Washington Wizards Three Takeaways: Wizards Sneak Out Of Orlando With Win
Washington Wizards had what seemed like an insurmountable lead, but the starters hardly put the Orlando Magic away on Friday night.
The Washington Wizards led by 19 points, but in typical Wizards fashion, they weren’t able to hold the lead and make it easy against the Orlando Magic on Friday night.
Slowly, the Orlando Magic chipped away at Washington’s lead. A 10 point lead was down to one and in moments, the Magic had gotten their own advantage in the fourth quarter.
In the first night of a back-to-back, Washington should’ve put Orlando away early and gotten the starters some rest, but had to battle for 48 minutes.
John Wall led the team to another close victory on the road, 94-91
Turnovers lead to transition points
Washington will never be an elite half-court offensive club. They don’t have enough offensive firepower to rely on playing slow, so they have to create turnovers and run.
Immediately out of the gate, the Wizards put pressure on the Magic and created a number of turnovers which led to fastbreak opportunities.
.@Wizards already with more fast break points then their first meeting with @OrlandoMagic #WizMagic #DCFamily
— Chris Miller ???????????? (@cmillscsn) November 26, 2016
John Wall, in particular, hounded the Magic and came up with steals to give the Wizards a big lead early. His three steals put him second on the all-time list for the Washington Wizards. He passed Elvin Hayes.
The stops Washington got weren’t unforced, either. They showed that they’re capable of playing defense when locked-in, but for some reason, they lack that sort of pressure throughout the course of the entire game.
Beal plays a different role
After scoring 34 points against the Miami Heat and following that performance up with a 42-point game against the Phoenix Suns, the Magic were all over Bradley Beal.
Orlando’s interior defense, anchored by Serge Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo, made it difficult for Beal to get any clean looks inside. Evan Fournier did a solid job of sticking with Beal as he moved without the ball, too, so he couldn’t find a rhythm from deep.
With that said, Beal took on a different role and looked for his teammates. He dished out 8 assists and could’ve been in the double-digits if his teammates converted on a few dimes.
The second unit is a disaster
Scott Brooks has tried different lineups, but at the end of the day, the Washington Wizards’ second unit doesn’t have much talent.
Everybody who came off the bench had a negative +/-. Andrew Nicholson led the bench with 6 points, but it took him 7 shots to reach that total. Tomas Satoransky, for the first time in a while, was a non factor. He missed all four of his shot attempts.
It’ll be interesting to see what Brooks does going forward. Trey Burke and Sheldon McClellan both received DNP-CDs.
A win is a win. At 4-9, the Washington Wizards were going to take whatever they could get. With this “w” in the books, Washington will return home to face the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night.
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