The Washington Wizards were looking to capitalize on its recent momentum and win their fifth straight game but they would have no such luck. The L.A. Clippers came out with energy, were relentless from the start and finished everything they did offensively. In the end, they beat the Wizards 108-91.
Wizards’ fans were happy to see the return of former forward Paul Pierce, who played an instrumental role for Washington in last year’s playoff run. But it was Clippers guards Chris Paul and Jamal Crawford; and center DeAndre Jordan, who led the west coast team to a dominant performance.
L.A. began with a quick 13-2 run against Washington who appeared outmatched early defensively. The Clippers’ lead in the first half extended to as large as 19 points at times. Chris Paul was a major shooting force. He also consistently led Los Angeles to push the pace by outrunning and out-rebounding Washington.
Wizards forward Otto Porter did a nice job of cementing some very important three-pointers and jump shots which helped to cut down the deficit but it proved to not be enough to pull them out of the hole.
Chris Paul finished the game with 23 points and seven assists, while Washington guard John Wall ended up with a similar 23 points and 11 assists.
Wizards Head Coach Randy Wittman apparently was not pleased with the team’s lack of rhythm or intensity throughout the game.
“Starting in the first quarter, we let our ineffectiveness on offense affect our defense,” he said. “We shot 27 or 28% in the first quarter. That sucked the momentum out of us… I thought we were just a step behind everything tonight.”
“We didn’t come out with enough energy in the first quarter,” Porter said, echoing his head coach’s sentiment. “We dug ourselves in a hole and tried to fight out of it the whole game. Offensively, when shots aren’t falling, we can’t hang our heads down.”
That could not prove to be any truer than now, as the team continues to play with a lot of its members out due to injury. Guards Bradley Beal, Gary Neal and Alan Anderson; and forwards Nene and Drew Gooden are all fighting through injury and rehabbing, hoping to get back to playing as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, the Wizards will have to continue to make lineup adjustments to play to the strengths of the healthy guys on the team.