The Washington Wizards opened the first swing game of four West Coast games, with a 118-111 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers earlier this evening, local time. This win is the Wizards’ fourth consecutive win and the tenth win of the season.
The game did not start well for Washington. The Wizards dropped by up to 14 points with some poor defense to start the game. In total, Wizards allowed 43 points in the first quarter. The defense would become more rigid. Surprisingly, despite the bad start, the Wizard held Damian Lillard with just 6 points in the first half. Wizards ended up taking the lead before the half and entered the locker room with a 6 point advantage in 61-55. This happened with the strength to overcome Blazers 30-12 in the second frame.
The 12 points that the Blazers scored in second place were the lowest that the Wizards allowed in a quarter since 3/31/19 in the 2018-19 season.
– Chase Hughes (@ChaseHughesNBCS) February 21, 2021
In the 2nd half, Lillard would wake up, scoring 23 of his 35 points, only in the 3rd period. The Blazers had the advantage at the start of the 4th, but they just couldn’t handle it when the Wizards came back with better defensive plays and a few hits from Davis Bertans and Rui Hachimura to put the game out of reach.
Apprenticeship
A defensive roller coaster effort
The Wizards started with some porous defense in this game, yielding 43 points in the first quarter, while allowing the Blazers to put 8 points out of 3. In the second quarter, however, the Wizards became more tense on the defensive end, allowing only a 3 spots. Unfortunately for the Wizards, Lillard got hot and scored the third quarter. The Wizards were lucky enough to get back on track on the 4th day to end the game, but to advance the Wizards will need to be more consistent in defense.
Surprising three-point discrepancy
If I said that one team made 19 trios, with 35 percent of shots, in this game and the other team made 6 trios, 23 percent of shots, I would say that many would assume that the team that hit three more won. It didn’t really happen in this game. Despite the huge discrepancy in three, the Wizards were still able to overcome the Blazers. Davis Bertans in particular stood out, starting the game 0-6 in the three-point range before hitting two huge trios in the 4th quarter.
Other notes
- Bradley Beal finished with 37 points (16 of 27 FG) in his first game after being named holder of the NBA All-Star Game.
- Russell Westbrook made his eighth triple-double of the season with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists. Westbrook also had 7 plays, but he shot the ball very well (11 of 17 FG). His overall game was a very encouraging sign, as he made a concerted effort to seek out teammates and limit his outside shots (only a three-point attempt).