Give the Los Angeles Lakers this: They have spunk.
Enough to come back from a double-digit deficit in the building of one of the NBA’s hottest teams. But, they are are also young and discombobulated at times. The Washington Wizards are a synced group with a four-time All-Star at the helm, which meant a 16th consecutive home win.
Thursday’s 116-108 win against Los Angeles moved the Wizards to 29-20. John Wall scored 33 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter. During the last two months, they have constructed the franchise’s second-longest winning streak. Only the 1974-75 season produced a longer home run. That was 22 games in a row.
So, a fantasy moment: For the Wizards to have a chance to match that streak, they would need to win their next five home games, which would include a win against Cleveland next Monday. They would also need to beat New Orleans, Indiana, Oklahoma City and Utah. The odds of that happening are very low. But, just for kicks, say it did. What would tying the franchise’s longest home winning streak then come down to? Beating the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 28.
Three points from Thursday night:
Lakers East not well received. Once the Lakers tied the game, 91-91, pro-Los Angeles chants kicked in. Despite the Wizards’ 16-game home winning streak, the Lakers had their typical strong representation in Washington. The crowd was listed at 16,473. Once the game became tight, it was clear how many of them were Lakers fans. A few caveats here when discussing the clear preference for a visiting team: The Lakers are a legacy franchise. There is one chance for Los Angeles fans in the area to see the Lakers. It’s reasonable to assume that Washington season-ticket holders resold their seats early in or before the season since it was a rare chance to possibly turn a profit. However, following a 15-game home winning streak for a team surging up the Eastern Conference, the amount of Los Angeles fans in the arena was noticeable to anyone with ears. That included the Wizards players.
“I’m sick of that, too,” Bradley Beal said. “It’s terrible. I felt like we were on the road today. But, you know, that’s for another time.”
“Hearing the crowd get up and make big Lakers chants, that kind of made me mad,” John Wall said. “So, I do what I had to do to try to get a win for us.
“Our fans were still here, they were cheering. You heard some boos when they were doing that.”
The Wizards came into the game 27th in home attendance this season in the 30-team league, measuring by percentage of arena seats filled. Trailing 26th-place Milwaukee by 5.6 percent means that’s unlikely to change by the end of the season.
One other note about being home: Washington has 21 home wins this season. If it wins Saturday against the Pelicans, it will match the number of home wins from last season.
Gortat is more machine than man. The efficiency numbers for Marcin Gortat since the calendar turned are staggering. In January, he shot 65.6 percent. His last seven games, he’s shooting 79.3 percent. The spacing on the floor has benefitted Gortat greatly. Asked why his scoring has picked up — it was running at a quality rate even before January — Gortat joked that he’s not the main mark on other team’s scouting reports.
“I’m thinking that they’re guarding John, Brad and [Markieff Morris] and Otto [Porter] at the 3-point line,” Gortat said. “I’m just running up and down. I guess they’re disrespecting me the most out of all five. So, I’m just using my chance. Keep thinking the European kid can’t score. I’m just doing my job.”
Once again Thursday night, the Wizards started the game with a Gortat post-up. They have been dumping the ball into Gortat at the start of games for weeks now. Is that because of appeasement or strategy?
“Combination,” Washington coach Scott Brooks said with a smile. “He’s pretty forceful in that he wants a post-up. I’ve been doing that lately, the last couple three weeks. The game has changed. No question. There’s not a lot of post-up players. Certain matchups, I think he can give us some points down there or they have to make decisions to double-team him, maybe we can get open looks on the perimeter.”
That’s an odd rationalization, since two of those recent opening post-ups were against Al Horford and Timofey Mozgov, which are not exactly mouse-in-the-house situations. But, Gortat deserves some candy before spending most of the evening setting screens.
One other thing to note: Either the Lakers were very lucky in their positioning, or the fact that Gortat keeps tapping out offensive rebounds has hit the opposition’s scouting report. Multiple times during the night, Gortat’s tap-out was snagged by a Los Angeles player. It happened too often to seem a coincidence.
Wall alone again at All-Star weekend. Wall will participate in the All-Star weekend skills challenge on Saturday, Feb. 18, the night before the All-Star Game in New Orleans. He said he decided at the “last second” to do it and part of his decision was based on who the other competitors would be. Among them will be his pal DeMarcus Cousins. There will be no other Wizards participating in All-Star weekend events. Otto Porter leads the league in 3-point percentage, but said he was not asked to participate in the 3-point shooting contest. Porter also said he wasn’t sure how interested he would be were he asked. Not going to All-Star weekend will give Porter a chance to rest his back. Brooks said Porter’s back has been sore. The way Porter has explained his hip problem in the past, is that when his hip is tight, his back becomes troubled. Porter has recently been using a stationary bike to stay loose and warm when he’s not on the floor during games.
• Todd Dybas can be reached at tdybas@washingtontimes.com.
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