The last time the Wizards started a season 4-0 was 1978.

Washington had a chance to break that drought Wednesday night. Things looked good early in the fourth quarter, but the Los Angeles Lakers erased a 10-point deficit and forced overtime.

Overtime would end Wednesday night after an ugly three-point attempt from John Wall. The Wizards fell to 3-1, taking a 102-99 loss out west.

Bradley Beal led Washington with 28 points and six rebounds. For the Lakers, Brandon Ingram tallied 19 points, 10 rebounds and three assists.

Beal may have had the highlight of the game for the Wizards in the second quarter, when he slammed home a fast break feed from Otto Porter Jr.

Takeaways

Wall vs. Ball didn’t amount to much

There was a lot of hype coming into this game about John Wall going up against Lakers’ rookie Lonzo Ball, mostly sparked by LaVar Ball saying some stuff, and then Marcin Gortat saying some other stuff. Talking the Washington Post’s Candace Buckner, Wall said he would show “no mercy” to second overall draft pick.

Aside from Ball poking the rock away from Wall a few times early, and Wall slicing by the rookie twice for easy points, there was nothing to this faux rivalry. Many times they didn’t even guard each other. Kelly Oubre Jr. had the Ball assignment early, and Tim Frazier and others took him on throughout the game for the Wizards.

By no means did Wall “cook” Ball or vice-versa.

Ball finished with a line of six points, 10 assists, eight rebounds, a steal and a block.

Wall took a while to heat up

The Wizards star began the game sluggish, going just 1-for-6 with three turnovers to start. He hit two jumpers at the end of the first half, including a buzzer beater from mid-range.

Wall settled in later, and would finish with 18 points and nine assists. Overall, it was not a great game for the 27-year-old, as he shot 7-of-22 from the floor and had four turnovers.

Really, the whole team started poorly. The Wizards didn’t score in the first three minutes, starting with seven straight misses.

The team also only shot 23 percent from behind the arc.

Jodie Meeks gave the Wizards a boost

Meeks wasn’t great in his last outing with the Wizards, scoring just five points in Denver.

But Meeks gave the Wizards their first lead of the game in the second quarter when he nailed his second three-pointer on the night. Meeks, a former Laker, started the night my connecting on his first three shot attempts. For Meeks, maybe it was the shoes. The 30-year-old sported a pair of Jordan Retro 13’s against his former team.

Coming off the bench, he finished with 11 points, two rebounds and three steals.

Game Notes

• The Wizards were on ESPN again, and again, former Washington forward Paul Pierce gave some love to Wall, calling him the “best pure point guard” in the NBA. He also cheered on Marcin Gortat.
• According to ESPN, Wall was 10-5 against rookie point guards in his career entering this game, averaging 21.1 points and 11.5 assists in those games, and holding the other guard to 10.4 points, 3.7 assists and a 39 percent field goal percentage. Coming into this game, Wall averaged 12.7 assists per game against the Lakers, the most all-time – ahead of marks by Chris Paul and John Stockton.
• Tim Frazier had five assists in his first six minutes of play. He played six more minutes and never notched another assist.
• Jason Smith returned to the rotation against the Lakers. The 31-year-old forward injured his shoulder on opening night and hadn’t played since. He played eight minutes against the Lakers, putting up two points, two rebounds and a block.
• Ian Mahinmi left the game in the third quarter with the sprained left ankle. He would not return, and had two points, two rebounds and a block on the night in eight minutes of play. Here’s that block, the best play of Mahinmi’s career in a Wizards’ uniform:

More Stuff

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Another John Wall highlight: