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Wizards make history with win despite huge 3-point shooting deficit

By Chase Hughes

Wizards make history with huge 3-point margin originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington

The Wizards made five 3-pointers on Wednesday and their opponent, the Sixers, made 19. If that sounds like a major disadvantage, well, it usually is. All of the previous 27 times an NBA team made five threes or fewer and allowed their opponent to make 19 or more, they lost.

Somehow, the Wizards bucked that trend to make NBA history and do something no team had ever done before. Outscoring the Sixers 68-38 in the paint was the biggest reason, as that 30-point edge helped offset the 42-point advantage the Sixers had on the perimeter. The result was a 121-111 road victory for Washington, improving their record to 4-4.

Tyrese Maxey of the Sixers had five threes all by himself, tying the Wizards as a team. Tobias Harris added four triples, while his teammates James Harden and Georges Niang had three apiece.

For the Wizards, Kyle Kuzma made two threes. The only other ones to get a perimeter shot to fall were Bradley Beal, Kristaps Porzingis and Will Barton, who each made one.

The Wizards were 5-for-21 from three overall, which breaks out to 23.8%. The Sixers were 19-for-36, good for 52.8%. That’s a tremendous shooting night, yet they lost.

Just shooting as well from three as the Sixers did is generally an airtight path towards victory. In the last three seasons, teams that have made 19 or more threes, shooting 50% or better, were 112-5.

In the same span of time, teams that made five threes or fewer, shooting 25% or worse, were 24-71. The Wizards defied gargantuan odds to pull out the victory.

It helped that they otherwise played well offensively. The Wizards scored 121 points, shot 57.7% from the field overall, 26-for-32 from the free throw line (81.3%) and committed only seven turnovers.

Porzingis had 30 points and Beal had 29, shooting a combined 20-for-30 (66.7%). Whenever their best players perform like that, the Wizards are going to be in good shape.

Washington also defended well aside from the 3-point line. They came into the game allowing the fewest paint points (40.6/g) in the league, yet held the Sixers below that number. Washington outrebounded them 43-32 and blocked nine shots.

Philly had a monster third quarter with 39 points, but the Wizards locked down in the fourth to hold them to just 21 points. The Sixers didn’t score in the final 2:30 and missed their final four attempts.

So, the Wizards made it work, even if the 3-point differential wasn’t ideal. Prior history, though, would suggest it’s not a recipe for success moving forward.

Surely, the Wizards will hope for better results at the 3-point line on both ends of the floor. After making only five threes on Wednesday, the Wizards are averaging only 9.6 per game, 28th in the NBA. And on defense, after giving up 19 to the Sixers just three days after allowing 21 to the Celtics, the Wizards are giving up 13.8 threes per game, ranking 24th in the league.

Perimeter shooting has become uniquely important in today’s NBA. Many games come down to which team wins the 3-point margin.

The Wizards essentially invented a new way to win a basketball game on Wednesday night. They may never be able to replicate it, but a win is a win.

Ian Mahinmi on his involvement with NBA Africa, time with Wizards

By Chase Hughes
Ian Mahinmi on NBA Africa, his time with Wizards originally appeared on NBC Sports WashingtonFew NBA careers have ended under more unusual circumstances than Ian Mahinmi's. His last game was on Feb. 2020 and weeks later the entire league shut down due to the coronavirus. He did not play in the NBA's playoff bubble that summer. When he laced them up for his last professional game, there wasn't an inkling it would be his ride off into the sunset.After the Wizards' time in the bubble came to a close, as did the four-year contract he signed to join them in free agency in 2016, it left him at a crossroads with a 12-year NBA career in the books and his whole life ahead of him.It was shortly thereafter that Mahinmi was approached with an investment opportunity in NBA Africa. Mahinmi joined as a minority owner, attaching his name to a group that includes strategic partners and investors like former President Barack Obama, actor Forest Whitaker and former NBA players Dikembe Mutombo, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng.Mahinmi, who has roots in the West African country of Benin, has since been directly involved in the sport's expansion across the continent. That includes an appearance at the tip-off of the Basketball Africa League's (BAL) third season this week in Senegal."This is definitely, for me, the next chapter. I feel like everything I've done has led me to this," Mahinmi told NBC Sports Washington during a phone conversation from Dakar.The BAL features 12 teams from 12 different countries split between two conferences, the Nile and Sahara. The teams include players with G-League and Division 1 college basketball experience. They play 38 games over three months in Dakar (Senegal), Cairo (Egypt) and Kigali (Rwanda).The games are available to watch in all 54 African countries and 214 countries in total across the world. There are also 45 games from this NBA season being broadcast in primetime throughout the continent on various platforms.NBA Africa, which is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa and has additional offices in Senegal, Nigeria and Egypt, also has other initiatives to drive interest in the sport among African youth. Wizards head coach Wes Unseld Jr. participated in a Basketball Without Borders camp in Egypt last summer."At the grassroot level, the game is popular now. The game is being played," Mahinmi said. "And obviously, as you know, basketball is not only the game. It's the whole lifestyle. The game goes with the music, the music goes with the swag, the clothes, the shoes, the sneakers."Mahinmi, who grew up in France, believes the full potential of basketball in Africa has barely been realized. That is despite multiple Hall of Famers hailing from the continent including Mutombo and Hakeem Olajuwon. Joel Embiid, who is from Cameroon, is a favorite to win this year's NBA MVP award.Soccer remains the No. 1 sport across Africa, but Mahinmi believes basketball is well on its way to the mainstream."It's been like a whole ecosystem awakening. For me to be a part of that, it's just a matter of time. It's just a matter of time," he said. "This BAL league has changed the whole landscape of how basketball is viewed on the basketball continent."Mahinmi has drawn a sense of gratitude from his involvement with NBA Africa, as he continues to transition away from his professional basketball career. It's a revitalizing new venture for him after an admittedly disappointing tenure in Washington.Mahinmi's four-year, $64 million deal did not work out for the Wizards. He appeared in only 180 games and struggled to provide the impact they signed him for.Mahinmi points to injuries as a major reason for his performance and suggests they were worse than initially reported."My time with the Wizards was very challenging... My first steps as a Wizard, I injured myself. I injured myself in training camp and this was like such a tough start. I felt like from that injury, it was like a ripple effect," he said."That year we had such a good team. I believe we had aspirations of going far. I hurt myself, took a while to come back, then came back and I hurt myself again. I obviously wasn't healed all the way, trying to come back quickly for the playoffs. I hurt myself again, the same injury. I tore my meniscus twice in my first year. We don't talk about it a lot, but that trauma of tearing my meniscus twice took me a while to get back to myself. I didn't feel comfortable until maybe a year-and-a-half after. But a year-and-a-half after, a lot had changed in the Wizards organization. It was tough, it was tough for me. I felt like I gave it my all, but it was just like physically I wasn't at my best."Mahinmi said the Wizards not reaching their potential during those years remains a "regret," though he is happy he was able to play better during the 2019-20 season and end his career on a personal high note.Mahinmi is now out of the NBA, but still in basketball. And with NBA Africa's initiatives, he has a chance to impact the game for many years to come.
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