Specifically, I pondered some of the meaning behind the Washington Wizards defeating the New York Knicks 102-91 at Madison Square Garden in New York Thursday. Sure, the Knicks are in such disarray they wouldn’t even qualify as a hot mess with a 5-26 record and a rookie head coach in Derek Fisher who is one year removed from being a reserve point guard. Sure, the Knicks are trying to adopt the triangle offense espoused by team president and legendary former Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson, and that offense is complex.
But a win is a win, and this win marked the 20th of the season for the Wizards, snapping a two-game losing streak. For a Washington team that all too often in its history has struggled to win 20 games out of the NBA’s 82-game schedule, winning 20 games out of the first 28 games on the schedule is a notable accomplishment. Winning on the road in one of the league’s most storied venues, even against a decrepit Knicks squad that fell to 5-26 as a result of Washington’s victory in front of a national television audience is significant.
The team has won games it would have lost in years past. A come-from-behind victory over Milwaukee when the team started flat after beating Cleveland the night before was a prime example of a game the Wizards would have lost in years past that they’ve learned to win. Another example was a lethargic outing against Orlando on Dec. 10 that saw shooting guard Bradley Beal struggle mightily all game until he hit a buzzer-beating game-winning shot that secured a 91-89 victory as Wizards play-by-play announcer Steve Buckhantz shouted, “Dagger!”
The best part of this for long suffering Wizards fans who didn’t jump onto the bandwagon of a suddenly successful team has been watching a team that isn’t just struggling to sneak into the playoffs as a low seed to get an expected beat down from the elite teams in the conference. This team has the look of an outstanding team in its own right. It’s a team that former Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon argued doesn’t get enough attention from a D.C.-area fan base that’s obsessed with the Washington NFL team.
In a signature victory-type outing Dec. 12 against a powerful Los Angeles Clippers squad featuring Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, the Wizards seized control of the game and never let the Clippers get closer than eight points in the second half, defeating Los Angeles 104-96. It was a game that wasn’t as close as the score suggested, and point guard John Wall completely outplayed Paul.
Just as important as Wall has been with his assists and with his court vision has been the veteran leadership of forward Paul Pierce, who has helped the team take “maturity steps” on the way to becoming a team to respect. One media outlet in the Washington, D.C. area reported that Pierce got on his teammates about bad habits after the team won a game.
Wilbon also touched on the chemistry the team has developed on the court and off and has complimented the team’s personalities in addition to the quality of their play. This definitely does not have the look of a Wizards team that nearly five years ago saw former superstar guard Gilbert Arenas and fellow guard Javaris Crittenton have an altercation that led to Arenas leave four guns in Crittenton’s locker with a sign saying “pick one.”
Not only that, but Randy Wittman has successfully removed the label of coaching retread over the past two-plus seasons. His failures as a coach – with admittedly inferior teams in Cleveland and Minnesota – were well documented before the Wizards dispatched the Bulls four games to one last season. Sure, his overall record of 211-337, with a winning percentage of .385 is awful. However, after Wall returned from an injury in 2012-13 with his team mired in a 4-28 start, the Wizards started their rebound with a 25-25 record the rest of that season. Last year, they finished 44-38 in the regular season. That’s a combined 89-71 mark and a .556 winning percentage since that disastrous beginning.
It’s still not a record that would draw comparisons to Jackson, Pat Riley or any other coach who may have Hall of Fame aspirations. But for a team that has been so bad for so long, and celebrated mediocrity by printing T-shirts that celebrated merely qualifying for the playoffs 10 years ago, it’s been amazing to watch a team that people are now saying can contend for a conference title.
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