Smith, Troy Brown Jr. lead Wizards to stunner of a rout over Nuggets #ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย

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Smith, Troy Brown Jr. lead Wizards to stunner of a rout over Nuggets

Jan 05. 2020
Wizards guard Ish Smith (14) drives past Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (27) and center Nikola Jokic (15) for a basket in Saturday night's game at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by John McDonnell

Wizards guard Ish Smith (14) drives past Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (27) and center Nikola Jokic (15) for a basket in Saturday night’s game at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by John McDonnell
By The Washington Post · Candace Buckner · SPORTS, BASKETBALL

WASHINGTON – No one inside Capital One Arena had more fun than the guys on the Washington Wizards bench Saturday night.

Wizards Anzejs Pasecniks scores over Nuggets forwards Jerami Grant (9) and Mason Plumlee during Saturday night's game. Pasecniks had 13 points in Washington's upset of Denver. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by John McDonnell

Wizards Anzejs Pasecniks scores over Nuggets forwards Jerami Grant (9) and Mason Plumlee during Saturday night’s game. Pasecniks had 13 points in Washington’s upset of Denver. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by John McDonnell

Jordan McRae bobbed in place. Bradley Beal danced like a Fortnite character. Thomas Bryant skipped along the sideline. The Wizards, taking in the action like enthusiastic spectators, could not contain their joy while Ish was happening.

Wizards backup guard Ish Smith scored a career-best 32 points and made his co-workers look like giddy schoolchildren with his fourth-quarter outburst in the team’s 128-114 win over the Denver Nuggets.

“Can we just talk about Ish,” Coach Scott Brooks said to reporters following the game. “Ish was on fire.”

When Smith fooled a defender with a hesitation move and pullup midrange jumper with less than eight minutes to play, teammates on the bench peeled from their seats and stalked the sideline. A moment later, when Smith repeated the feat, forcing the Nuggets to call timeout, Beal did a jig in his slim-fitting suit.

Then, as Smith extended his range to the 3-point arc, drilling the shot and giving the Wizards a 15-point lead in the final minutes, his teammates rushed the court as soon as the whistle indicated another Denver timeout.

“Ish was amazing tonight,” Troy Brown Jr. said, then posed a question: “How many points did he score . . . in the second half?”

The only response Brown received from the assembled media was “a lot,” but Smith scored 13 points in the fourth quarter and 23 of the team’s 67 points in the second half.

“It was crazy. It was ridiculous. It was literally like ‘Give Ish the ball and get out the way,’ ” Brown said. “So at that point, all I was focused on was rebounding and just making sure we were getting rebounds and getting stops.”

Smith’s breakout game was formed out of frustration. He said he didn’t like the way he shot his open midrange looks over the previous two games.

“I wanted to kick myself,” Smith said. “Kicked myself all last night, just kind of thinking about knocking down those shots. Not overthinking it, but still wanting those shots to fall in. I’m blessed. I thank God that those shots fell for me tonight. We had a good win against a really good team.”

Just as Smith scored, Brown and the bench also soared.

The Wizards’ second unit contributed a whopping 92 points, the second most points by a bench since the 1970-71 season, according to Elias Sports Bureau. Brown produced 25 points, 14 rebounds and three assists while Isaac Bonga enjoyed his most aggressive night of his career, scoring 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting. Center Anzejs Pasecniks added 13 points and eight rebounds.

Inside the locker room, the Wizards celebrated the performances of Smith and Bonga – who received water bottle showers. It was the second time this week the Wizards soaked the locker room following a momentous win. On Monday, Washington shocked the Miami Heat, 123-105.

While the Wizards raved and water flowed, down the hallway and across the arena, the Nuggets were in mourning over losing to an 11-24 team.

“We didn’t show up. That was embarrassing. That’s an embarrassing performance,” said Nuggets Coach Mike Malone after his team fell to 24-11. “We had a mind-set of: ‘We can just show up, I’m going to win a game because maybe some of their starters are out.’ What happened tonight is exactly what the doctor ordered. I’m embarrassed, I really am.”

Malone, still fuming, added: “We as a group, we as a team, as a coaching staff, players, got our [tail] kicked tonight.”

Washington secured an impressive win against one of the best teams in the Western Conference despite shaky moments from the starters.

On Saturday, the NBA announced Isaiah Thomas was fined $25,000 for making inappropriate contact with an official in the first quarter of Friday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers. Thomas defended his actions as unintentional.

Thomas indicated he would not appeal the penalty and expressed a desire to move past the incident, which led to his second ejection in two weeks. Although Thomas remained on the court against the Nuggets without incident, he did not make an impact.

In the first half, Thomas picked up three personal fouls and missed six of his seven attempts from the floor. His modest numbers carried through the starting five.

Gary Payton II, who made his fifth consecutive start, did not attempt a shot in his 11 minutes of action. McRae, who scored a season-high 35 points the previous night, finished 3 for 15 from the floor. During a timeout with 3:15 remaining in the third quarter, frustrations appeared to boil over as McRae and center Ian Mahinmi engaged in a lively conversation. McRae eventually walked away, but was still animated while speaking to John Wall and Beal.

However by the fourth quarter, the frustration faded. Smith and the second unit carried the weight as McRae, Thomas and all the players on the injury list laughed and danced and applauded their way to another big win.

 

– – –

Rookie Rui Hachimura is expected to miss at least two more weeks as he recovers from what the team described as a “minor procedure” after he was kicked in the groin by teammate Isaac Bonga on Dec. 16.

“It’s been kind of weird because I’ve never [been] away from basketball like this but I watched the games on TV and stuff,” Hachimura said Saturday night before missing his 10th straight game. “I’ve been good. I’m just ready to play. I can’t wait to play. I can’t wait to get back to the team and play games.”

Before the game vs. Denver, Hachimura addressed media in both English and Japanese for the first time since the injury and at times could not contain his laughter while talking about his lower region soreness.

“I mean, you saw the video,” Hachimura said through chuckles. “It was just different. Never felt like that, it was just different. Weird.”

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