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Wizards fumble 23-point lead in blowout loss to Rockets

By Chase Hughes

Wizards fumble 23-point lead in blowout loss to Rockets originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington

The Washington Wizards lost to the Rockets 115-97 in Houston on Monday night. Here are five observations from what went down…

Rough night

The worst loss of this Wizards season was objectively their 35-point collapse against the Clippers in late January. That one was an all-timer. But Monday’s loss in Houston is certainly up there among the most crushing defeats Washington has endured this season, which has featured a decent share of them.

In fact, it technically included an even bigger points swing. They led by 23 points in this game, only to see the Rockets flip that around and lead by 20 in the fourth quarter. That was a 43-point reversal. 

Christian Wood was the main reason for it, as he dominated the Wizards to the tune of 39 points and 10 rebounds. He shot an absolutely ridiculous 8-for-9 from three.

The Wizards are now 30-41 on the year, meaning this is their fourth straight non-winning season. They have dropped seven of their last eight.

Porzingis stayed hot

One game after he took over in the fourth quarter against the Lakers, Kristaps Porzingis once again had a big night. He had 22 points on 7-for-18 shooting and many of them were dunks. He nearly tore off the rim on a series of slams both in the halfcourt and on the fastbreak. Porzingis also had 13 rebounds and six blocks, five of which came in the first half. That was just one block short of his career-high.

Porzingis shot 8-for-8 from the free-throw line and has helped the Wizards quite a bit in that area. He came into this game leading the team with 7.7 free throw attempts per game. Before he debuted, the Wizards were having some trouble getting to the line and were openly complaining about it in press conferences. He’s helped shift the narrative very quickly.

Rui cooked early

With Kyle Kuzma out due to injury, Rui Hachimura got the start at power forward and he absolutely thrived in that role, at least in the first half. Hachimura had 10 points in his first six minutes en route to a solid night of 16 points and eight boards. He shot 7-for-13 from the field and 2-for-5 from three. Hachimura’s 3-point shooting continues to be a bright spot for the Wizards as this was his 13th time making multiple threes in a game, a new career-high. That’s especially impressive considering he’s only played in 31 games.

Hachimura, though, faded in the second half to only score two points after halftime. That has been an issue for him previously in his career. On one hand it’s great he has a tendency to start out hot, but finding a way to sustain that as the game goes on is one of the next steps for him as he continues to develop as a scorer.

Avdija the playmaker

As the Wizards focus on player development as they close out the 2021-22 season, Deni Avdija showed some positive signs as an on-ball playmaker in this game. He had seven points, nine rebounds and four assists, including a series of crisp and creative passes. They were the types of plays that made Avdija such a highly-touted prospect coming into the 2020 draft.

He has unique abilities as a ball-handler and passer at 6-foot-9 that he hasn’t often been able to utilize at the NBA level. But on Monday, he showed what he can do and in a variety of situations. Avdija threw a lob to Daniel Gafford in a pick-and-roll, a shovel pass to Gafford for a baseline layup and later pushed the pace off a rebound and dumped it off to Porzingis for a dunk. There were other plays where Avdija simply getting the ball up the floor quickly led to good things.

Kuzma out again

The Wizards played their second game without Kuzma, who has been sidelined with right knee tendinitis. Head coach Wes Unseld Jr. indicated on Saturday that Kuzma would be ready to return in this game, but that was not the case as the team decided to play it safe after Kuzma continued to feel some discomfort.

Unseld Jr. described Kuzma sitting out on Monday as a matter of just giving him another day as a precaution. The team now has two off-days before they head to Milwaukee to face the Bucks on Thursday. Kuzma has been one of the few constants for the Wizards this season in a year that has been defined by inconsistency and change. His 66 games played are tied for third on the team with Corey Kispert and behind only Avdija (71) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (68). 

