Washington Wizards Blog

By Zack Bolno, Wizards PR Director

A new streak begins for the Washington Wizards.

Rookie guard Nick Young had a game-high 18 points and the Wizards made the critical defensive stops down the stretch in their 76-71 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers (2-3) on Saturday evening at Cox Pavilion.

The Wizards (1-3) won their first game of the 2007 Summer League and in the process snapped an overall nine-game losing streak in Las Vegas which dated back to July, 2005.

In their three previous summer league losses, the Wizards’ allowed their opponents to average 50.3 points in the second half. It was a much different half for the Wizards on this night as they limited the Cavaliers to just 32 second-half points in their victory.

“We did a nice job on the glass and made some very critical stops and critical rebounds, which we have not had in the previous three games,” Wizards Summer League Head Coach Wes Unseld said. “I think that was the difference tonight.”

The victory did not come easy as the Wizards struggled to get started in the first quarter. The Cavaliers had an early 12-point lead, but the Wizards fought back late in the second quarter and cut the deficit to four at the half (39-35).

The game featured 15 different lead changes and was tied on 12 occasions. With the Wizards trailing by three in the fourth quarter, forward Oleksiy Pecherov connected on three-pointer to tie the game at 70 with 2:25 remaining. After a Wizards’ defensive stop, Young followed with two free throws and an 18-foot jumper to give the Wizards a 74-70 advantage.

The Wizards had key stops down the stretch on Cavs’ guards Shannon Brown and Daniel Gibson who combined for just four points in the fourth quarter. On the Cavaliers’ final two possessions, Gibson turned the ball over on a traveling violation and Brown missed a jumper. Unseld credited the defensive job guards Aaron Miles, Brian Chase and Lee Humphrey did down the stretch in containing the Cavaliers’ talented duo.

Pecherov added 14 points and nine rebounds and rookie Dominic McGuire continued his impressive summer league showing with 11 points and eight rebounds for the Wizards. Center Jared Homan played some crucial minutes off the bench and added seven points and four rebounds in a little more than 18 minutes.

Washington will play the Milwaukee Bucks in its 2007 Summer League finale at 1:00 PDT. The game can be seen locally on Comcast SportsNet at 7:00 p.m. EDT.

NOTES
Washington committed just four turnovers in the second half.

The Wizards held the Cavaliers to just 32 second half points after allowing the Houston Rockets to score 32 points in the third quarter in Friday’s loss

Former George Washington standout J.R. Pinnock had eight points on 3-of-5 shooting in 13:07 of action.

In four games, Aaron Miles has 20 assists and just 5 turnovers in his role as the Wizards’ starting point guard

Rookie Nick Young leads the Wizards in scoring per game with a 15.7 average – He has scored in double figures in each game – 11, 20, 14 and 18 points, respectively)

ETC:
Dr. Jerel Banks entered the Cox Pavilion sporting his brother’s No. 42 jersey. His younger brother, Wizards forward Mike Hall, smiled when he saw his big ‘bro’ sitting directly behind the Wizards’ bench. Dr. Banks resides in Los Angles and is nine years older than younger brother, Mike, who contributed three points and five rebounds off the bench in the Wizards’ win over the Cavaliers.