At one point the Washington Wizards were down by 18 to the Los Angeles Lakers. The crowd was evenly split between Laker followers and Wizards fans. The look on some fans’ faces were that of despair but this game was far from over. Who would have thought that the Wizards would rally and walk away with a 106-101 victory against the Lakers? Randy Wittman did that’s who.
“We started making some shots, and all of a sudden there were no more Laker fans,” said Wittman, currently the Wizards’ interim head coach, in the post-game press conference.
When you look at the final box score you will be surprised to see that six Wizards were in double figures lead by guard Nick Young’s 19 points with 6 assists, forward Trevor Booker’s 18 points with 17 rebounds and – the surprise of the night – forward Kevin Seraphin’s career high 14 points and 9 rebounds.
This is the team effort that the Wizards have been waiting for. Despite only having 4 points, John Wall dished out 9 assists and managed the game.
“He didn’t force anything,” said Wittman of his young point guard’s performance.
It seems like the message that Wittman has been delivering to the team has taken root.
Seraphin was asked if he was recognized when he stepped out on the court and he responded “Ah, I don’t know.” While this short response was met by a few laughs, in reality, that is how the team would want it. Let’s see if this game springs better team play for the Wizards in the games to come.