Wizards fall to Pelicans, as Johnny Davis continues to adjust in Summer League

By Chase Hughes
Wizards fall to Pelicans, as Davis continues to adjust originally appeared on NBC Sports WashingtonThe Washington Wizards lost to the New Orleans Pelicans 106-88 on Wednesday night in their third game of the Las Vegas Summer League. Here are five observations from what went down...Good start, but...The Pelicans were playing without their two top draft picks from this year, as eighth overall pick Dyson Daniels sat with a minor ankle injury and second-round pick E.J. Liddell, unfortunately, suffered a torn ACL, so the Wizards had a chance to take advantage of a depleted New Orleans roster. Early on, they did exactly that, as they led after the first quarter by seven points and shot 65.5% in the first half.From there, though, very little went right for Washington. They ended up getting beaten handily, by 18 points.Daniels not playing took some shine off this game, as he was taken only two spots ahead of Wizards' first-round pick Johnny Davis. In an ideal world, those two players, both guards, would match up and provide some intriguing early impressions.We will have to wait a few more months to see Davis and Daniels go at it. The Wizards, meanwhile, are now 1-2 in the Las Vegas Summer League.Davis still adjustingIt was another game that showed room for improvement for Davis. He had his third so-so shooting game in a row, this time going 3-for-7 from the field. He had eight points, four rebounds and two assists, but also three turnovers. The more Davis plays in Las Vegas, the more it seems like the style of play in Summer League is unfamiliar for him. Davis is coming from the Big 10 and the University of Wisconsin where the game was very structured. Now he's in the Summer League where there is very little structure. It's basically a wide-open free-for-all.The good news for Davis is that the NBA is somewhere in between. That said, certainly, the early returns from Davis are showing a learning curve that could be there come training camp. If that's the case, he may be in for a Corey Kispert-like trajectory as a rookie. Kispert also didn't light up Summer League either and took some time to adjust early in his first NBA season. But after a few months, he became a reliable rotation player.Will we see Davis vs. Mathurin?While the Pelicans were lacking top prospects, the Wizards' next opponent could be quite the matchup. The Indiana Pacers have sixth overall pick Bennedict Mathurin, who plays the same position as Davis, as well as 2021 first-round picks Chris Duarte and Isaiah Jackson (taken with the pick the Wizards traded for Aaron Holiday), plus intriguing 2022 second-round picks Andrew Nembhard and Kendall Brown. The Pacers have an impressive collection of young players on their Summer League roster.But that will be the fourth Summer League game for both organizations and once you get into the second half of the Las Vegas schedule, teams tend to start sitting guys. For example, Rui Hachimura only played three games for the Wizards back in 2019. Granted, he played really well. Kispert, their 2021 first-round pick, played four games. The Wizards, though, have already shown caution this summer by not having Kispert or Deni Avdija play. At some point, they could shut Davis down. It would be fun to see him go up against Mathurin, if it happens.Carey Jr. kept it rollingThe Wizards' most consistent player so far in the Summer League has been big man Vernon Carey Jr., who played well once again vs. the Pelicans. Carey Jr. had 11 points, five rebounds, two blocks and a steal. He shot 5-for-6 from the field and did all of it in only 19 minutes of action.Carey Jr. is doing a nice job on offense by using his strength, attacking the rim aggressively and displaying touch around the basket. He has been a positive for the Wizards, particularly on the offensive end. Defensively, the Wizards had some trouble with the Pelicans' bigs on Wednesday. They also got obliterated on the boards, 46-25.Zion was courtsideThere was a large contingent of Pelicans players sitting courtside in Las Vegas, highlighted by Zion Williamson fresh off signing a $193 million contract extension with New Orleans. He was joined by C.J. McCollum, Brandon Ingram and others. Seeing all of those talented players together was a reminder the Pelicans may be able to make some noise this upcoming season if Williamson is healthy and available.The Pelicans made the play-in tournament last season and saw Ingram enjoy a breakout postseason. Williamson would give them another star with the potential to perform like a superstar. His injuries, plus the emergence of Ja Morant (picked second behind him in 2019) have led to a lot of people seemingly forgetting how good Williamson is. Keep in mind he's averaged an efficient 25.7 points in 31.7 minutes per game so far in his two-year career.Oh hey, look. That's NBC Sports Washington's Chris Miller!
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