Ceci Ferrara
February 9, 2015
Sports Writer
Sports Insider
After a five-game skid, the Washington Wizards netted their first win since January 27th with a dominant 114-77 victory over Brooklyn on Saturday night.
The game was a much needed morale boost for the Wizards, who had hit a rough patch. After going 22-8 through the first two months of the season, they were 9-12 in the new year. “I didn’t care how much our starters got rest,” coach Randy Wittman said. “We needed a win.”
Washington, fresh off a loss to the Hornets (22-27), jumped ahead early, outscoring Brooklyn 28-19 in the first quarter and leading by 20 at the half. The Wizards didn’t slow down after half-time; by the end of the third quarter their lead had extended to 30 and their starters were resting on the bench.
Despite missing a key player–Bradley Beal, who was out with a toe injury–the victory was a true team effort. All 13 starters scored; John Wall led with 17 points, while Rasaul Butler added 15. Otto Porter, the Georgetown star who substituted for Beal in the line-up, contributed 12 along with four rebounds.
“Everybody was being aggressive in the right spot at the right time and playing for each other,” Porter said.
With the win, the Wizards improved to 32-20, and are now ranked fourth in the East behind Atlanta, Toronto and Chicago. While they are still in good shape in the standings, if they want a real shot at the playoffs they need to ensure their best days of the season aren’t behind them.
In addition to trailing the Hawks (42-10) in the division, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, who had a rough start to the season, are now just one game behind Washington (32-21), after going on a 12-game win streak.
For Wall, they key to victory may lie in the cohesiveness they showed on Saturday, versus relying on certain players to put up points.
“It was a lot of not caring who shot the ball tonight and having team defense and helping each other out,” Wall said of the win.
Washington will play two more games before the upcoming All-Star Weekend, which will provide a nice respite before the final two months of the season.
Capitals
The Capitals headed into Sunday’s match-up with the Flyers (23-22-8) hoping to extend their three-game win streak to four for the first time this season.
Instead, Washington (28-16-10) struggled to score and Philadelphia won for the fifth time in six games in a 3-1 victory at Verizon Center.
It wasn’t only a low-scoring game for the Caps, it was also low-shooting. The Caps had a season-low 14 shots, their lowest shot total in four years. Their sole score came from Alex Ovechkin, who scored his 33rd goal of the year.
“I didn’t like our execution,” said first-year Capitals coach Barry Trotz. “You can’t get shots if you miss the net. You can’t get shots if you don’t get pucks to the next level. We turned a lot of pucks over in the neutral zone, and you’re not going to get any shots. But there wasn’t enough urgency in our dressing room tonight. Very disappointing.”
Though goaltender Braden Holtby had 22 saves, it wasn’t enough to make up for the anemic offense. After falling behind 1-0 less than a minute into the second period, Ovechkin tied it up near the end during a power play opportunity. The Flyers added two unanswered goals in the third, ending Washington’s chances at a comeback. It was the sixth time this season their win streak ended after three games.
“It feels like maybe we’re relaxing a bit after three in a row when we played so good,” Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom said. “So we’ve got to have a better attitude after a couple wins in a row. We’ve got to learn how to put more wins together.”
