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Wizards play best game of season in blowout of Phoenix Suns

By Chase Hughes

Wizards play best game of season in blowout of Phoenix Suns originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington

The Washington Wizards beat the Phoenix Suns 128-107 on Monday night. Here are five takeaways from what went down…

Best game so far

Just when the Wizards appeared to be at their lowest, at 2-8 with a string of bad injury news, they picked themselves up off the mat and responded with a convincing blowout victory over the Phoenix Suns.

This isn’t your usual Suns team, either. They carried their momentum from the bubble into this season and entered Monday night tied for the second-best record in the NBA at 7-3. They have loads of young talent and now future Hall of Famer Chris Paul to tie it all together.

The Wizards blasted the Suns right away, leading by 14 after the first quarter and by 26 at halftime. They went up by as many as 32 points in this game, which was without question their best win start-to-finish of the season so far. They also beat the Brooklyn Nets, who are good, but required some luck at the end to pull it off.

Bradley Beal was brilliant with 34 points (12-22 FG), nine assists, eight rebounds, two steals, a block and just one turnover. It was his first game back after missing Saturday’s loss in COVID-19 protocol. Beal became just the fourth player since 1976 to begin a season with at least 10 games scoring 25 points or more.

The Wizards got the win despite missing Russell Westbrook and Thomas Bryant from their starting lineup. This was the first game since Bryant suffered a partially torn ACL in his left knee.

The Wizards are now 3-8 as they look ahead to the Jazz on Wednesday. The Jazz are about as good as the Suns, which should give the Wizards a chance to show some consistency. You did it once, now do it again and prove it wasn’t a fluke.

Huge first half

The Wizards paved the way for this win with their best first half in years. They jumped all over the Suns right away and never trailed. They led by as many as 32 points and were up 26 at halftime, their biggest lead at the half since October of 2017 when they led the Kings by 31.

It was total and absolute domination. The Wizards shot 8-for-16 from three and have only three turnovers. Beal had 17 points and seven assists in the first half and Davis Bertans had 15 points. Robin Lopez had 10 points and nine boards.

Given how many times the Wizards have been blasted by teams early in games, this was a nice change of pace. No need for a comeback in this one.

They played defense!

A blowout win for the Wizards in recent years has usually meant they just scored a ton of points, but in this game they also played sound defense. Though they got away with a few plays where they left shooters open, for the most part the Wizards did a much better job forcing misses by contesting shots.

The key area was the 3-point line, as Phoenix shot just 4-for-27 from long range. The Wizards came into this game allowing teams to shoot 39.6% from three, the second-highest percentage in the league. In their last game on Saturday, they let Miami make nine threes in the first quarter alone. Clearly, an adjustment was made.

Bertans was on fire

Bertans has had an up-and-down start to the season, admittedly by him due to his conditioning. He arrived at camp late and has taken more time than other players to get up to speed.

While he had some good games before this one, Monday was his breakout game of the season so far. He came out scorching and made his first five threes. Most were of the catch-and-shoot variety, including one from way downtown off an offensive rebound by Lopez.

Bertans’s 15 points in the first half came in 13 minutes and they were pivotal in helping the Wizards build their lead. It was a perfect example of what the Wizards see as Bertans’ ideal role; a microwave scorer off the bench who can take a lead from the starters and turn it into a blowout.

Bertans had 18 points and 6-for-9 from three.

Lopez, Wagner stepped up

With Bryant out, much of the attention was on how Lopez and Moe Wagner would step up to fill the void. Both did essentially exactly what the Wizards hope they can provide moving forward. Lopez had 11 points and 11 rebounds (seven offensive) in his first double-double since March of 2019. And Wagner had nine points and four rebounds in about 19 minutes as his back-up.

Both players kept it simple in their new roles. Lopez played smart and physical, pushing his weight around in the lane and making the Suns pay for giving him open shots around the rim. Wagner set good screens, made some good plays around the rim, knocked down an open three and defended without fouling.

All in all, it was a good start for those guys. Now they just have to do it against Rudy Gobert, the two-time defensive player of the year who awaits them on Wednesday.

