Tyus Jones, the Washington Wizards’ veteran point guard, spoke of his team’s damning deficiencies Wednesday night after they tied a franchise record with their 16th straight loss.
It’s not that the Wizards lack talent, Jones said, but that they play without the feral desperation you might expect from a group of professional athletes that last won a game Jan. 29.
It took until midway through the fourth quarter Friday night, but Washington finally bared its teeth — and beat the Charlotte Hornets, 112-100, to finally, mercifully, get a win.
“I think the pride kicked in,” forward Deni Avdija said.
The difference? The Wizards (10-53) finally started playing with some force.
After a second half of disorganized defense by the Wizards and three-pointers from the Hornets, Kyle Kuzma started throttling his way to the rim, at one point spinning 180 degrees against defender Brandon Miller to do so. Backup center Richaun Holmes, in for Marvin Bagley III (back), pulled in rebounds as if his life depended on it. Jordan Poole became a fierce facilitator, playing point guard instead of Jones down the stretch, and Avdija reminded folks that he has made himself into a legitimate offensive threat at the rim this season.
Energy coursed through the Wizards so much that it spilled into timeouts. Players shoved each other and shouted encouragements on the walk to the huddle — leftover competitive juice from what Kuzma described as “good tension” in the locker room at halftime.
“I think that really sparked us,” Kuzma said.
Monumental Basketball President Michael Winger took it all in from the stands, emitting his own energy: the nervous kind. The Wizards’ top executive watched the second half fidgeting in his seat in the lower bowl, clapping heartily when his team made free throws. Expectations were low for this rebuilding season, after all, but no one was aiming to be franchise-record-setting bad.
His players gave him every reason to be nervous. After controlling the game for the majority of the first half, they eased up — the bad habit that has plagued them since the start of the season, far before Winger and General Manager Will Dawkins executed a midseason coaching change to jolt their team out of it. The Hornets crept back in as halftime approached, and after the Wizards led by 15 with five minutes left in the second quarter, Winger was watching a tie game with 8:12 to play.
Kuzma’s and Avdija’s monster fourth quarters on offense wrenched the Wizards from the brink of disaster, though interim coach Brian Keefe and his players credited Anthony Gill with getting the turnaround in motion.
Keefe turned to the forward, who is averaging 5.4 minutes in 32 games this season, to lift the Wizards out of their lull. Gill played less than two minutes at the end of the third quarter, checking in for a gassed Kuzma, but he played with determination. He worked his way through the paint for a crafty layup to cut off a 5-0 Charlotte run, then promptly returned to his seat at the end of the bench.
“He changed the game,” Kuzma said. “You look at a box score, it doesn’t matter, but just his energy. He came in, right away got a little basket … came out the game, but he’s just the ultimate professional. He’s a great North Star for all of us as a man.”
The Wizards refocused after that and outscored Charlotte 44-24 in the fourth quarter.
Kuzma led the team with 28 points and nine assists. Avdija had 18 points, 11 of which came in the fourth quarter, and 14 rebounds.
Holmes had 14 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double since Jan. 31, when he played for the Dallas Mavericks. He may stay in the starting lineup for some time; Keefe said before the game that Bagley will be reevaluated in a week after he missed his second straight game with lower back spasms.
Poole had 15 points off the bench.
The Hornets (15-48), meanwhile, faltered in the fourth, in which they shot 37.5 percent from the field and made just one three-pointer.
At the final buzzer, Winger high-fived every fan sitting within his reach.
“It feels good, man. We’ve been going through a lot this year,” Avdija said. “I can’t tell you what it is to lose that many games. I’ve never experienced that in my life. It’s my first season doing that. It’s definitely not fun. It can definitely take the good out of it: progress, learning. … It’s definitely not fun.”