Behind a monster effort from John Wall, the Washington Wizards earned one of their biggest victories of the season on Saturday, defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers 127-115 at Quicken Loans Arena. Wall scored 18 of his game-high 37 points in the first quarter, looking as aggressive as he ever has and toying with the Cavsâ lackluster defense. The win means that Washington is two games behind the Boston Celtics for second place in the Eastern Conference, and Clevelandâs lead over Boston for first place is down to just half a game.
Takeaways:
The Wall show
Iâm not sure Iâve ever seen Wall play better than this. It was one of the most complete, dominant performances of his career, and it was clear right from the opening tip that he meant business. Wallâs first-half stat line -- 24 points and six assists, 10-for-11 shooting -- was far better than Kyrie Irvingâs line for the entire night, and he looked like the best player on the court in a game that featured LeBron James.
Wall remains one of the scariest players in the league in transition, and he didnât hesitate to push the ball off of Cavs misses. What stood out here, though, was how well he managed the game in the halfcourt. He shot 14-for-21 and had 11 assists, almost always getting wherever he wanted to go.
Cleveland fans might point out that Wall did this with Iman Shumpert sidelined because of right knee soreness. The way he played, though, Iâm not sure Shumpert or anybody else would have had much success in slowing him down.
Cavs havenât fixed their defensive issues
Just a few days ago, James called out his team for a lack of toughness and physicality on defense. This did not look like a team that had something to prove on that end. Everybody has trouble containing Wall off the dribble, but Cleveland fell behind because it was consistently giving up wide-open shots. The Wizards shot 18-for-22 in the first quarter, 69.8 percent in the first half and 59.8 percent in the game. That shouldnât be acceptable, especially since they went into the game knowing that Washington would be fired up after the 140-35 Cavs win in overtime on Feb. 6.
Since the All-Star break, only the lowly Los Angeles Lakers have a worse defensive rating than Cleveland. The personnel isnât that much different from the team that won the title last year, but itâs unclear if the team is going to flip the switch before the postseason. I wonder if Larry Sanders can help, even though this is not all about rim protection.
Wizards havenât fixed theirs, either
With how well they played offensively, particularly early in the game, youâd think the Wizards would have been able to run away with this. They led by as many as 17 points in the second quarter, but the Cavaliers slowly fought back and got within striking distance. This is partially because Washington was often unable to stay connected for entire possessions when Cleveland was moving the ball.
Stopping the Cavs isnât easy. Beyond their overwhelming star power, they spread defenses out and target weak defenders as well as any team in the league. I donât want to be too critical of the Wizards after a huge win like this, but itâs worth noting that Cleveland scored 118.7 points per 100 possessions here with a true shooting percentage of 60.6 percent. Washingtonâs defense has been a major issue lately -- its defensive rating ranks 24th in March -- and coach Scott Brooks would surely like to see some strides made before the playoffs begin.
LeBron hates goggles
James started the game wearing goggles because of the corneal abrasion (eye scratch) he suffered in Fridayâs 112-105 win over the Charlotte Hornets, but he threw them to the sideline before the end of the first quarter. A lot of players donât feel comfortable wearing them, and I am curious about whether or not the eye issue affected him during the game. It certainly didnât discourage him from attacking the basket -- look at his massive dunk in the second quarter:
Ooh, Oubre
Bradley Beal scored 27 points, but swingman Kelly Oubre might have played the best game of any Wizard not named John Wall. In 26 minutes, Oubre had 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting, plus seven rebounds. A couple of plays in particular stood out to me:
- At the end of the second quarter, he drove baseline, attracted attention and threw a perfect pass to Otto Porter for a 3-pointer. He didnât get an assist because Porter missed it, but Jason Smith tipped it in at the buzzer.
- In the fourth quarter, he anticipated a pass to James, deflected it, recovered it and went coast-to-coast for a layup.
Oubre had a few other nice finishes in transition, too, and in general was locked in and playing physical defense. Iâm not saying that Washington should let Porter go in free agency because of Oubre, but his development has been encouraging. The Wizards are going to need him on both ends in the playoffs.
