Songaila, Dixon show the way, Blatche, McGuire follow the lead
While Detroit Pistons went small last night, the Washington Wizards went old.
Badly in need of a spark after 20 unsightly minutes of uninspired basketball, the Wizards got it from an unlikely trio of veteran reserves. With Darius Songaila, Juan Dixon and Antonio Daniels helping reverse a terrible start, Washington rallied from a 17-point first half deficit to defeat Detroit, 107-94, before 14,707 at the Verizon Center.
Dixon (16 points, 7 assists), Songaila (15 points, 5 rebounds), and Daniels (5 points) led an inspired effort by the entire Wizards bench. After the vets showed the way in the second period, young reserves Nick Young (9 points), Andray Blatche (8 points, 5 rebounds), and Dominic McGuire (6 points) put a charge in the Wizards in the second half.
“What the bench came in and brought us was just unbelievable,” said Caron Butler (33 points). “You’ve got to tip your hat to them and encourage them and lead them. Hopefully this is the beginning of a wonderful thing.”
It was the best all-around performance this season by the Wizards’ bench, which hit 23 of 38 shots from the floor (60.5 percent), and out-scored the Pistons’ reserves, 59-15.
“Sometimes the five guys that come out and start can’t do it by themselves,” said Songaila. “Tonight was a perfect example of guys coming off the bench, bringing some energy, knocking down shots and making hustle plays. There was an opportunity for us and we took it.”
Washington (4-15) trailed, 66-57, midway through the third period before going on a 19-2 run, touched off by a 20-footer by Dixon. Blatche gave the Wizards their first lead, 68-66, with a put-back slam, then finished off the surge with an emphatic driving, tomahawk dunk over Rasheed Wallace.
“Our young guys were just unbelievable tonight. They had effort and energy,” said Butler. “They did some unique things out there and got themselves and the crowd energized and we just fed off it.”
During the run, forward Antawn Jamison (10 points, 11 rebounds), who was held to two points in the first 32 minutes, hit three shots from the lane in a span of 100 seconds.
McGuire elevated the Wizards at the start of the fourth period, hitting a 20-footer from the baseline, a put-back slam, and a driving reverse layup. McGuire also contributed strong defense on Richard Hamilton (29 points), who had torched his former team by scoring 14 points in the first seven minutes of the first period.
“He has a very defined role,” said Wizards coach Ed Tapscott. “He’s going to get the hottest player on the floor. Sometimes that allows [Caron Butler] and Antawn to just get a breather so they can keep their legs for the offensive end.”
On a night that belonged to the Wizards’ bench, Butler was the best player on the floor. He hit 9 of 15 from the field and 14 of 14 from the free-throw line on his way to his game-high 33 points. Butler also had six assists and five rebounds.
Before the reserves put their stamp on the game, it started like so many Wizards defeats. Detroit (11-9) scored the first nine points, seven coming from former Wizard Wallace (19 points). When Allen Iverson (13 points) opened the second period with a jumper, the Pistons took their biggest lead, 17 points.
But with Daniels, Songaila, and Dixon on the floor and Detroit resting its starters, Washington ran its intricate offense to precision, scoring on 10 of the final 12 possessions of the half. Daniels hit a driving layup to start a 15-3 run to close the second period, and close Detroit’s lead to 46-43.
“We knew coming in that Songaila is a guy that can make shots. He plays well in the Princeton offense,” said Detroit coach Michael Curry. “We know Juan Dixon can make shots. Juan was here last year with us.”
When the second half started, Songaila and Daniels remained in the game, replacing starters JaVale McGee and Dee Brown, and the Wizards continued to thrive.
“We have to get ourselves moving and not panic. I asked every guy who went in the game to commit to that before entering,” said Tapscott. “I told them don’t worry about the score. We are going to get back into the game and be aggressive. When we play with energy and move the ball, all of a sudden we look like a different team.”
Down the stretch, Detroit closed the lead to four, threatening to become the ninth team to beat Washington after trailing in the fourth period. But Dixon scored seven points in the final 48 seconds to keep the Wizards in command.
“I wasn’t sweating at all,” joked Tapscott, who improved to 3-5 as coach. “You know how a coach responds to that, ‘How many timeouts we got?’ You know at the end of the game every team makes a run. This is the NBA.”
Notes
Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson (1 for 8) sported a Mohawk hair cut … Starters JaVale McGee and Dee Brown played only a combined 10 minutes … The Memphis Commercial Appeal reported Tuesday that the Wizards are discussing a possible deal for Grizzlies reserve point guard Javaris Crittenton.
Up next
Celtics at Wizards
When » Thursday, 8
Where » Verizon Center
TV » CSN
RADIO » 980 AM
This will be the first meeting between the Wizards and Boston (20-2). The defensive-minded Celtics, led by F Kevin Garnett (16.4 points per game, 9.4 rpg), G Ray Allen (19.2 ppg), and F Paul Pierce (18.2 ppg), are first in the league in point differential (13.3 per game), and second in points allowed (90.9) and field-goal percent allowed (41.5).
