Fans filed out of Capital One Arena Friday night with 1;39 left in the home team’s season, with Toronto in possession of the ball, a double-digit lead, and an upcoming appointment in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Turns out that Game 6 of the Wizards’ first-round series was pretty much a microcosm of the entire season. A real letdown.
Washington had its moments, but ultimately didn’t have enough to be a serious contender, especially not shorthanded against the Eastern Conference’s best team.
The final score was 102-92, with the Raptors having pulled away slowly and methodically over the last nine minutes. They trailed throughout the first half and entering the fourth quarter before knotting the score at 80-all. Never again was the score even and Washington never led again.
Every shortcoming was apparent in the fourth quarter as Toronto outscored the hosts, 29-14.
There was the over-reliance on Bradley Beal and John Wall, who logged 43 and 40 minutes respectively. There was the lack of depth – exacerbated by Otto Porter’s absence due to injury – forcing coach Scott Brooks to play recently-signed point guard Ty Lawson nearly 20 minutes. There was the struggle to score, struggle to rebound and struggle to limit turnovers.
“Some of the things that happened to us in the fourth quarter happened throughout the year,” Brooks said. “They were making shots and we didn’t have a good shooting game. Give them credit.”
No problem doing that. Toronto earned the No. 1 seed and dispatched the Wizards in the same fashion, using a deep, skilled, athletic, energetic and well-balanced roster that should make Wizards fans envious.
Two reserves – Delon Wright and Pascal Siakam – played the entire fourth quarter for Raptors coach Dwane Casey, even though Toronto trailed by five points as the quarter began. Another sub, point guard Fred VanVleet, played all but three-and-half minutes of the final quarter.
“I’m still looking for the coaching manual that says you can’t play your second unit,” Casey said. “They’re too young, or too this and too that. As long as they’re productive, they’re going to play. They’ve been good to us all year and they closed it out for us tonight.”
This is the first time in the Wall-Beal era that the Wizards failed to reach the second round. Looking around the East, you must wonder if a trend is at hand.
Toronto can match Washington’s All-Star backcourt and raise the Wizards a trio of budding players – Wright, VanVleet and Siakam – with three or fewer years of experience. Boston has a wealth of young talent in Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier – plus Kyrie Irving, Al Horford and Gordon Hayward. And Philadelphia might be the best of the bunch next year as Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid apply their newfound seasoning.
The Wizards entered this season as a favorite to reach the conference finals. That won’t be the case next season.
“The most important thing is for me and Brad to continue to get better, improve our game and our conditioning,” Wall said. “Prepare for a long season and let the front office add pieces to make the team better and more complete.”
Unfortunately, that’s part of the problem, magnified when you consider other contenders within the conference.
General manager Ernie Grunfeld constructed a roster that features four point guards, yet still needed Lawson from China at season’s end. A roster with Ian Mahinmi, a candidate for the NBA’s worst contract. A roster in which the backup shooting guard, Jodie Meeks, averaged 6.3 points per game.
My colleague Thom Loverro calls Grunfeld the arsonist-fireman, an executive who gets credit for putting out blazes he sets. But Grunfeld never fully extinguishes the fire. The embers simply smolder until his roster becomes another flaming heap of mediocrity.
These Wizards had a “good” run of reaching the second round in three of the last four years entering this season. But they’re as far from the conference finals today as they’ve been since 1979, the last time they advanced that far.
Brooks said it was too soon to think about where the franchise goes next. Losing to Toronto was too fresh; the emotions were too raw. He took some pride in extending the No.1 seed to six games, but he must realize what’s all too apparent: The Raptors are simply a better team.
They’re not the only one, either.
Washington has all summer to think about that fact, with no easy way to change it.
— Brooklyn-born and Howard-educated, Deron Snyder writes his award-winning column for The Washington Times on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Follow him on Twitter @DeronSnyder.
• Deron Snyder can be reached at deronsnyder@gmail.com.
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