Wizards shun 3-point tries in defeat
Oblivious to heckler, Howard practices foul shots afterward
WASHINGTON — A night of atrocious defense and putrid shooting concluded with Dwight Howard refusing to leave the court until he made his free throws and a heckling worker being removed from the arena.
The twilight scene, witnessed by a smattering of Capital One Arena employees, autographseeking fans and idling reporters, might have been the best entertainment inside the building Friday night. It happened right after Howard had given a monster effort against the Brooklyn Nets, the team he was traded to in the summer before being waived and signing with the Wizards.
Howard had contributed season-high numbers in points (25) and rebounds (17), but before hitting the showers, he returned to the main court to practice his free throws. He had missed three of 10 attempts during the game. So, while Howard got into a shooting rhythm, tuning out the background noise with music playing in his EarBuds, a contract worker who was part of a team hired to clean around the 400 level tried to break his concentration.
“Brick!” the worker yelled, but as Howard’s shots swished through the net, he switched to: “That’s right, Dwight! You better make them!”
It was a strange display that capped a puzzling night of basketball.
The Wizards, a team presumably focused on shooting more 3-pointers, reverted to the 1990s while the Nets, without their best player, controlled the game for the final three quarters. The difference between the pair of sub-.500 teams wasn’t even close, and for the fourth time on a Friday night this season, Washington came up short, dropping to 5-10 with a 115-104 loss to Brooklyn.
“It’s just like a very unorganized night, it seemed like,” backup guard Austin Rivers said, “on both ends for us.”
On the offensive end, the Wiz- ards reverted to the style of yesterday’s NBA, and the habit they’re most comfortable with, as they attempted more midrange looks than shots beyond the perimeter. The preseason emphasis on 3-pointers continued to look like wishful thinking as the team shot 3 of 18 (17 percent) from 3-point range, Washington’s lowest output in either category through 15 games.
This season, the Wizards have struggled to consistently hit from distance, shooting only 32.2 percent, which is far below the league average. So when they missed five of six long-range attempts in the first quarter, it didn’t register as a surprise. Plus, during the opening frame, they connected on 60 percent overall from the field and Washington led 30-26.
However, the percentage was fool’s gold. The Wizards were passively taking jumpers outside the paint because they were available. The assertiveness and confidence behind taking 33 3s, like Brooklyn did on Friday and like 10 NBA teams are currently averaging per game, simply wasn’t there for the Wizards.
“I think we’ve got to play a little bit faster,” all-star guard Bradley Beal said, diagnosing what ailed Washington’s offense. “A lot of our 3s we get in transition.”
Beal, who recently made his 900th career triple, attempted just three shots from the arc for the second time in a week. Even when the Wizards fell down by double digits in the second half, a sign that more 3s should be launched, Washington’s top 3-point threats responded by taking 2s.
The Nets’ defense, which dropped coverage and surrendered the midrange, deserved the credit. As the game continued, the looks from midrange remained, but Washington’s jump shooters could no longer knock down one of the least efficient shots in basketball. For the night, the Wizards connected on 42.5 percent from the floor.
Although earlier in the week, Nets guard Caris LeVert dislocated his right foot in a stomachchurning injury, Brooklyn still had enough to execute an effective plan against Washington’s halfh e a r t e d d e f e n s e. Wi z a rd s perimeter defenders couldn’t slow down the ball and allowed Brooklyn’s D’Angelo Russell and Spencer Dinwiddie to either score or penetrate at will. The duo combined for 14 of the Nets’ 19 assists and made a combined 16 of 29 shots for 48 points.
Then, after this rerun in which the Wizards didn’t play defense and later expressed regret over this fact following the game, the real show began in front of a small audience.
As the heckling worker picked up waste around the upper deck, he grew more and more emboldened, and his jeers directed at Howard escalated to the profane.
Howard, who fouled out in 27 minutes because someone had to protect the rim, never looked up nor saw the man in the yellow shirt. But staffers followed the shouts and notified a manager. The worker finally stopped shouting when he was asked to drop his trash bag and leave. Howard, oblivious to the latenight drama playing out above him, kept on hitting his free throws.
On a night when Washington couldn’t shake their worst inclinations and figure out a defensive scheme that had locked down the 3-point arc, at least one Wizards player didn’t let a little adversity stop him from shooting.