The Wizards show that less is more in their skid-breaking win over the Brooklyn Nets

Sometimes less can be more.

Though the Wizards have been one of the best passing teams in the league this season, ranking fourth in the league in percentage of field goals assisted, all the extra passes aren't leading to extra points.

The Wizards' offense traditionally results in shots that do not make for efficient basketball in today's NBA. They traditionally hunt for jump shots in the half-court, most of which are of the two point variety, and shoot them poorly. About 54 percent of the Wizards' offense result in jump shots. They score .907 points per possession on those--not a strong enough number for that to represent more than half of your offense in the half-court.

So it's easy to see why the Wizards have struggled over the last couple of weeks. Scoring has always been hard for them to come by, and when they have the defensive breakdowns they did in those games as well, it's really hard to recover and win games.

But against the Nets on Saturday night, the Wizards played differently. Instead of playing a slowed-up version of basketball where they focused on their ball movement in half-court situations leading to just long two point jump shots and late-clock post work, they pushed the ball ahead in transition in order to get easy looks before the defense settled.

The Wizards are, by far, at their best scoring in transition. They score 1.157 points per possession in transition, which ranks fifth in the league overall. But just 15.7 percent of their possessions come from there. The Warriors, who rank fourth in transition offense with 1.168 points per possession, have just under 19 percent of their offensive possessions coming in transition.

Now, some of that has to do with how many live-ball turnovers they force and the pace they force opponents to play at, but some of that is also because of how much of an effort they make to push the ball up the court either off of lengthy outlet passes and off of the dribble. That's some of what the Wizards did to the Nets last night, and it worked out for them in getting their biggest win of the year.

Take a look at this play to Otto Porter early on in the first quarter.

Wall is able to get the ball out ahead of the defense, even when they're on the way back, after a miss. The outlet gets by two defenders and makes it to Porter, who no one has their eye on in transition.

Wall is able to get the ball out ahead of the defense, even when they're on the way back, after a miss. The outlet gets by two defenders and makes it to Porter, who no one has their eye on in transition.

This helps Porter out tremendously and makes him an offensive factor early on. It's not a great secret that Porter is not a very good jump shooter at this point in his career, so the Nets are not worried about Wall finding him on the perimeter in transition. Their priority here is to stop him with the ball first, and then locate shooters to hurt them from three. Porter, as a cutter, is a threat but only later on in semi-transition when defenses tend to break down.

But Porter fills his lane extremely well here and is able to find an early crease in the Nets' defense and take the ball to the rim. This is early offense, but there is nothing wrong with early offense as long as it is positive offense. In this case, the results were extremely positive and there was no need for any advanced ball movement or multiple swings from left to right.

That's why transition basketball is the Wizards' best option. They are able to create easy options for themselves and that lessens the chances of having to suffer through scoring droughts for minutes at a time on an NBA basketball court. Take a look at this miss from deep by Pierce. It's created by a push of the basketball from John Wall after a Nets' miss.

John Wall has traditionally been one of the best three point creators in the league and his game in transition is one of the biggest reasons why. The Nets have to put up a wall in front of the rim to keep Wall from getting into the lane and scoring an easy bucket or drawing a foul. As a result, Pierce is left wide open.

Even when the break finishes, if the team moves quickly and attacks there will be opportunities to exploit the defense as they are frozen trying to set their defense up.

On this And-1 finish by Wall, the Nets are back on defense after a look in transition, but Wall moves quickly to attack Jarrett Jack in the post as the defense is trying to catch itself and set up.

The help does come for Jack, but it comes far too late. Cory Jefferson is not able to come over early enough because Kris Humphries is trailing the play. That makes Jefferson hesitate just enough for Wall to make his move on Jack. When Jefferson comes and helps, that's when the foul is committed and Wall gets the and-1.

The transition game can go a long way for this team if they remain committed to playing with pace. Age is a concern, but pace is not all about running with the ball. It is about moving early, developing quick shots and throwing the ball to the open man at the first possible moment.

This makes offense much less complex, but again, sometimes less is more. And just because something is less complex does not mean it is easier to defend. Making decisions on defense at a quick pace can be devastating if the wrong decision is made.

The offense can slow down come playoff time and the Wizards have shown they are capable of playing that way and defending at a high level. But this team can continue to flex on their opponents in the regular season if they remain committed to this style of play. Will they? Only time will tell.

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