After a bad 130-119 Game 2 loss to the Raptors, Wizards fan Joseph Turner gave a pointed criticism of the team. In short, John Wall was doing what he needed to do, but other players like Bradley Beal and Marcin Gortat were not performing. He was especially harsh to Gortat, who was scoreless.
After their Game 3 win over Toronto on Friday night, I think it is appropriate to share how Turner feels this time. Basically, it’s a 180!
THATS HOW WE GOTTA PLAY!!!!!! @WashWizards stay locked in! A great win!!!!!! WE NEED MORE!!!! LETS GOOOOO!!! #dcfamily @NBCSWizards @TravisThomasExp @ChristyWScott51 @garyacarter @BeccaMVP pic.twitter.com/hB8Du3ORrk
— joeEL-amin (@jt_hoopdreams11) April 21, 2018
Turner was particularly pleased about Wall and Beal scoring 28 points each. And if you were wondering whether he was angry about Marcin Gortat playing 25 minutes, let alone starting, Turner was happy about Gortat’s performance. The Polish Machine scored 16 points on 8 of 10 shooting. Turner said “That was the POLISH!” as a way to give Gortat some encouragement and even made a reference to Gortat’s new no-mohawk look.
If there’s one person who was the subject of Turner’s ire after Game 2 and didn’t score much, it was Otto Porter. He only scored 8 points on 3 of 7 shooting. Turner made no reference to Porter in the video.
But as a member of the “Emma Meesseman School of doing all the little things right,” Porter contributed as a rebounder since he led the Wizards with eight, passer (he dished two assists), and even blocked a couple shots. Turner didn’t mention Porter in his celebration video, but I’d say he’s pleased that Porter still did what had to be done to get a critical victory on Friday night.
Regardless, I’m happy that the Wizards responded in Game 3 to get a critical win. Hopefully Washington can even up the series on Sunday, and maybe steal Game 5 in Aubrey Graham’s hometown next Wednesday.