Washington Wizards: 3 takeaways from their first victory of the season

PORTLAND, OR - OCTOBER 22: The Portland Trail Blazers stands for the National Anthem before the game against the Washington Wizards on October 22, 2018 at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Cameron Browne/NBAE via Getty Images) /

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Photo by Cameron Browne/NBAE via Getty Images /

3. Small-ball is here to stay

In the early going, the Wizards were struggling and trailing in the game, and it looked like they could use a different lineup. As a result, Scott Brooks abandoned the center spot and played a lineup of Wall-Beal-Oubre-Porter-Morris. It seemingly worked in the victory. Jeff Green was also thrown in the mix, but to close out the game, Brooks went with the above rotation.

The lineup has two big keys going forward and will need to continue to work on them to find consistency. One key they need to work on is rebounding. The Wizards were out-rebounded 70-54 on Monday night and although they got the victory, they’ll need their guards to really bear down on crashing the defensive glass to offset things.

The other big key is free throw shooting. The Washington Wizards shot just 18-of-26 (69.2 percent) from the free throw line against Portland. Wall missed two free throws with 6.6 seconds left in overtime that would have put the Wizards up three. Idealistically, if they made their free throws, overtime wouldn’t have been needed, but hey, they still won. Down the line, they’ll need to get this under control.

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