The Wizards struggled to score and were pelted for it through the first two months of the season, but lately they have managed to find some success without a definitive go-to guy on offense.
“That’s what we are. That’s what this team is,” Coach Randy Wittman said. “We’ve got guys that are capable of doing things, but we just don’t have one that’s going to go out and carry the team. And that’s not a bad thing.”
Wall leads the Wizards with 14.6 points per game — the second-lowest average for a leading scorer of any NBA team, just ahead of Phoenix’s Goran Dragic (14.2 points). But among those who have played enough games to qualify for the scoring title, Beal is tops at just 13.3 points.
The Wizards (15-35) have six players averaging double figures, including Crawford, who was the team’s leading scorer for most of the season before sliding out of the rotation the past three games. The Wizards have had 10 players lead or tie for the team scoring lead in a game: Crawford (16 times), Beal (10), Webster (seven), Nene (five), Emeka Okafor (four), Kevin Seraphin (three), Wall (twice), and A.J. Price, Trevor Ariza and Cartier Martin (once).
“On this team, we divide the dinner plate evenly. Everybody has been eating lately,” said Webster, who has topped 20 points four times this season.
Beal set a season-best scoring mark for the Wizards on Monday, when he erupted for 28 points, his first 20-point game in nearly a month, in a 102-90 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Crawford held the previous high with 27 points two other times.
“Sometimes, guys have great games and it’s other guys that step up and play well,” said Beal, who scored just three points in his previous game, a blowout win over the Brooklyn Nets. “Sometimes it’s going to be your night and our team does a great job of keep giving him the ball and finding guys open. I think that’s probably the biggest thing that we’ve adjusted to, that we’re starting to learn this whole year. If guys are going, we keep going to them.”
Though the Wizards rely on different players to score, Webster credited Wall with orchestrating an improved offense that is averaging 95.7 points per game since he returned from a stress injury in his left knee. Wall had 10 assists in Milwaukee, where the team had 29 in all. The Wizards are 4-1 when they have at least 29 assists and Wall has played in four of those games.
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