This was a game where it was clear from opening tip that the Wiz weren’t going to stand a chance. Even with Kyrie out, this game was never going to be close. It was a shooting clinic by the Mavs. Here are my 5 takeaways from tonight’s tilt in the District:

1. THJ was unstoppable tonight. I was expecting to say Luka was unstoppable, but THJ went off. So continues the trend of random ass role players going off against the Wiz. A tale as old as time. As is this: there was no one guarding him after he hit even three or four threes. People were going under on screens. It was a disasterclass in how to have a disaster of a defense. Mavs shot 41% from three, and that number should’ve been much higher. A lot of open threes they did not capitalize on tonight. We did a poor job protecting the three tonight.
2. Good night for Deni tonight. He shot 5-6 to end 15. His shot looked much better tonight. He also had 3 steals for his troubles on defense. Loved to see how active and confident Deni looked on offense tonight. I will say this: there’s a clear change in confidence from him from years past. That hasn’t led to consistent results YET, but I have faith that it will. Hope to see Deni continue to play at this level and at high efficiency. This is the season for him to average 15 ppg, and he has all the physical tools, skills, and experience to do it. It’s just a matter of putting it all together and maintaining consistency.
3. Can someone tell me what act of terrorism Gafford committed against WUJ? He only played 24 minutes tonight. It’s true he was getting picked apart by Luka and Lively in the pick and roll, but that’s the whole damn point of this season. It’s to learn from your mistakes and be put in those situations so you can improve. This has been a problem this whole week. Gaff needs more time on the floor, because when he’s out there he’s damn effective. A near 10 and 10 in 24 minutes on high efficiency. We need more Gaff!
4. We had decent offensive efficiency tonight. We weren’t shooting lights out, but we shot at a high enough level to win this game. Kuz had 22 points, Poole had 16 points, all our rotation players actually went into double digits, but the issue was we couldn’t “guard a parked car” to quote a Wizards player of yesteryear. Offense looked nice tonight, and I loved the emphasis on getting Kispy the ball. I do want to see more Kispy, Deni, and Gaff sets than 35 shots from Poole and Kuz, but I guess that’s inevitable. I do think WUJ should’ve taken out Poole at like the 6:00 mark when it was clear that the game was sealed. Poole was shot chucking and taking opportunities away from the younguns who actually needed that play time to develop their offensive arsenal. I want each of Deni, Bilal, and Kispert to take 10 shots a game. I know that’s aggressive, but that’s what this season is for.
5. Speaking of the younguns, here is your gamely assessment of them. As I mentioned Deni had a pretty darn nice game. All about consistency fro the 23 year old for the Wizraeli. Kispert was hitting his shots at a high level, and there was good movement and performance from him. Once again, my favorite tonight was Bilal Coulibaly. Bilal had 10 points and a career high 8 rebounds. The teenager from France is taking a small step forward every time he steps out on the floor. Once again, his shoot looks damn good from deep. I think he can work on finishing around the rim. I’ve noticed the last couple of games that he euros or does a step through to get to the rim, but isn’t able to convert. That will be the next step for him. Once he can convert at the rack, it’s going to really bolster him offensively, because sooner rather than later, opponents are going to run him off the line once they realize that Bilal is a respectable shooter from deep. Fun fact: Bilal is second amongst rookies in three point %. He is shooting a blistering 47.1% from three which is second only to OKC’s Cason Wallace who is shooting a mind boggling 55%. Cason is only taking 1.8 attempts a game, but it’s enough to qualify him for the top spot on the board. Bilal is top 3 in total steals amongst rookies and top 5 in blocks amongst rookies. He is really stuffing the stat sheet. Now I would like to see him get to double digits in scoring. He is top 10 in scoring, but he can get that up to 10 easily if he plays with this sort of consistency. He looks like the first rookie in recent memory that wouldn’t fall out of the lottery in a re-draft.

Overall, an okay game from the Wiz. Don’t feel as strongly about this loss as the TOR game, because this was a game where we were just outmuscled by the Mavs. Look forward to the Wiz playing their third IST game on Friday @ 7 when the Knicks come to the 202. Should be a fun one. I’ll see y’all then!