On Wednesday, the Washington Wizards (9-44, 15th in the Eastern Conference) took on the Indiana Pacers (29-23, fourth in the Eastern Conference) in their last game before the All-Star Break and were downed by a late Indiana comeback 134-130 at Capital One Arena. The Wizards came in on a ten-game at-home losing streak almost a week after prioritizing a high-lottery draft pick at the trade deadline rather than salary cap space. Despite a strong overall Wizards performance highlighted by forty-two points from shooting guard Jordan Poole, the Indiana Pacers ultimately prevailed as they came back late in the fourth quarter after trailing much of the game.
Coming out of the trade deadline, Washington received a few players before letting them go. Newly acquired AJ Johnson, a 20-year-old rookie guard from the veteran Bucks, made the cut but did not play in Monday’s game (coach’s decision) and only played two minutes in this game. The Wizards hope Johnson will join the young core of players they’re cultivating. Perhaps he can fill the gap left by starter small forward Kyle Kuzma, who was traded to the Bucks in return for Johnson. The same Kuzma who, in a game against the Golden State Warriors on Monday, air-balled a free throw–Johnson may have smaller shoes to fill than he expected.
The Wizards’ starting lineup was Poole, guard Bilal Coulibaly, forward Kyshawn George, center Alex Sarr, and guard Bub Carrington. While only 25, Poole is four years older than the oldest of the four starting rookies.
The Pacers got the ball off the tip, but the Wizards stole it back. Bilal Coulibaly took the first shot of the game, which didn’t fall. The first point of the game was from Bub Carrington for two. He took the ball downcourt on the next Wizard’s possession and passed it off to Poole, who spun past a defender for a field goal. The Wizards went up 4-0.
Sarr blocked guard-forward Andrew Nembhard’s pull-up jumper, and Carrington hit a three following two Pacers points seven minutes in. George followed with one of his own to get on the board. Guard Tyrese Haliburton, a 2024 All-Star starter and U.S. Olympian, responded with a three of his own and a dunk off of a stolen pass from a diving Nesmith.
George clocked a rebound off a Pacer shot that he passed to forward Corey Kispert, who kept up the three-point streak with one of his own. The score was 19-16, Washington.
Guard Malcolm Brogdon, forward Richaun Holmes, and forward Justin Champagnie came off the bench towards the end of the first. Brogdon and Holmes, 32 and 31 years old, respectively, provide Washington with more experienced talents. Indiana took their first time out with 1:55 left in the first quarter, down by one point, 21-20.
A botched shot attempt from the Wizards left Champagnie on the floor in pain for at least twenty seconds until a trainer came out to look at him. Even then, he didn’t move until after all his teammates gathered around him to pick him up. He walked straight into the locker room, thankfully unassisted. Johnson came in for Champagnie.
Despite a Kispert three-point jumper, the Pacers took their first lead of the game with a three of their own from forward Obi Toppin off an assist from forward Pascal Siakam, 25-24 Indiana. Holmes put himself on the Wizards’ score sheet with a tip shot and one.
At the end of the first quarter, the Wizards led 27-25.
Washington got on the board first in the second quarter with a fade-away from Kispert. Impressively, the Wizards ran the Pacers to a shot clock violation after a tip out of bounds, resulting in a Pacers’ air-balled shot. Brogdon made two shots at the dawn of the quarter for five points. Carrington showed promise under the basket with another rebound but couldn’t convert on the other end.
More energetic defense from Johnson, Kispert, and Carrington prevented an Indiana layup, and the refs awarded Brogdon another two points for Pacers’ center-forward Thomas Bryant’s goaltending. Kispert heated up, causing an eruption of cheers from Wizards fans for his three off a pass from Brogdon. Indiana wisely called a time-out, down eight.
The Pacers refused to give up, with power forward Obi Toppin swinging from the rim after a definitive put-down, 43-37 Washington. The Wizards put up three shot attempts in the following possession, launching the ball in high passes across the paint. Poole sank a three off a Coulibaly pass, and a succession of fast breaks ensued from both teams. Fortunately, Poole regained momentum for Washington with consecutive three-pointers. A missed shot from Bryant was rebounded by Kispert and found its way to Poole. He looped the ball around his back, a mere five feet from the center-court logo, for yet another three-pointer. The crowd roared at this point, but it didn’t stop there.
Alex Sarr blocked Bryant’s dunk attempt, and the crowd surged to their feet in a wave for Bub Carrington as he sank a three-pointer from the corner. The crowd showed the Wizards love with 1:49 left in the half with a 57-44 lead. The Pacers took a time-out—again.
With under a minute left, Coulibaly joined the three-point party. An Aaron Nesmith jumper brought the Pacers two points closer, and a last-second dunk by Toppin came after the clock expired. As the buzzer closed the first half, the Washington Wizards held a comfortable lead over the Indiana Pacers, 60-47. They had made five three-pointers in only two minutes and forty seconds.
The Wizards shot 47.9 percent from the field and an unprecedented (for them) 50 percent from three. The Pacers hovered around the 40 percent mark for both of those stats.
