WASHINGTON - The old Washington Wizards showed up Friday night - the team that last year oozed swagger and compared itself to a hardcore rap label.
In this Eastern Conference first-round playoff series, that Wizards team had been missing and replaced with an inferior copycat that shriveled against the top-seeded Toronto Raptors. Ahead of Game 3, Washington Coach Scott Brooks believed the soul of that team still existed inside this current roster. So he didn’t bench a starter or reconstruct the rotation. He instead wagered the outcome of the series on the belief that his old team was coming back.
Through a night of fist pumping and primal screams, Washington registered a pulse inside Capital One Arena and defeated the Raptors, 122-103. The old Wizards are indeed alive and well - and now trailing two games to one in this best-of-seven matchup.
“The biggest thing [was] we were down 2-0. If that’s not a wake-up call in itself, then we don’t deserve to be here,” Wizards guard Bradley Beal said. “But everybody was locked in from shoot-around and the last couple of days, actually. Even after we lost Game 2, everybody was pretty much locked in.”
Beal bounced back from a nightmarish Game 2 with 28 points on 10-for-19 shooting. On Friday, Beal sank more 3-pointers (four) than the total field goals he made in his last game (three) but was raptured into fits of celebration. In the second quarter as the Wizards forced Raptors Coach Dwane Casey into calling a timeout, Beal walked off the court imploring fans to scream. Thousands obliged.
The cheers provided the backing track to John Wall’s on-court opus - 28 points and 14 assists while also playing the intense defence necessary from the team’s best player. Wall finished with a block and four steals and chased what would have been another swipe from DeMar DeRozan’s hands to the sideline. Though Wall couldn’t quite secure the ball in time, he stood past the expensive seats and punched the air to once again stir up the crowd.
“That was a fun and a really great environment,” Brooks said. “We needed every ounce of the energy that they gave us, and our guys responded.”
Then, as he finished sharing praise, Brooks needled reporters.
“All our guys played well,” he said. “It’s a good thing that I didn’t listen to you guys and not start our starting centre.”
Marcin Gortat, who ditched his season-long mohawk to the great delight of teammates, scored 16 points on 8-for-10 shooting to go with five rebounds. Gortat finished scoreless in Tuesday’s Game 2, frustrating his coach to the point that Brooks strongly hinted at replacing him in the starting five. However, Gortat once again walked onto the court with the starting five and played 26 solid minutes as the dime collector, turning six passes from Wall into buckets.
“Tonight, he got it going and made some easy shots,” Wall said of Gortat. “I always try to find him and always try to tell him to be ready to look for one of my passes because a lot of teams collapse on me and if I can’t find my shooters, he’s my last resort.”
“And he cut his mohawk,” Beal deadpanned, while sitting next to Wall at the postgame news conference.
Wall giggled.
“That was the key. He shocked us when he cut his mohawk when he came here.”
Even the old Wall and Beal comedy tag team is back.
Besides the awakened all-star backcourt and a clean-shaven centre, other maligned starters reappeared. Markieff Morris’s seven-point, one-rebound night was anything but quiet as he provided muscle early in the game. When his offence faded, Otto Porter Jr. didn’t disappear, instead contributing eight rebounds and two blocks.
“I’m confident in the group,” Brooks said before the game. “They had a lot of moments together. Not to say if we don’t have a good start, I might make a quicker substitution.”
The starters responded, leading 30-29 after the opening frame. As the game continued, the unit discovered its missing chemistry on both ends, directing its fury at a Raptors team caught off guard.
Morris couldn’t wait three minutes before elbowing rookie OG Anunoby and starting a shoving match that produced double technical fouls.
When asked what set the tone for the game, Wizards forward Kelly Oubre Jr. responded with one name: “Keef.”
“Keef coming out there and pretty much being fired up,” Oubre said. “I think OG really didn’t know the scouting report because he didn’t know that Keef was one of the people that you don’t mess with in this world. It is what it is. He’ll learn.”
Later, as the Wizards were rolling and adding to their first double-digit lead of the series, Beal didn’t appreciate the audacity of centre Jonas Valanciunas – how dare he hold on to the ball after committing an offensive foul? The time could have been spent setting up one of the Wizards’ offensive plays that created 10 3-pointers. So Beal reached for the ball. Then he wrestled Valanciunas for it. The scuffle led to Wall and Raptors forward Serge Ibaka sharing unpleasant words before Ibaka made a move at the five-time all-star.
During the officials’ review, which ultimately led to more double technicals, “Boyz-N-The-Hood” by Eazy-E blared over the speakers. Not quite ’90s hip-hop but a nod to the Wizards’ nickname of the 2016-17 season: Deathrow D.C.
The old Wizards had showed their identity again and earned a throwback tune. Brooks’s faith was rewarded. So where had this team been all this time?
“In heaven,” Oubre joked. “I don’t know. It’s just something that it is who we are, and we’ve been there at spurts throughout the year. Just haven’t been there consistently. Now it’s do or die. Now we just have to bring that Deathrow mentality.”
Although playing the five-man bench unit seemed to be a risky choice against the Raptors’ waves of depth, the Wizards’ reserves showed their mettle.
Their minutes together created a medley of teamwork. Oubre raged. Ty Lawson pushed the pace. Ian Mahinmi controlled the paint on both ends. The bench scored 35 points, but its play in the second quarter - with Oubre playing the best defence of any Wizard in this series and Mahinmi finishing passes from his teammates – guided Washington to 39 points. A 13-point lead in the second quarter swelled to 22 after halftime, and suddenly the old Wizards didn’t seem so much like a distant memory.
Candace Buckner/The Washington Post