Iguodala, the Sixers cruised to their eighth win in nine games and second straight victory over the Wizards.
“We came back and fought hard and made it a better game than it was yesterday,” Wall said. “But just know when you play against those teams that you’re going to see a lot and try to just pound you every time you get a chance.”
