After the Washington Wizards beat the Toronto Raptors in the opener, a reporter at the press conference mentioned that this was the third time in Bradley Bill's career that he had won the opener. Upon hearing this statistic, Monterrez Harrell came to his senses and said, "I'm very happy to be a part of it." He also gave Bill a punch.
Harrell has more to do than just help the Wizards win their first win of the season, he has to win more.
On October 29, the Washington Wizards defeated the Atlanta Hawks 122-111 at home. After this battle, the Wizards achieved a record of 4 wins and 1 loss, temporarily tied for second place in the East with the Charlotte Hornets. It was also the Wizards' best start since the 2014-15 season.
On this night, many of the Wizards' main players were absent. Spencer Dinwiddie was on leave; Daniel Garford suffered a contusion in his right hip; and Hachimura was absent for personal reasons. But the Wizards still started with a strong start, and they played against the Hawks, scoring 33 points in a single quarter.
The Wizards scored more than 20 points by four players. Bill Bradley cut 27 points, eight rebounds and eight assists; Harrell, who started for the season, had 25 points, 13 rebounds and five assists on 10-of-16 shooting; Kentavius Caldwell-Pope had 21 points and eight rebounds on 5-of-7 three-pointers; and Kyle Kuzma had 21 points, eight rebounds and three steals on 8-of-17 shooting.
The three Major Lakers dropped together for 67 points and 29 rebounds. The Wizards' top three plus-minus also happen to be: Harrell (+16), Pope (+10) and Kuzma (+9).
Heck, Lakers fans, don't cry.
In the third quarter, the Wizards led the Hawks by 20 points, and that was definitely thanks to Kuzma and Harrell. Kuzma had 10 points and two rebounds in the third quarter, and Harrell scored nine points on 3-of-4 shooting.
At present, Harrell's average score per game is approaching a career high, and the number of rebounds has set a new career high, completely becoming the wizard's inside line stalwart, and the cooperation with Bill is becoming more and more skilled. Talking about the connection to Bill reminds Harrell of the blocking line between him and Louis Williams while on the Clippers. Harrell joked, "I just want another Louis Williams." Oh my God, Bill is my (second) Lou Wei. ”
And since being traded by the Lakers to the Wizards, Kuzma's speech has always made people feel that he is yin and yang. The Lakers lost to the Warriors in the opener, and Kuzma retweeted a netizen message on social media: "The Lakers lost Kuzma after 0 wins and 7 losses." ”
Another example: after a few days, the Wizards started with two consecutive wins, and the Lakers lost two consecutive games. He talked in interviews and thought the Wizards had done the right thing. Kuzma said: "There are 10 trades like that, you have to do 10 times. If you have a chance to get 5 great players with one player, that makes sense. Russell (Westbrook) is clearly a Hall of Famer and his performance is incredible. But a team like Washington, if you look at the record of the last few years, [they don't have enough depth]. The deal is smart, and if you're the general manager, you have to do the deal too. ”
Since the start of the game, Kuzmaneng has averaged a double-double of 15.2 points and 11 rebounds per game.
Caldwell Pope shot the game's most three-pointers, averaging 11 points and 3.4 rebounds per game on his new team and shooting 50 percent from three-point range. Arguably, none of the three have disappointed the new team.
The Wizards got off to a good start under new coach Wes Unseld Jr. Unseld said: "We have that kind of confidence, it's not pride, it's that we put in a lot of time, we do a lot of work, we have a lot of work to do." ”
The Wizards' first five games were not an easy fixture, with four opponents being the Pacers, Nets, Celtics and Hawks. All four teams are relatively strong teams in the East, and the Pacers and Celtics are opponents of the Wizards in the play-offs last season.
Over the past year, the Wizards have been surrounded by a lot of rumors, basically rumors that Bill may be traded. The number of fake trades Bill has been implicated in is uncountable, and a large number of media speculations have been that It was only a matter of time before Bill applied for a trade, especially after the Wizards traded Westbrook to the Lakers in the offseason.
Instead, Bill continued to keep his promise of loyalty to the Wizards and Washington, D.C. The Wizards' three main players in the Westbrook trade also helped turn the tide. While the Wizards let go of star players like Westbrook, they added much-needed lineup depth. It turns out that even though Beal's current shooting percentage is only 35.9%, three-point shooting rate is 17.2%, and the average points per game has slipped from 31 to 21 points per game, they can still achieve a record of 4 wins and 1 loss.
Of course, the season has only just begun. It's too early to assert that the Wizards have been one of the most improved teams in the East this season, but there's reason to believe they'll perform better than media outlets predict.
Clearly unsatisfied, Unseld said in a post-match interview: "This is a major victory. But we don't, and shouldn't, be satisfied. Now is not the time for us to be satisfied. ”