The Washington Wizards lost their season opener 113-112 versus the Miami Heat in a game that came down to mere seconds. The Wizards started off with good energy led by All-Star guard John Wall who got on the board with a quick five points out the gate. After missing 41 games last season, Wall provided his team the momentum they needed to have a successful outing. However, mental errors, foul trouble, and defensive issues kept their divisional opponent in the game.
#Wizards first five points…all from John Wall ? #WizHeat
— Carita Parks (@CaritaCParks) October 19, 2018
With 0.2 seconds left to play in regulation, power forward Kelly Olynyk picked up an offensive rebound from a missed jumper by Dwayne Wade, dropping it in for an easy layup to seal the deal for the Heat. Ironically the game concluded with a problem that plagued the Wizards the entire game…poor rebounding. The Wizards were outrebounded 55-40 which gave the Heat several opportunities at second-chance points.
“That’s been talked about for a while now, a year or so,” said Coach Scott Brooks. “When we play small, and we did tonight with all the foul trouble that we were in, we got to man up and put bodies on bodies and rebound the basketball. Like the last play of the game, the same thing gave up an offensive rebound. John [Wall] did an incredible job at contesting one of the game’s great players in [Dwyane] Wade. But we gave up the offensive rebound. We did a lot of good things. When we were in foul trouble, we got a pretty good bench. But we got to rebound the basketball. It’s pretty simple.”
“Communication could be better,” guard Bradley Beal said. “Just taking pride in our one-on-one, defense, and rebounding. That is all it was. The got a lot of second-chance points. We limited them to some tough shots, some tough contests, some weird funky floaters, jump shots that they missed but they were able to get the rebound back, so we got to rebound, we got to rebound.”
Brooks set the expectation early-on that he wants to see the Wizards attempt more 3-point shots, and he wants Otto Porter Jr. to shoot more in general. Neither expectation was met on Thursday night. The Wizards were only 26.9% in three-point shooting and only attempted 26 three-point shots.
“I couldn’t get anything going,” forward Markieff Morris said. “I was in foul trouble, Brad [Beal] was in foul trouble. Thirty-plus is what we’re looking for, but we did a great job getting to 26.”
Definitely a nail biter for the opener with #Wizards falling to the Heat 112-113. Foul trouble was a factor tonight. #WizHeat
— Carita Parks (@CaritaCParks) October 19, 2018
Porter Jr. was in the game for 33 minutes but only came away with nine points and zero three-point attempts. The only other player in the game longer was John Wall who accumulated 26 points in 35 minutes.
“It’s not like we go into the game wanting to only shoot 26 threes and Otto shoot zero,” Brooks said. “We’ll look at the film and hopefully he didn’t pass up many and hopefully it’s play calling that could contribute to that but it’s probably a combination of the two.”
In a game that was decided by rebounds and defense, you can’t help but wonder what impact Dwight Howard could have had if he wasn’t injured. The Wizards will have to bounce back quickly to get ready for the Toronto Raptors who now have the added All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard.