Otto Porter Jr. needs to keep feasting for the Wizards
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Version 0 of 1. DALLAS — In the hours before the best offensive performance of his professional basketball career Saturday night, Otto Porter Jr. was advised to arrive at American Airlines Center with an appetite. Without Bradley Beal in uniform for the Washington Wizards, there were going to be plenty of chances for the skinny forward to munch on the Dallas Mavericks’ defense. “We told Otto this morning and before the game that he is going to get all that he can eat tonight,” Wizards Coach Randy Wittman said. “We told him to go out there and let it fly with all the opportunities he was going to get, and he did that.” By the time he was done feasting, Porter had recorded a career-high 28 points on 11-for-18 shooting in the Wizards’ 114-111 victory. He did most of his dining in the third quarter, when he led one of Washington’s best periods of the season with 17 points on 7-for-8 shooting as the Wizards (10-12) built a 21-point lead. It was the type of outburst the Wizards will need more of while Beal, Washington’s leading scorer and best shooter on a team lacking in them, is out for at least a few weeks with a right fibula injury. [Beal to miss at least two weeks with right fibula injury] “Everybody has to step up,” said Porter, who is averaging 12.6 points and 5.6 rebounds this season. “But personally, myself, I have to try to do more in all the areas, whether it’s scoring, rebounding, defending and stuff like that.” Saturday night’s game plan was simple: Attack Dirk Nowitzki. And the Wizards, who lost to the Mavericks six days earlier, knew Dallas was once again going to try to hide Nowtizki — a slow, 37-year-old 7-footer — on Porter. It was on Porter to capitalize. “You just have to put Dirk in pick and rolls,” Porter said, “whoever he was guarding. We wanted him in a high pick and roll because John [Wall] can turn the corner, or whoever is setting the pick and pop was going to be wide open, so we just took advantage of that.” Porter has impacted games positively in various ways this season — he grabbed 14 rebounds against the Miami Heat, for example — and the Wizards don’t expect him to ever become a premier scorer, but they made the decision to move him into the starting lineup this season assuming he would be a shooting threat after he shot 37.5 percent from beyond the arc during his breakout postseason last spring. But Porter was shooting just 26 percent from three-point range entering Saturday. Recognizing his struggles, opposing defenses have sagged off him, hindering spacing for a Wizards offense that depends on it, and dared him to shoot. Dallas repeated the strategy, and Porter made a career-high four three-pointers on eight attempts. “With all respect to Dirk, Dirk was defending him like he couldn’t shoot the ball,” Wizards center Marcin Gortat said. “We told him to just keep shooting. If you’re going to miss, keep shooting.” With Beal likely sidelined for at least the remainder of the month — a stretch that includes a difficult slate of games — the Wizards will rely on Wall more than ever. And he delivered again Saturday with 26 points and 16 assists to continue his standout December. [For Wall, it’s the most wonderful time of the year] But successfully replacing Beal’s presence and 19.8 points per game will take more than Wall alone posting huge numbers, as was the case in Washington’s loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday when he recorded 26 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds. They will need more from others — like they got from Porter on Saturday — to stay afloat in the competitive Eastern Conference. “It’s going to be key for us,” Wall said. “I told him earlier, ‘Just be aggressive. Play the game you were playing tonight: making open shots and being aggressive.’ “Like I told him, ‘I don’t care if you miss 20 shots. We need you to take those shots and be aggressive if teams are going to play off you.’ It’s going to help out our team a lot.” |