It took 57 games for the Washington Wizards to keep an opponent under 100 points this season, but they finally managed it on Monday night, thanks to Marcus Smart.
Smart and the Wizards limited the Brooklyn Nets to just 12 points in the fourth quarter of their 107-99 win. Before this game, Washington was the only NBA team that hadn’t kept an opponent in double digits, but they achieved it in Smart’s second game with them.
“It took everybody,” Smart said. “That Brooklyn team, as we all know, they don’t back down from anyone. They’re going to come out and test you on both ends.”
Last season, the Utah Jazz went the entire year without holding an opponent under 100 points, according to Sportradar. They were the first team to do this since the 1990-91 Denver Nuggets, who also needed until game 74 in the 1986-87 season to achieve it.
The Wizards traded for Smart from Memphis, moving him from one of the top teams in the Western Conference to the struggling Wizards. Smart, who was named the 2022 NBA Defensive Player of the Year with Boston, hasn’t played much since being traded to the Grizzlies in June 2023.
