Washington Wizards Three Takeaways: Wizards Gain Road Momentum Against Chicago Bulls
Washington Wizards have been struggling on the road all season long, but managed to complete a comeback against the Chicago Bulls.
The Washington Wizards, desperately in need of some road success, collected a big victory in Chicago against the Bulls, 107-97.
Washington was paced by big games from its star guards, with John Wall registering 23 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals, and Bradley Beal notching 21 points to go along with 5 assists.
While Beal did struggle with his shot (7-18 from the field, including 1-7 from deep), the bigger story was the defensive effort they displayed against the Bulls’ backcourt of Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade.
Rondo and Wade were anemic offensively, combining to shoot just 8-30 (which became 14-50 if you include Jimmy Butler), as they were harassed all night by the Wizards’ surprisingly stout perimeter defense.
The Bulls jumped out to a huge lead early, up by as much as 13, before Washington closed the gap to just 1 at the break.
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The third quarter remained tightly contested with the bench providing the necessary production, specifically from Trey Burke and Marcus Thornton, and in the final period the House of Guards put the clamps on any comeback efforts from Chicago.
Here are my 3 key takeaways from a sloppy, yet entertaining (and much needed) victory:
John Wall is a superstar
Wednesday was a perfect example of Wall’s value to the team.
When the Washington Wizards trailed 52-44, Wall turned into a one man wrecking crew, careening to the basket, finding Beal for open threes and disrupting passing lanes to turn the Bulls over.
By the time he was done, Washington was up 1 and right back in the thick of things.
Despite Wall’s flaws, he always plays hard and knows when the team needs a pick-me-up.
Wednesday was a great reflection of understanding the game situation and playing the role of scorer rather than facilitator to jump start the offense.
In addition, after Washington got absolutely slaughtered on the glass in the first quarter, he started hanging around the boards thereafter, helping Marcin Gortat and Markieff Morris out against one of the best rebounding teams in the NBA.
Send help from the big man factory
One would think, as a logical human, that spending a combined $106 million on 3 players who strictly lineup at either power forward or center, and none of whom were expected to start, means big man depth is at an all-time high.
Despite blowing all of our cap space on big men, Washington is still scrambling to find consistent bench play behind Marcin Gortat and Markieff Morris.
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Monday showed us a glimpse into these problems with the way Thaddeus Young and Myles Turner were able to control the glass and it was more of the same against Chicago.
Chicago grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, including 6 in the first quarter, as Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson combined for 9 among themselves.
Part of the problem, of course, is lack of talent in the frontcourt to help solidify the defensive glass.
But I do think there is blame to be placed on the shoulders of the wings, who don’t seem to be interested in boxing out or helping out their bigs and would rather leak out to start the next possession.
I understand Washington is at its best in a fastbreak setting but you need the ball first to score on the other end.
Tides are turning
Washington is still an inconsistent ballclub but it has shown flashes of improvement this month.
The home win against the Clippers followed by 3 road contests was going to be a tough test and so far they’ve performed quite ably. The team probably dropped a winnable game vs. Indiana but a win on Friday vs. Milwaukee would the team closer to .500 and back into the playoff mix.
The defense still shows lapses but isn’t the complete turnstile it was earlier in the year.
Offensively, Beal and Wall have been filling it up and shooting much more efficiently and intermittent performances from Otto Porter, Morris, and Gortat have kept the offense humming.
Obviously, they need more from the bench but with potential rumors of a Will Barton trade, help may be on the way.
Washington has a chance to enter 2017 on a positive note with a relatively easy schedule the rest of December. It’ll be important to close out hard and build momentum for the stretch run.
