By Mark Bacon
In the first quarter Wednesday night, the Washington Wizards’ new offense demonstrated its potential. The Wizards shared the basketball. They constantly pushed the ball and spaced the floor. They made open shots and attacked the basket relentlessly.
By the end of the first stanza, they scored 29 first-quarter points and held a 12-point lead over the Miami Heat after building a 16-point advantage. They assisted on seven of their eight baskets. They made 3 of 5 three-pointers. They generated nine free throw attempts. And inflicted most of the damage on one of the NBA’s best starting lineups.
It was the best DC’s offense has looked through six preseason games given the quality of opponent. The problem was they couldn’t sustain the effort when the second unit was on the floor in their 110-105 loss.
“Our first unit was really efficient,” Coach Randy Wittman said. “It’s still a work in progress. I thought in the second quarter we lost our pace a little bit and allowed them to get into a rhythm. You want this pace thing to be a thing for 48 minutes. We walked the ball up a couple times on their missed but for the most part I was pretty satisfied, especially with our first unit tonight.”
The Wiz didn’t have Bradley Beal, who sat to rest, but their starting five, with Gary Neal replacing Beal, still outscored Miami’s 75-43 and pounced on the Heat again the third quarter, reopening a 13-point gap. Wittman then pulled most of his starters by the end of the period while the Heat kept three on the floor to finish the game, and Washington went on to lose the lead.
When the first unit was on the floor everything clicked. All five players reached double figures. Marcin Gortat led all Washington scorers with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while supplying standout rim protection by blocking four shots and altering others. Kris Humphries added 16 points, including a couple three-pointers, and 12 rebounds. John Wall, back from a one-game absence, recorded 14 points, seven assists, and a dangerous leap over the first row near the Heat bench in the first quarter in an attempt to save a loose ball.
“You never know when it will be your last game so it might be your last game so I just try to give it everything I’ve got,” Wall said. “I thought I saved it but I cleared them. That just shows my long-jump skills.”
When Washington pushed the pace, it was relentless, on Heat makes and misses. One sequence particularly stood out to Wizards guard Garrett Temple: When the Heat’s Tyler Johnson flushed a dunk in the third quarter, Ramon Sessions, the Wizards’ backup point guard, needed just five seconds to make a layup and earn a trip to the free throw line for a three-point play.
This preseason, Wall is growing accustomed to not asking for the ball on opponent misses, as he did in previous seasons. He is now comfortable running the floor on the wing and allowing Otto Porter Jr. or Beal or Gary Neal or another capable ball-handler to push the ball, giving him a chance to attack defenses that aren’t set.
But Wittman and players emphasized there is still room to grow and improvements could be made in their preseason finale Friday against the Toronto Raptors in Montreal. So just how much can the Wizards’ offense, nearing the end of its dress rehearsals, improve?
“Oh a lot, man. It’s not even close,” Wall said. “I think we can get better. You saw with the first unit we were moving the ball, getting good shots and then it kind of died down and we tried to get back in and get back into a rhythm and just get into a flow. We missed some easy shots but we also missed some layups and some free throws. If we play the way we started and get everybody to play that way for 48 minutes, we’ll be good.”
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