The easy part was getting up for some of the best teams in the Western Conference. The hard part, it seems for the Washington Wizards, is maintaining the same focus and intensity against some of the dregs of the NBA.
With a weakened Cleveland Cavaliers team in town, the Wizards once again continued a disturbing trend of letting down their guard and intensity against an opponent that is looking up at them in the standings. In one of their worst defensive performances of the season, the Wizards repeatedly gave the Cavaliers open looks and second chances and were a a step slow to rotate and react. Their indifferent defense had consequneces: The Wizards left the Verizon Center floor to the sound of fans announcing their displeasure with boos following a 115-113 loss.
All of the positivity generated from the Wizards getting over .500 for the first time in more than four years hasn’t completely vanished, but the momentum has been subdued by back-to-back losses. In the past three weeks, the Wizards (24-25) have defeated Miami, Oklahoma City and Portland in their building, but they have also lost to a depleted Boston, Detroit and now Cleveland, which was a hot mess upon arrival.
The Cavaliers (17-33) had lost their previous six games, including the past four by double-digits. They fired General Manager Chris Grant a day earlier after the team lost to a Los Angeles Lakers team that only had five healthy players, including one who had committed six fouls.
John Wall scored a game-high 32 points and handed out 10 assists and the Wizards had five different players score in double-figures. Kyrie Irving had 23 points and 12 assists as the Cavaliers improved to 2-1 against the Wizards, with both wins coming at Verizon Center.
Cleveland backup guard Dion Waiters scored a team-high 24 points the Cavaliers’ reserves outscored the Wizards’ second unit, 58-26. The Cavaliers had their way offensively, taking advantage of every defensive breakdown and dominating Washington on the glass. Cleveland outrebounded the Wizards, 45-34 and shot 59 percent through the first three quarters. The Cavaliers led 101-87 early in the fourth quarter, before the Wizards staged a ferocious but futile rally to get within two points with six seconds remaining when Martell Webster (18 points) made his sixth three-pointer but were able to get no closer.
A day after being named as a participant in the three-point contest, Bradley Beal had another terrible shooting night. He scored just nine points on 4-of-15 shooting and couldn’t get much to go his way all night.
In the fourth quarter, Wall drove to the basket, elevated and tossed a pass to an open Beal for a corner three-pointer. Beal made the shot but Wall was called for an offensive foul, negating the basket.
Later, when the Wizards were making a run to get back into the game, Beal was out alone for a fastbreak but as he went up for a seemingly easy layup, the ball slipped from his hands and soared over the rim and off the backboard. Beal looked around for a foul call, thinking that Irving had clipped him, but he never heard a whistle.
Marcin Gortat (19 points) started the game by hammering home a dunk, the Wizards spent the rest of the night chasing around the Cavaliers and giving them whatever they wanted offensively. Luol Deng, whom Cleveland acquired from the Bulls last month, missed the game with an illness, but his fill-in, C.J. Miles more than compensated for his absence by scoring 18 points.
Coach Randy Wittman gave his starters an opportunity to get some rest on Thursday to recover from a double-overtime loss to the San Antonio Spurs the previous night. The players watched film and the reserves scrimmaged to stay fresh. The approach backfired as the Wizards dropped to 12-13 at home.
Wittman, searching for a spark, at one point turned to seldom-used backup Jan Vesely, who had a forgettable six-minute span in which he missed an alley-oop dunk and a point-blank jump hook.
