The Washington Wizards returned home from London without missing a beat in their annual Martin Luther King Day game at Capital One Arena. The team hit the ground running with an early lead and held the Detroit Pistons to just 34 points in the first half in the team’s 101-87 win.
“I thought the defense was outstanding on all parts of the game,” Wizards Coach Scott Brooks said. “We got into the ball, we did a great job of pick and rolls. We rebounded the ball. We’re really good…we give ourselves a chance to win every night if we can win the rebounding game and we held them to two offensive rebounds. Blake [Griffin] is a handful. He shoots threes as well as any big in the league. He’s hard to stop but our guys did about as good as we could do on him and he ends up with about 29 and nine. That’s what makes him a special player in this league. I thought overall defensively we were good, we were really good throughout the game, take away that first five minutes of the third quarter.”
The level of defensive effort from Washington should not go unnoticed. The storyline of the first half of the season was their poor defense but the team continues to make major strides in this area. The Pistons’ 87 points was a season-low by a Wizards opponent this year. They also held Detroit’s best player in Blake Griffin to 29 points. Only one other Piston finished in double figures.
“Our defense, overall, has just been better,” Wizards forward Jeff Green said. “We’ve been communicating and not allowing teams to get a lot of offensive rebounds, forcing turnovers and getting out in transition. We’ve been on the same page defensively, which is allowing us to get out in transition.”
In addition to the Wizards best defensive performance of the season, Trevor Ariza led all scorers with 20 points, 12 rebounds followed by Otto Porter with 19 points, 4 rebounds. Bradley Beal finished with 16 points.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s amazing,” Beal stated regarding a win on MLK Day. “We continue to keep the streak going. We have a tough team coming in later this week. We just have to continue to build off of it. But it’s a spectacular day. Remembering MLK and what he stood for and the legacy he left for us all today. It feels even better to get a win.”
— Bradley Beal (@RealDealBeal23) January 22, 2019
The Wizards’ next game is at home against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday at 8 p.m.