There weren’t many fans at Capital One Arena on Tuesday, but those who showed up for the Wizards’ game against the Los Angeles Clippers made sure to boo loudly in the first half.
Once again, the Wizards looked lifeless as Los Angeles knocked down shot after shot.
One season-ticket holder, Jim Nagle, even went as far to watch portions of the game with a paper bag — cut with holes for eyes and a frown-shaped mouth — over his head.
But by the end of Washington’s 125-118 comeback win, the sparse crowd stood and cheered. Nagle had taken the bag off.
John Wall and Bradley Beal helped lead a furious second-half rally in which the Wizards overcame a 19-point halftime deficit. Washington trailed by as many as 24.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak — and provided some much-needed relief for a team dominating the headlines because of its dysfunction.
Washington improved to 6-11.
“It’s fun, it’s energetic — it’s better than getting booed,” Beal said of the atmosphere late. “Nobody likes being booed, especially at home. Fans, they desperately want us to win, just as bad as we do. So we owe it to them. It’s great because we feed off the energy.”
Beal had 27 points, while Wall had 30. Earlier in the afternoon, the two tried to downplay last week’s confrontational practice in which Beal told management, “I’m sick of this,” while Wall yelled “[expletive you] to coach Scott Brooks.
Brooks called it an “emotional win.”
“I’m not here to throw anything in anybody’s face,” Brooks said. “I’m proud of our guys’ effort.”
Before the game, Brooks altered Washington’s starting lineup, noting the team’s record indicated they needed to make an adjustment.
With Dwight Howard (gluteal) out, the coach started reserve center Thomas Bryant instead of Ian Mahinmi. He also swapped Markieff Morris for sparkplug Kelly Oubre.
Initially, the changes didn’t have the effect Brooks wanted. Instead, the Clippers easily had their way with the Wizards in the first, ending the quarter with a 40-21 lead. The Clippers’ lead remained steady in the second — with Washington trailing 73-54 at halftime.
Washington’s defense was nonexistent as the Clippers went into the locker room having shot 58 percent.
But in the second half, the Wizards looked like a different team. The team’s ball movement was much better and Washington clamped down defensively, which, in turn, helped kickstart their offense. The Wizards shot 51 percent after halftime.
Morris and reserve Tomas Satoransky, in particular, played with the effort that the Wizards have been lacking for most of the season. Morris finished with 12 points in 25 minutes and Satoransky added 13 minutes in 26.
“He’s playing aggressive,” Wall said of Satoransky. “When he’s in the game with me or Brad [Beal], we just try to let him get the ball and run the team. He’s great at spotting up for shots and we get an opportunity to be more aggressive on the weak side of the ball.”
Now, the question becomes if the Wizards can generate some momentum from this victory or if they’ll revert to their lackadaisical play.
“We’ve still got a lot to fix — it’s one game,” Beal said. “I’m still not happy and I know [our team] isn’t happy with where we are. We have a lot of work to do, but we definitely take a lot of positives out of [tonight]. Especially with all the negativity that’s been surrounding us, we take all the positives we can get.”
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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