At the second half’s opening, a missed Coulibaly pull-up jumper left his defender on the ground, but a Poole steal gave Washington the possession back. Poole went in for the layup but was fouled and fell to the ground, audibly thumping his head against the wood. He grimaced, rubbed his head, and took a few extra seconds before his two successful foul shots.
Washington’s defense kept the Pacers’ shot production low as the Wizards continued scoring at the rim and at the line. Toppin put in a three but negated its effect by fouling Poole on the other end. Soon after, George swished a three but failed to prevent two Toppin layups on the other end. The Wizards bench called a time-out with an 83-71 lead with just under four minutes left in the third quarter.
As Poole continued to score, so did Toppin. Toppin’s pairing against George in man-to-man defense proved mismatched to the Pacers’ benefit. The crowd stayed on Washington’s side, especially following another smooth, clean three from Kispert. He was shooting 87.5 percent from the field on eight attempts. Holmes garnered some love himself on defense by blocking one of Toppin’s powerful layups.
A sequence of free throws from both teams and then another rousing Kispert three brought the score to 97-81, Wizards. The bench revived, and fans applauded. Not even a three-point jumper from the productive guard Bennedict Mathurin right at the close of the third could quell the stadium’s electric atmosphere.
Carrington brought the Wizards to three digits with a three-pointer in the fourth quarter. Up until then, the Wizards had attempted thirty-five threes and had a stunning success rate of 54.2 percent. While the Pacers were also shooting 50 percent from three, they had only attempted 24 shots from behind the arc. The Pacers snuck within nine points with some strong drives early in the period.
The next Wizards’ possession went from Kispert, who tossed it to Carrington, to Sarr, who found Johnson for his first three-pointer with the Wizards. Sarr fed him for what was a wide-open look, 104-91. However, an odd delay-of-game call against the Wizards, a Mathurin three-point jumper, a Poole travel, and a Bryant two-pointer shot killed the Wizards’ magical momentum.
Coulibaly failed to make his next shot, but Poole made a jumper before tumbling down. His following attempt for three didn’t fall. Coulibaly redeemed himself with an easy toss-up to Holmes for an alley-oop. Mathurin contested with another layup, but then again, so did Poole. Shockingly, Haliburton’s three-point shot tied the game at 110 apiece with 4:21 left in the game. The Pacers had snuck up on Washington.
George took one for the team with a layup and one that left him on the ground. He flexed his muscles, and the crowd fed off his energy. Poole mimicked his move to take a 115-110 lead in the next possession.
Haliburton pushed past Carrington for the same layup and one. Unfortunately, George lost the ball out of bounds near the Wizards bench right after. With the score again tied, the Wizards had their starting lineup on the court–which didn’t include Kispert, despite the fact he was their second-highest scorer of the night. The Wizards paid with two missed shot possessions, bookending a Haliburton three that completed the Pacers’ rally.
Poole, Haliburton, Toppin, and Sarr all missed shots before Poole pulled out a three with some fancy footwork to tie the game at the one-minute mark. The crowd was raucous, on their feet and cheering. Once more, the ball found its way to Poole, who patiently laid in a jumper to take the lead right back. The Pacers called a timeout with 23 seconds remaining, down 120-118. The dancers and the mascot came out, and the crowd remained on their feet until the end of the game. Whistles and chants struck up.
Sadly, the Wizards lost their tenuous lead after Kispert fouled Nembhard on his shot. Nembhard sank both to tie it up with only fourteen seconds remaining. George in-bounded to Poole, who Nembhard fouled near halfcourt. The palpable tension built as Poole dribbled at the top of the key and finally released his shot at the final buzzer: no good. The Wizards headed to overtime.
A different tune was playing at the beginning of the five minutes of OT. The Pacers quickly outshot the Wizards with four jumpers to our one (from the consistent Poole). The 128-122 Indiana lead grew into a tough loss for the Wizards at 134 Indiana to 130 Washington. The last seconds of this game were rife with fouls and missed, harried shots. Poole tried to pull the team through, even sinking two free throws, but it wasn’t enough.
Worryingly, Champagnie didn’t come back out on court or even to the bench after falling face-first late in the first quarter. Johnson only attempted two shots, both threes, of which he made one. One bright point was the team’s 51.1-percent three-point percentage at the close of the match. The starting rookies all played at least thirty minutes. Poole had a magnificent performance, etching in forty-two points in only forty-one minutes of play. Kispert followed him with twenty-one points in twenty-seven minutes. Both Carrington and George made it into double digits with eighteen and fourteen points, respectively, and Coulibaly had eight assists.
Washington’s rookies are developing at the cost of a successful season–which is what the front office designed. The Wizards currently have a 14 percent chance of getting the first pick in the next draft and a 91.4 percent chance of getting a top-five pick. The Wizards fell once again for a loyal yet disappointed audience of 11,457 in Capital One Arena. They take on the Milwaukee Bucks after the All-Star break on Friday, Feb. 21. Hopefully, the team can relax and recoup after this narrow loss.