Grant Hill on growing up in Virginia, wishing he played for Wizards

By Chase Hughes
Grant Hill on NoVa roots, wishing he played for Wizards originally appeared on NBC Sports WashingtonLong before he became a household name, Grant Hill was a kid growing up in Fairfax County, a star at South Lakes High School in Reston, VA. It all started there, before he was a legend at Duke University, a 7-time NBA All-Star and 2018 inductee of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.Hill is one of the greatest athletes ever from the Washington, D.C. area and he details that entire journey in his new autobiography called 'Game.' It is an all-encompassing look at Hill's remarkable life, including his formative years in Northern Virginia.Hill, 49, recalls a vibrant sports scene in the D.C. area and specifically Reston, where he followed in the footsteps of others en route to basketball stardom."I grew up in Reston, and obviously was proud of that and I went to South Lakes High School. I was proud of the greater sort of D.C. metropolitan area, [we didn't] call the DMV back then. But you know, there was a real sort of love and passion for sports. Obviously, the Redskins were huge and had some great years in the early 80s. Georgetown basketball, and Maryland basketball, were really big in the 80s as well. And then you just had some great athletes, particularly in basketball, coming of age during the 80s," Hill told NBC Sports Washington."I didn't have to look far for inspiration. I looked up to people who were right in Reston, Virginia; Michael Jackson, who played for South Lakes and then with Georgetown, Christy Winters [now Winters-Scott] who played at South Lakes and then with Maryland. [Also,] Dennis Scott, who was from Reston and went to Flint Hill and Georgia Tech."Hill found writing the autobiography an interesting and rewarding process, as it encouraged him to reflect on different points in his life with a renewed focus. He looked back at old pictures of his life and early career and dug deep to recall the details of those experiences.Hill was always looking forward as a star athlete, trying to get better, trying to win the next game. He found a greater appreciation for his accomplishments with the benefit of hindsight. He just had to set aside his instinct for humility to do so."I think you get to a point in life where you kind of look back and you realize, wow, you've been fortunate to do a lot of incredible things. And, so to be able to document that, and really tell my story, tell the ups and the downs, the highs, the lows, and hopefully have that not just be informative, but also hopefully be inspiring," he said."I know I enjoy reading about other people and reading autobiographies or biographies in general. And I always feel like I come away with something or I learn something, or as I said, I come away inspired. So, if I have an opportunity to do that with my story, then that would be great. So, it is a little bit of a vanity play, I think in some respects, but I think also to tell your story, there's something freeing and liberating about doing that."There were a few questions that came up in Hill's interview with NBC Sports Washington that did not relate directly to his book, but seem natural to ask given he is from the D.C. area. Like, for instance, did he ever come close to playing for the Wizards?Hill said the closest he came was in the early 2000s when Michael Jordan was in charge of the Wizards' front office. Jordan reached out to expres interest. It never materialized, but looking back, part of Hill wishes that he did play for the hometown team."I don't think there was ever really any serious thought or conversations or consideration about going back home. And, you know, I kind of wish that I had done it. It would have been kind of fun to go back and play at home in front of friends and family, in my hometown, and I think a fan base that really loves sports and appreciates high-level sport, particularly basketball," Hill said.Hill's polished media presence, intellect and seemingly universal popularity beg another question. Did he ever consider politics?"Well, you're universally liked until you run for office. Growing up in D.C., I always say that politics was like the next sport in that city, and was certainly the topic of conversation for everyone in the DMV. And I think I had aspirations or at least interest in the idea of that during that time, but so much in the world of politics has changed, and maybe not for the better, and to subject yourself and your family to what comes with that. I don't know, for me, if it outweighs the potential to influence change, and affect the world. So, that's not my calling. But there's other ways to participate in the political process and I certainly try to do that," he said.Hill believes his new book will be interesting to those who followed his career and also those who aren't sports fans. There's something for everyone, he says.For anyone who grew up in the D.C. area, there may be some relatable stories, besides the whole being a world-renowned basketball legend part, of course.
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