Kevin Durant said both Tuesday after the Thunder practiced at Verizon Center and before Wednesday’s game, in which Oklahoma City was upset by the Wizards, 105-102, that his hometown team was better than its record. Perhaps he saw the same hints of something that the Wizards themselves had seen in their previous games, the little signs of progress that can only be found when digging deep beyond the pain of what comes to the surface when a team loses over and over again.
“We know we’re better that our record, but it’s just times that we get selfish as a team and we don’t play hard throughout 48 minutes,” John Wall said. “To play against the best teams, like we did tonight, we gotta play hard every minute. Tonight we just played as a team.”
And smack dab in the middle of a difficult stretch, the Wizards have their second win, even if it was aided by the rare off night of a team that expects to contend for an NBA title in a few months’ time.
A few observations:
Man, that was a nasty crowd early. The Verizon Center booed Andray Blatche went he was introduced, and Blatche responded with 12 points, 10 rebounds and ferocious, physical defense on Kendrick Perkins, who had five rebounds but didn’t score a point.
“I just wanted to play hard and play physical,” said Blatche, who ended up chest to chest with Perkins at one point. “They came in and we said they was going to be a physical team, don’t take no slack. We came out with the right attitude and wanted to be aggressive. I think it just showed I’m still here.”
Blatche’s offensive game still leaves plenty to be desired, both in his jump shot selection and his indecision and inability to finish around the rim. But he has a chance to make something of a season that couldn’t have started off worse by focusing on what he can provide through energy and hustle.
“Since he’s come back from his injury, he’s trying to play the right way,” Wizards coach Flip Saunders said. “He’s playing with a good amount of energy. He’s playing team basketball, and I think as a team, we’re playing better team basketball.
There’s no disputing that he’s earned some of the groans and disgust, but he showed against the Thunder that he has the ability to channel that energy and not let it bring him down.
“It’s tough to take some open shots, when I take some and I miss, and the boos come out,” Blatche said. “I don’t know. It stems down your shot selection so it was just tough.”
I tackled John Wall’s slump in Wednesday’s edition. It’s over.
Backed up by Washington’s defense and Nick Young’s second half heat from behind the arc, Wall took control at the offensive end in the fourth quarter. In one stretch, he used the pick and roll perfectly to find JaVale McGee for an easy alley oop, and the next time down the floor, when things unfolded differently as Durant rotated down, Wall calmly pushed the ball to Young for a 3-pointer. That kind of execution has been sorely lacking throughout much of the early portion of the season.
“We knew they were going to ice us out of pick and roll shots so we didn’t try to force shots or force to split it,” Wall said. “We just moved the ball ahead and played as a team.”
And by the way, on the next possession Wall found McGee again, this time running the floor for another alley oop that was powerful, intimidating without showboating. What a concept.
Wall was fearless taking charges and he also had arguably the offensive play of the game when Jordan Crawford found him exploding out of nowhere for a massive alley oop slam of his own to tie the game at 76-76.
“I think it was a big play,” Wall said. “It gave us a chance to tie the game up and give us a run when they had their star players on the bench, and we kept playing hard and fighting back.”
Jan Vesely is improving and contributing.
After playing significant minutes down the stretch against Houston on Monday, the rookie delivered another crucial complementary performance, with six points, three rebounds, a block and a steal. Vesely still sorely lacks rhythm in the half court offense, but he moves the ball with easy, gets very high for rebounds and gets his long arms stuck in lots of places the other team doesn’t expect.
“One, you can see his basketball intelligence,” Saunders said. “He picks things up really quick, knows how to play. He’s one of those guys you can put out there, and he just gets his hands on a lot of balls, keeps balls alive. I thought him, JaVale, a lot of guys kept a lot of balls alive on the offensive glass, tipped them back out. We had a lot of young guys out there playing, and they played with no fear.”
Were Russell Westbrook and Durant really off their games?
Are we really asking that when they scored 36 and 33 points respectively? Begrudingly, yes, because the rest of the team was absent. James Harden (13 points) was definitely off, and so was Perkins.
Next steps.
“Our first group is having problems,” Saunders said. “We’re having problems starting games. We’re having problems starting halves. So that’s something we’ve got to address as far as what we’re going to do with that because if it wasn’t for our defense being so good early, we might’ve been down 18-2.”
Just like everything else with this team, there’s no magic fix. There’s no instant offense sitting on that bench waiting to be unleashed. For now, there’s nothing wrong with setting the tone with defense and physicality.
For the moment, it’s worth it to think about what went right for a team that needed some proof that things could go right, even for just one game.
“I think it’s just gratifying because when you’re not playing, you don’t all of a sudden just start playing great,” Saunders said. “It gradually happens. I thought that started happening a little, but we knew our schedule was going to be tough. We were saying that we can be better, and what happens is we might not win games, and sometimes players, when they don’t see that self-gratification right away, then they wonder, am I really getting better or not… It gives them some confidence, that what they’re doing, what they’re working on, that it’s paying off.”
