We can all take a deep breath. There will not be a replication of last season’s 0-12 start. The Wizards are in the win column after a 116-102 win over the Philadelphia 76ers Wednesday night. We saw flashes of how good this offense and certainly John Wall could be as the season moves forward.
The Wizards were launched into the win column because of a great team effort on the offensive end Wednesday. Seven players scored in double figures. The two players to stand out in that group were Wall and Marcin Gortat.
Wall was excellent in all facets of the game and played like the player we thought he was going to be heading into the year over the entire game for the first time of the season. As a Wizards fan, you love what you saw from Wall during their first win. He was getting teammates involved (9 assists), looking for his own shot (24 points), and knocking down the three ball (5/8 from deep). When he is hitting jump shots he becomes one of the hardest players in the league to contain because of his speed and ability to finish at the hoop. It’s not just that, though. When he is connecting on outside jumpers, he makes everyone else around him better because defenses must make adjustments. This leads to Wall beating his defender more often and finding open players. This was a big part of why the Wizards knocked down a franchise-record 18 three pointers and that six different Wizards made a three. The Wizards need Wall to be able to hit shots. Five threes a game is asking too much of anyone, but if he can hit two or three at a high percentage, it will only make the Wizards’ offense better.
Gortat had his finest performance as a Wizard. He poured in 19 points on 8-12 shooting while racking up 12 rebounds as well. He hit a variety of shots and looked like the skilled offensive big the Wizards thought they were getting when they obtained him from Phoenix last month. He was a beast on the offensive boards, grabbing five offensive rebounds and turning them into second chance points for himself and the rest of the team. The Wizards need him to attack the glass and look to score like he did Wednesday for the rest of the season because of the team’s continued lackluster defensive effort.
Speaking of defense, it wasn’t as bad as it has been in the previous games. However, the Wizards still rank 28th in defensive rating on the year. It is going to be a process and with not many good defenders, they might only be capable of being a mediocre defense. The game Wednesday showed this team has the ability to get out and run and knock down the three ball. Will we see more of this? I would love to see more Martell Webster, who looked like a guy worth his contract Wednesday after hitting four threes. The Wizards may want to really try and get after it offensively because it seems they have the most potential on that end. Of course, they must improve their defense in order to make the playoffs, but if you can’t be a top-10 defense, why not be a top-10 offense?
The win against the 76ers was a sigh of relief. Not just getting the win, but the way the Wizards played showed us flashes of what could be to come from this year’s team.