To satisfy your Wizards fix, DCist is teaming up with Kyle Weidie and Rashad Mobley of Truth About It, who will take turns penning a column on Washington’s professional basketball team every week throughout the season. You can read Kyle and Rashad on all things Wiz here.
Remember in Return of the Jedi, when the Ewoks battled the Evil Empire? The Ewoks had the homecourt advantage on the planet of Endor, but their weapons of choice were of the primitive variety — rocks, logs, rope and so forth. The Empire had superior weaponry, but the unfamiliar terrain prevented them from steamrolling their lesser competition. The Ewoks sprinted to an early lead, then the Empire delivered a series of crushing blows to pull into the lead. But thanks to their overwhelming numbers and perhaps a bit of the Force, the Ewoks eventually won, and they joined the Rebel forces in the victory celebration.
My decision to use a 28-year-old movie to prove a point may be a bit farfetched, but the Ewok/Empire battle in Jedi is analogous to last night’s Heat/Wizards game.
Even though Andray Blatche was made available shortly before tipoff, the Wizards were still severely shorthanded going into last night’s game. Rashard Lewis, Nick Young and Josh Howard were nursing sore knees, and the Wizards PR team announced before the game that Trevor Booker was out for the season with a fractured bone in his foot.
The Wizards still had enough players to put up a formidable fight. Their rookie backcourt of Jordan Crawford and John Wall was coming off a strong victory in Utah two nights prior, where they combined for 53 points. Center JaVale McGee also had played well of late, averaging 18 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks in his previous five games.
The Miami Heat were just representing the bad guys against the Wizards. LeBron James — and to a lesser extent, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh — have been resented by fans and peers this entire season, for taking (or in Wade’s case keeping) their talents to (and in) South Beach. On the court, they have had their highs and lows, but going into last night’s game they were winners of five of the last six. Unfortunately for the Wizards, Miami’s one loss had come the previous night against the Cleveland Cavaliers — LeBron’s former home. This would give an already good Heat team extra motivation against the shorthanded Wizards squad.
Through the first quarter and three minutes into the second, the underdog Wizards more than held their own against their stronger opponents. Wall only scored two points, but he had dished out five assists, and Blatche scored nine points and showed no rust after his three-week absence. The Wizards were only winning 37-36, but their play far exceeded their 18-55 record.
Then the fight happened.
Wall’s understandable but unfortunate swing at Heat center Zydrunas Illgauskas midsection caused his ejection, and the Wizards went from shorthanded to deficient. The Heat sustained ejections to former Wizards forward Juwan Howard and Ilgauskas, but they average a combined seven points and six rebounds — a far cry from Wall’s 16 points and 8.6 assists per game.
The Verizon Center crowd was energized after the fight, and after withstanding a short Miami Heat run, the Wall-less Wizards seemed to feed off that energy. When forward Maurice Evans hit a short jumper that gave the Wizards the lead, 46-45, the crowd erupted, the team was demonstrative, and it appeared the Ewoks were going to topple the Evil Empre again.
But the Heat responded with an 18-6 run, took the lead, and then stretched it to 11 points. LeBron and Wade scored or assisted on all 18 points, and it was 63-52 at halftime. There was no reason to believe that the Heat would not come out in the third quarter and deliver a decisive and crushing blow to the deflated Wizards.
Then the Force intervened, attached itself to Jordan Crawford, and gave the Wizards a fighting chance in the second half.
Crawford scored 27 points in the second half, and in the words of the great Marv Albert, he showed the full repetoire. Playing point guard in Wall’s absence, he hit three-pointers, beat the shot clock, made off-balance shots, and drove in the lane for close-range layups. And Crawford still found time to occasionally jaw with LeBron — who he famously dunked on while he was in college.
When Crawford hit a jumper with 7:30 left in the fourth quarter, to bring the Wizards within two points, the crowd cheered as loudly as they had in the first half. Once again those fiesty Ewoks were on the attack despite their inferior weaponry, and the Evil Empire was on its heels late in the game.
Unfortunately, this is where the Star Wars parallels end and the cold reality of the situation enters. There was no additional Force intervention, no John Wall and no Ewok victory. The last seven minutes of the game demonstrated that a healthy Miami Heat team is a capable of crushing an 18-55 team at any moment, thwarting the fairy tale ending.
Crawford, Evans and Jeffers did their best to keep pace with the Heat, but their heroics were futile. The Heat players did an excellent job of spreading the floor, so no matter how much the Wizards scurried around trying to keep pace, there was an open shot made in their collective faces. The lead went from two to 16 by the buzzer: 123-107.
The Wizards players who had fought so hard during the game looked dejected as they left the floor. However, the fans were nothing but supportive. There were no boos from the fans, no calls for Gilbert Arenas, no request for the termination of Flip Saunders and no insults hurled at Blatche. Instead, there was quiet disappointment, scattered applause and a general appreciation about what had just happened. Their Wizards had challenged, and almost defeated, one of the best teams in the NBA, and they’d done so with their best player ejected and several others injured.
Winners, they were not, but valiant fighters, they were.
