The Wizards fell 96-92 to the Dallas Mavericks on Friday evening after they were plagued by a slow start to the game where they were down by as many as 18 in the first quarter. The Mavericks forced the Wizards into mistakes early with pressure defense and racked up early turnovers. By the end of the first quarter they only scored 13 points.

But, in the purest Summer League fashion, the Wizards flipped the script on Dallas and held them to just six points in the second quarter. By the third quarter they took their first lead of the game and, from there, battled hard back and forth until the end of the game where a four-point play from the Mavericks sealed the deal.

Like every game in Vegas, the process is far more important than the result. The Wizards two draft picks were extremely productive on both ends of the floor with Troy Brown Jr. racking up 25 points and showing off his versatility while Issuf Sanon showed his potential as a 3-and-D prospect scoring nine points and going 3-5 from deep. They also got a lot out of Thomas Bryant, who has almost certainly played his way into training camp after scoring 22 points on just 13 shots.

Game notes

• With the Summer League coming to a close for Washington, Brown has been nothing but impressive. He’s been one of the team’s two best players on both ends and was the best player on the floor for Washington against the Mavericks. He scored 25 points — a majority of which came in the second half after another slow start for him. But he nailed a few jumpers, including a corner three pointer and a deep one off the dribble in the game’s waning moments. Overall, he went 2-6 from three tonight but his shot looked good and, surrounded by better players, he’ll have more chances to show his improvement if he plays this season.
• Another note on Brown, he showed extreme patience with the ball tonight and was allowed to run point for chunks of the second half. Good things happened when he was at the controls and Washington built up a lead of as many as six points before the Mavericks came back. I’m going to avoid the “he has feel for the game” cliché here because most skilled basketball players do. But this guy has the goods. Just look at this nifty pass from him on the break.

• OMG DEVIN ROBINSON HOW COULD I FORGET!? That dunk is incredible. He didn’t have the greatest game — only 13 points on 14 shots. But he contributed in other ways with 12 rebounds and gave us another great dunk. He’s still got a long way to go before becoming a competent NBA player, but he should get some time on the main roster this year and will hopefully stumble into some playing time.
• Thomas Bryant is a solid player. I think he probably plays in the post a bit too much, but he’s also good at it. He’s a big body and has been the strongest player on the floor whenever he’s played this summer. He’s going to get an opportunity to prove himself in training camp and could compete for a roster spot. If he doesn’t make it, he should at least get some run with the Go-Go next season. God, that’s an amazing name.