ORLANDO, Fla. — Let no one tell you that the Washington Wizards emerged unscathed from what will forever be known as the “Bam Adebayo game.” When an individual player scores 83 points in a game, as Adebayo did, it leaves a mark on the opposing team. No one enjoys being the butt of jokes, and the Wizards’ players, coaches and staff did not enjoy their unwelcome moment in the spotlight.
That ordeal hurt, which made what happened approximately 48 hours later important. The Wizards had two choices on Thursday night, when they faced the Orlando Magic. They could either show more fight than they demonstrated in Miami, or be a punching bag once again.
Washington provided the necessary bounce-back performance, even in a loss. The Wizards recovered from a 19-point deficit in the third quarter to overtime, and although they lost 136-131, they demonstrated a level of fight and resilience that they had lacked against Adebayo and the Heat.
“We played way better as a team tonight,” point guard Trae Young said. “We didn’t like feeling like how we did after the last game, but that’s how you’re supposed to feel after a loss. But the way it happened, you want to come back and respond in the right way, and I feel like we did.”
The Wizards showed more fortitude on Thursday. They trailed early, but not because of unfocused or uninterested play. With Young mostly leading the offense, they generated plenty of open looks but missed 11 of their first 12 3-point tries, allowing the Magic to push forward in transition and build a 45-36 lead. The decision-making and intent were good, even though the results were lacking.
“The best part of the game was how we trusted each other,” Washington coach Brian Keefe said. “We were not shooting the ball well. We kept making the correct play over and over again, hitting the corner, hitting the guy who was open, and we weren’t making our 3s. Then, all of a sudden, we started making ’em, because we just kept with the process, and we didn’t lose momentum because of that.
“We just kept trusting that, and that’s what our guys wanted to do. The competitive juices were great tonight.”
The game turned midway through the fourth quarter, with Orlando ahead by 16 points. The quintet of Bub Carrington, Leaky Black, Will Riley, Bilal Coulibaly and Anthony Gill closed the quarter by making 12-of-17 shots from the field. Trailing 123-120, Coulibaly sank a pull-up 3 off the glass to tie the score with 5.8 seconds remaining.
Coulibaly scored 13 of his career-high 29 points in the fourth, often bringing his teammates on the bench to their feet. Even Gill, the most mild-mannered Wizards player, got swept up in the emotion, at one point standing over Orlando’s Desmond Bane to send a message.
“We did not get the win in the win-loss category, but we definitely got the victory as far as overcoming something as a team and as a unit,” Gill said.
What had to be overcome were the after-effects of Adebayo’s 83-point game, two nights earlier. That performance started with a 31-point first quarter by Adebayo — something the Wizards take full responsibility for — and ended with the Heat purposely fouling Wizards players and missing free throws to give Adebayo more opportunities to top Kobe Bryant’s 81-point performance set on Jan. 22, 2006.
Will Riley (left) helped spark a fourth-quarter Wizards comeback. (Mike Watters / Imagn Images)
It’s safe to say many of the Wizards considered the Heat’s tactics unsportsmanlike.
“I’m not going to be the one that talks about how the game was played out,” Gill said. “Bam had an unbelievable game. We did not respond. We didn’t prepare the way that we should have for the game, and it showed with how well he played against us. We know for what we’re trying to build here that’s unacceptable, and we were kind of upset with that.”
The Adebayo game left the Wizards embarrassed and angry.
“It’s not something you want to be a part of and things like that, but you see everybody’s reaction and how he got it,” Young said. “We were all thinking the same way, how it was kind of weird, them fouling (with less than) two minutes (left) just to give him more possessions. It was a weird thing. It wasn’t very Erik Spoelstra-like. He’s an unbelievable coach and has done some great things.
“(Bam) scored a lot of points. You’ve got to give him credit. But the way it happened and the way it went down, you see the reaction from people around the league. Around everybody, it’s kind of the same. So we had a similar mindset, but at the same time, we allowed it to happen in the first half and gave him a rhythm to even have the confidence to think he was going to get that. So the way we bounced back is the way we needed to bounce back tonight. I’m just happy with the way that we did that.”
Among the things to be happy about was how Young and center Alex Sarr ran the pick-and-roll and connected on a pair of lobs from Young that ended with Sarr baskets. In just his third game with the Wizards, on a minutes restriction of approximately 21 minutes, Young finished with 15 points and six assists. Sarr had 16 points and five blocks, also with a minutes restriction.
“I’m definitely getting used to playing with him, seeing pick-and-roll angles,” Sarr said. “We’re just working, getting extra reps right now. That’s very valuable.”
Still, the stretch run late in the fourth quarter is what made Washington’s players optimistic, providing a Band-Aid to what happened in Miami.
“People can laugh about us now,” Young said. “In the future, I don’t think people are going to be laughing about us.”