Courtside in the middle of a game is not exactly the time or the place for a conversation between a head coach and a team owner.
But with Wizards owner Ted Leonsis sitting directly next to the Washington bench at Verizon Center, Flip Saunders had to offer some commentary on what both of them were enduring Friday night because it wasn’t pretty. The Wizards’ effort and aggressiveness were still enough to grind out an 89-86 result over Memphis, the young team’s grittiest win of the young season – only two nights after losing by 31 points at Boston.
“I turned to Ted during the game, and I said, ‘It’s like going to the dentist for a root canal,’ the way we were playing,” said Saunders. “I give our guys credit because they hung in there.”
But like a root canal, some good is meant to come from the exercise even though it hurts, just like seeing JaVale McGee make up for what was nearly the most egregious mistake of the game. With the Wizards holding on to a slim, 82-79 lead with under four minutes to play, McGee (10 points, 12 rebounds, three blocks) drove in the lane and lost the ball to Mike Conley. But the third-year center rescued himself and his team by chasing down Conley from behind and blocking his fast break layup off the backboard.
The Grizzlies (4-9) never tied or led again, and McGee’s dunk putback of a Gilbert Arenas miss a short time later all but sealed the result.
The Wizards (4-7) also shot a dismal 38 percent from the field but made up for it by fighting to get to the free throw line 35 times, making 30 attempts.
Kirk Hinrich (22 points, six assists) went to the line five times and made each of his free throws (he finished the night a perfect 9 for 9) during a solo 7-0 run in the third quarter that pulled Washington back into the game just when it had started to slip away. Pushing the ball in transition as if he were his rookie teammate, John Wall – who missed his third consecutive game with a sprained left foot – Hinrich scored 12 points in the quarter and cut the Memphis lead to 55-54 by finishing up an old-fashioned three-point play.
“Tonight it seemed like we were having trouble finding our rhythm all night,” said Hinrich. “Offensively, it just wasn’t coming naturally like it sometimes does so we were just trying to change up the game, muck up the game and tough it out. That’s what we were able to do.”
Arenas had a game-high 24 points, including a three-pointer that put Washington in front for good with 4 minutes, 16 seconds remaining. But his defense was equally impressive, as he helped force O.J. Mayo (three points) into missing ten of 11 shots from the field.
“Overall, we were still aggressive, we got to the free-throw line and we stopped most of their scorers from scoring,” said Arenas. “It was a team defense tonight, not just me.”
Andray Blatche (17 points, nine rebounds) was also persistent against Zach Randolph (19 points, 12 rebounds), and even Al Thornton got into the act after a poor offensive outing that included missing a chance to put the game away on the Wizards’ final possession. When the Grizzlies got the ball back with 10.0 seconds remaining, Thornton prevented Rudy Gay (11 points) from receiving the inbounds pass, leading to Arenas then contesting Mayo’s game-tying attempt before Mike Conley (12 points) threw up an airball at the buzzer.
Not pretty, but effective.
“I think we’re a young team that every day, we’re trying to come in and play hard, get wins, and try not to take any steps backwards,” said Hinrich. “Because we got a lot of guys who are growing as players, and we’re growing as a team. It’s important that when you get big wins, you continue to keep trying to take steps forward.”
Note: The game marked the Washington return of former Maryland guard Greivis Vasquez, who was selected by Memphis in the first round of the 2010 NBA Draft. Vasquez finished with five points.
