The Washington Wizards finally cracked a tough defensive code Monday night, holding an opponent under 100 points for the first time this season in their 107-99 win over the Brooklyn Nets.
It took them 57 games to get there.
The difference-maker? Marcus Smart, who’s bringing some much-needed defensive swagger to Washington in just his second game wearing the Wizards jersey.
“It took everybody,” Smart said after the game. “That Brooklyn team as we all know, they don’t back down from nobody. They’re going to come out and test you on both ends.”
The impact was most visible in the fourth quarter, when the Wizards held Brooklyn to just 12 points. Before this game, Washington had been the NBA’s only team that hadn’t kept an opponent to double-digit scoring in any quarter this season.
Smart’s return to the court couldn’t have come at a better time. He’d been sidelined with a right index finger injury but showed he hasn’t lost his touch, putting up 10 points in 21 minutes.
“There is some people that kind of probably slept โ I haven’t played in a couple years consistently, and they probably forgot about me โ which is cool,” Smart said with a grin. “I’m used to it. I still do what I do.”
The defensive milestone is pretty remarkable when you consider the history. The last team to go a whole season without holding anyone under 100 points was the 2022-23 Utah Jazz. Before that? You’d have to go all the way back to the 1990-91 Denver Nuggets.
It wasn’t all pretty – the Wizards turned the ball over 23 times. But first-year coach Brian Keefe wasn’t too worried about the messy offense.
“We weathered the storm,” Keefe said. “We didn’t play a perfect game. We scored 40 points in the second half. We struggled to score at times. We’re still learning chemistry with the new guys. But that didn’t stop us from staying competitive and staying with the game. We really won the game tonight with our defense.”
