The last time the Washington Wizards played the Charlotte Hornets, they struggled to make shots, missed 17 straight field goals and allowed a 25-0 run in the fourth quarter. The resulting game stats were a franchise-low for the Wizards with the team being held to just six points in the last quarter.
That wasn’t the case at the Verizon Center for Throwback Night and a second match-up between the two teams. D.C.’s home team — in their orange, white and blue jerseys honoring their former name (the Washington Bullets) and a few alumni — brought the fans to their feet with cheers when they authored an amazing comeback victory over the Hornets, 109-101.
Displaying superb ball-handling skills, Wizards point guard John Wall was unstoppable even though he was baby-sitting a sprained ankle. He drove, passed and dribbled his way to 27 points, 12 assists, four rebounds (eight more than his season average) and three steals in 42 minutes. Shooting guard Garrett Temple logged a career-high 21 points; he was five-for-six on two-point shots and two-for-three on three-pointers. Forward Jared Dudley contributed a season high of 19 points to help Washington along with 18 points and six rebounds from center Marcin Gortat. Both players had slow starts in the first quarter.
The Wizards were severely undermanned with only 10 players available so Head Coach Randy Wittman rotated eight throughout the game. Guard Bradley Beal (right leg), forward NeNe (left calf), forward Drew Gooden (right calf), guard Alan Anderson (left ankle) and guard Otto Porter (left thigh) are dealing with injuries that have only made things more complicated for Wittman. But he urged the team to remain positive.
“You try as a coach in these situations, where guys keep going down…,” Wittman said after the game. “I didn’t want them to go, ‘What else is new?’ Believing was something that needed to be said.”
Washington forward DeJuan Blair and center Ryan Hollins never got into the game but rookie forward Kelly Oubre Jr. made his starting debut for Porter. Oubre, who played for 22 minutes, finished with eight points and five rebounds.
The Wizards (11-14) needed to win tonight on their home court after going 3-1 on the road with back-to-back losses against the San Antonio Spurs and the Memphis Grizzlies. They prevented a scare after leading for three quarters until the fourth. It was Deja-vu for a few minutes; much like the two ball clubs’ game in back in November when they blew a nine-point lead in the last quarter, scoring only six points.
It almost happened again last night when they went five minutes scoring only two points. Because of that low-scoring run, the Hornets were able to shave off a 15-point lead by Washington late in the fourth quarter and came to within one point because of Charlotte center Cody Zeller’s layup. This brought the score to 99-98.
Wall followed up a key jumper with two minutes left in the game even though he was completely exhausted (because of shorter rotations of the team). After a brief time-out, the perennial All-Star went lights-out, helping the team go on a 6-0 run for the win.
The Wizards forced Charlotte, who ranked No. 1 in giving up the fewest amount of turnovers per game in the NBA, to turn the ball over 18 times.
“When you turn the ball over 18 times, it’s tough to win… especially against a team with John Wall, maybe the fastest guy in the league,” Charlotte guard Nicolas Batum said. “When he starts running, it’s over.”
On average, the Hornets turn the ball over 11.9 times per game. Wall alone had eight turnovers — two short of a career high — which could have changed the outcome of the game.
“I got a little tired,” Wall said, “and then I had some careless turnovers that nearly cost us the game.”
This Wizards’ win against the Hornets was no walk in the park. Washington was out-rebounded by the Hornets, 51-38, a team not known to capitalize on the boards. Charlotte had 14 more attempts than Washington who, sadly, has a tendency to not box out opponents and leave the paint before they know the ball has gone in the basket.
Early in the game, the Hornets were on a roll hitting five-for-11 from three-pointers. Late in the fourth, Charlotte went on a 16-2 run to cut Washington’s lead. Guard Kemba Walker scored 18 points in 41 minutes along with point guard Jeremy Lin’s 15 points, six rebounds and seven assists.
The Wizards came to play this game with no shortage of energy, a chip on their shoulder and something to prove after blowing that nine-point lead back in November in Charlotte. If they continue play like the way they played last night in those retro uniforms, they may find they need to reach back to their historical armor more often.