It’s progress, but still a defeat
Spurs extend their 20-year mastery over Wizards in San Antonio
SAN ANTONIO — Throughout the offseason, Washington Wizards coach Scott Brooks often pledged that the 2019-20 version of his team would be fun to watch. It would be especially true for him, a middleaged basketball junkie who checks stat lines from the previous night’s games and still plays pickup ball with team staffers.
These Wizards would play hard, he would say, even if the results don’t match the effort. During a season-opening road trip that concluded Saturday night, Washington lived up to its coach’s expectations despite a 1-2 start.
The Wizards fell 124-122 to the San Antonio Spurs, a loss that continued a 20-year losing streak for the franchise in San Antonio. But it was a loss that proved the Wizards are a plucky bunch.
Bradley Beal facilitated and scored to finish with 25 points and11assists. Ish Smith let loose with speedy breakouts to the rim and shot freely in open space from within and beyond the three-point arc for a season-best 19 points. Rui Hachimura played with metronomic steadiness and disproved any concern about rookie nerves, recording 16 points to start his career with three straight games in double figures.
And then there was Davis Bertans, basking in adoration from Spurs fans after the team showed a tribute video, then making the home team wish it had never let him go. Bertans, a sharpshooter over three seasons to start his career in San Antonio, knocked down all seven of his shot attempts, including five three-point tries, to finish with 23 points.
Though playing on the road on the second night of a back-to-back, the Wizards would not go away. The score was tied 10 times in the fourth quarter, and the lead changed another six times. A DeMar DeRozan layup finally finished the Wizards.
LaMarcus Aldridge stonewalled Beal on a screen, allowing DeRozan to drive past center Thomas Bryant and get to the rim and score with 5.5 seconds remaining. On the Wizards’ next play, Beal could not duplicate DeRozan’s drive and had his shot blocked by Derrick White to end the game.
“I told the guys, that’s why our fans are going to fall in love with our team, because we just give a lot of incredible effort,” Brooks had said following the team’s win Friday night in Oklahoma City.
On Saturday, Isaiah Thomas joined this lovable bunch, making his debut after five weeks recovering from left thumb surgery.
Thomas remained in the forefront during his time on the sideline. His personality, as much as his relatable size, has made him a popular figure in his previous NBA stops, and Thomas made an effort to click with Washington fans during his recovery.
He crowdsourced information for the best facial in the city, and one day, for no apparent reason, he tweeted his love for D.C. Even on Friday, when he showed up to the game against the Thunder in a sweatshirt honoring his hometown Seattle SuperSonics, trolling the basketball-loving people of Oklahoma City about the former home of their team, he said he would rather be wearing a Wizards uniform.
Thomas’s desire to please, and his intense yearning to prove that he has fully recovered from the pain and surgeries that have interrupted his past few seasons, could not overcome all that rust. He hadn’t played in an NBA game since April 7, and it showed as he hunted for shots during his first stint back on the floor.
He missed his first four shot attempts: a midrange jumper, a catch-and-shoot three that grazed the rim, an aggressive pull-up three in transition and a runner closer to the paint that missed the rim entirely.
Still, Brooks kept Thomas on the floor for nearly nine consecutive minutes, and visions of the old I.T. finally appeared. Thomas’ appetite for deep shots never waned, and he hit consecutive threepointers, including a one-legged runner.
In the closing seconds of the third quarter, a layup did the trick as Thomas leveled the score at 90. He finished with 16 points on 6-for-14 shooting.
There are no “Baby Shark” costumes visible in the Wizards’ locker room, nor is there a puppy mascot. The Wizards haven’t quite reached the status of the local baseball team playing in the World Series or the hometown hockey squad still gaining capital from its Stanley Cup win. They have plenty of work to do to become as endearing as winners, but the Wizards have already convinced themselves that they are a team Washington will soon come to love.