Wizards Swat Hornets

Paul Pierce and the Washington Wizards have been steadily climbing out of their midseason slump, but this latest might have shown that they are finally back to full form.

The Wizards dominated the Charlotte Hornets from start to finish Monday night, earning a 95-69 win and snapping the Hornets’ five-game win streak. Washington remains in fifth place in the Eastern Conference but improved to 36-28 with its first win over Charlotte in three chances this season. In the process, the Wizards helped separate themselves from the sixth-place Milwaukee Bucks, who beat Washington on Saturday night despite what head coach Randy Wittman called a good effort.

“We just needed a win, we need to play like this and win,” Wittman said after the win in Charlotte. “I thought we had that play in Milwaukee, to be honest with you. You’re not going to win every game that you play well in. It’s good to have a back-to-back now, and we’ve just got to keep that same intensity and effort going.”

Paul was only needed for 18 minutes due to the one-sided nature of the contest, but he chipped in nine points, five rebounds and an assist without committing any turnovers. The ball security was essential for the Wizards, who still turned it over 13 times but allowed Charlotte to turn them into just eight points and zero fast-break points.

Washington’s big men also dominated the game, as the Wizards went just 2-for-14 from long range but outscored the Hornets 54-24 in the paint. Wittman told reporters that the team’s exceptional ball movement helped space the floor and get easy looks for the bigs, leading to an easy win even when shots didn’t always fall.

“We had good ball movement, we swung it from side to side,” he said. “We really did a nice job of that, we really stressed that here from an offensive standpoint of not getting stagnated like we have, to keep the ball moving side-to-side, something good will happen.”

The Wizards faced the possibility of being shorthanded for the game, as shooting guard Bradley Beal and reserve big man Kris Humphries both dealt with injuries, and The Truth had a personal issue to attend to earlier in the day.

Sure enough, No. 34 walked out onto the court with the full starting lineup, and the Wizards were grateful for his presence. Starting the second half with a 10-point advantage, Washington wanted to put the game away instead of letting the Hornets fight their way back into it. The Wizards have struggled maintaining leads recently, and Monday night seemed poised to be a continuation of that trend when Charlotte got an easy layup on its first possession out of the break.

Marcin Gortat knocked down a midrange jumper on the Wizards’ first time down the court, then the Wiz got a stop, The Truth secured the rebound and Washington was off and running.

Point guard John Wall drove to the hoop, drew the defenders toward him like a group of magnets, then instead of taking the available layup, he found No. 34 waiting near the perimeter. The future Hall of Famer drilled the long two with a defender in his face, giving Washington a much-needed momentum boost.

A few minutes later, Wall again found the legendary small forward on the perimeter, and The Truth again drilled a long jumper. This one, however, was a deep three-ball that connected after Washington had missed three jumpers in a row, and it extended the Wizards’ lead to 15.

About two minutes later, Charlotte found itself trailing by 17 and was forced to call a timeout with 3:27 remaining in the third period. Paul was replaced by Otto Porter Jr. and his night was done, as the Hornets never got closer than within 16 points for the remainder of the game.

“We just came out with a lot of energy, period,” Beal said after the game, telling reporters that the stingy defense that allowed Charlotte to score just 69 points was the key to the win. “I think we were really focused and locked in from the jump. We took them out of everything that they wanted to do, we made it uncomfortable. We hit them first on both ends, and we were aggressive. We came out and accepted our individual challenges. We just put everything together, and it was definitely one of the best games we’ve played all year.”

“We’ve just got to continue to build on this and we can’t be satisfied with this win. That was a great team, but we’ve still got tough challenges that lie ahead, so we’ve got to be ready to go.”

NEXT UP

Paul and the Wizards get a few days off to rest before hosting the 45-18 Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night. It will be the first of two meetings between the Wiz and the Grizz, with the second coming in early April.

While the Wizards should be well-rested, the Grizzlies will be coming off a game in Boston the night before. Behind the speedy Wall and the time off, Washington could use pace in transition to its advantage, though Memphis is among the best defensive teams in the league and is holding opponents to just a league-low 95.5 points per game.

The game will be nationally broadcast on TNT and is scheduled for a 7 p.m. ET tipoff.

RELATED LINKS

• Wizards roll to easy win in Charlotte (ESPN, March 9, 2015)
• Five takeaways for Wizards after win (CSN Washington, March 10, 2015)
• Friend of Paul Pierce fatally shot (CBS Los Angeles, March 9, 2015)
• Remembering Paul Pierce’s Nike Foamposites (Sneaker News, March 9, 2015)