The Tale Between Two Centers
Wizards break 3-game skid behind career high 41 points from Porzingis
Heading into Monday night’s matchup between the Washington Wizards and Minnesota Timberwolves, both teams were seemingly at a pivotal crossroad for the trajectory of their season campaigns. At the unofficial quarter mark of the NBA season, both teams stood with records of 10-10 and were coming off of decisive losses against conference finalists from the previous year.
The Wizards played one of their crispest offensive games of the season beating the Timberwolves 143-127 behind a career high output of 41 points from Kristaps Porzingis. Reflecting upon the result of the game it was not only significant that Porzingis played his best game of the season to help break the Wizards three game losing streak, but the fact that he did it against a 3-time Defensive Player of the year and All-Star Center in Rudy Gobert. In a sense this game could be categorized as “The Tale Between Two Centers.”
Both the Wizards and the Timberwolves traded for their respective centers within the last calendar year, but the opportunity cost of each acquisition may be on totally opposite ends of the asset spectrum. Minnesota needed five draft picks and five players to acquire Gobert, while Wizards Team President Tommy Sheppard was able to get Porzingis for a disgruntled Spencer Dinwiddie and the albatross of a contract, that was Davis Bertans. Ironically, the two players were rarely matched up against each other throughout the course of the game, because Wes Unseld Jr did a fantastic job of exploiting Minnesota’s “drop coverage” defense by utilizing Porzingis’ 3-point shooting ability to pick-and-pop himself into a plethora of open shots from beyond the arc.
Porzingis shot 6-10 from 3-point range and when the Timberwolves finally realized they had to take that away, Porzingis punished the smaller Timberwolves players with his post game. That variety of skill sets is the main thing that separates Porzingis from Gobert in talent and Wizards fans were shown on full display why the front office had faith that they could get the best version of the Latvian center in D.C. Porzingis has settled into his newfound feature role with the Wizards and through his performance this season is proving to be the perfect running mate for Washington to have paired with their All-Star guard, Bradley Beal.
Whereas Porzingis caught fire early tonight with 29 points coming in the first half, it was Beal who commanded the Wizards offense in the second half and allowed the Wizards to maintain control of the contest as the Timberwolves made a few futile attempts to get back within striking distance. Beal finished with 22 points and five assists as he continues to look more comfortable this season handling the ball and running the offense.
When it wasn’t Beal slicing through the Timberwolves defense at will, it was Kuzma contributing with more timely baskets and play-making. Kuzma finished with 23 points, nine assists, eight rebounds, and most importantly of all -- zero turnovers. As a team the Wizards did a fantastic job of protecting the ball on the offensive end and were able to force 18 Timberwolves turnovers.
From an effort standpoint, it was clear that the Wizards were very much focused from start to finish and coach Wes Unseld Jr alluded to the team understanding they need to get off to a fast start. “There was a sense of urgency. You lose three games and they’re coming off back-to-back losses as well… it’s a matter of will,” said Unseld in his post game press conference. The Wizards showed their will by maintaining a consistent level of dominance over Minnesota throughout the night. The Timberwolves had to finish the game shorthanded as Karl-Anthony Towns left the game in the second quarter with a non-contact lower leg injury that was diagnosed as a left calf strain.
It’s a very encouraging sign for the Wizards to be able to bounce back and show some fortitude at such a critical moment in the season. On a macro level, the Wizards are beginning to show that with a healthy Porzingis and an efficient Bradley Beal, that they are going to be formidable opponents for the middling teams in the league.
As the season continues to progress there will be more teams who will subvert to levels below middling as teams start to see their playoff hopes dwindle and start pivoting towards ideal lottery placement. One thing that is very apparent with this Wizards team is that there will be no pivots this season from this franchise. The goal has been to make the playoffs and as the Wizards currently stand at 11-10 on the season, they are very much in the thick of things in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt.
The only question that remains is, how much are the Wizards committed to the results of this season as opposed to continuing their development plan with their recent draft picks? At some point these conflicting timelines will present Tommy Sheppard with some very tough decisions in terms of how he would like to build this roster going forward.
If Sheppard believes in the younger group enough to be able to contribute in their ancillary roles around Porzingis and Beal and be able to stay in the playoff hunt, then maybe he leans toward more fringe deals that can yield another veteran presence.
If Sheppard has reservations about the trajectory of this young crop, then maybe he has to start looking hard at what type of roster consolidation he can do with the limited assets that he’s working with. Remember, the Wizards still owe a first round pick via the John Wall trade that has already exchanged hands between multiple franchises.
The Wizards 2023 first round draft pick rights are currently owed to the New York Knicks with lottery protections on it for this draft. Those protections are one of the main barriers that does not afford the Wizards the opportunity to trade future draft compensation until after the 2026 NBA draft. Fortunately for the Wizards and Tommy Sheppard, they will have a good amount of games between now and February’s trade deadline to determine how much they are willing to risk for the mere opportunity of making the playoffs this season.
At the very least, Wizards fans have no choice but to get on board with the playoff push because that is the clear direction the franchise has chosen for this year. As long as they continue to play with urgency and execute against their fellow middling teams it will challenge this franchise to maybe, just maybe, elevate from the middle of the pack.