The Wizards’ big win over the Celtics proves they’re going to be just fine

What a difference three days can make. On Friday night, the Wizards found themselves down by 40 in Barclays Arena to the lowly Nets. But by the end of Christmas Day Monday, they’d finished off a 111-103 victory over the Boston Celtics.

Not to mention that, in between that time, they scored 130 points in a regulation game against the Magic.

The Wizards have been on fire.

The difference isn’t some secret strategy they’ve concocted. It’s really two things: The combination of Otto Porter Jr. and Kelly Oubre Jr., and the Wizards just outworking their opponents.

You rarely see these two sharing the floor together, but when they do, it’s highly effective. The Wizards have a 21.1 net rating when these two play alongside John Wall, Bradley Beal and Marcin Gortat.

The lineup has played 174 minutes together this season, but a bulk of those came when Markieff Morris missed time early in the season. Despite the lineup’s effectiveness, it’s been underutilized.

But through the Wizards’ last two games, Oubre and Porter have played 25 minutes together despite Oubre coming off the bench, and they’ve got a 22.5 net rating.

Because they’re both legitimate threats from deep, the Wizards are able to stretch the floor and create more space for their guards on offense. Defensively, the Wizards fly around a lot more when these two play together and make plays like this.

Oubre and Porter combined for five deflections per game with them averaging 2.8 and 2.2, respectively. Though they didn’t get the tip here, Porter’s hard closeout and Oubre’s positioning made things difficult for Boston.

Effort certainly seems reductive — most NBA players try hard, but every player isn’t good. But it makes a difference. Sprinting the full floor on a break instead of jogging. Setting hard screens and maintaining contact. Fighting through screens on defense. Those are the things the Wizards have struggled with so much this season and have corrected over the last few games.

Just taking a look at Monday’s game, it was the hustle plays that enabled Washington to pull away in the clutch. They fought over screens and clogged passing lanes.

They run hard in transition and open up passing to spread the defense out.

Morris beat Al Horford so bad on this runout he was able to seal him off from Oubre’s dunk.

They even ran hard in the halfcourt! Look at how that scrambled Boston’s defense.

For this team, you know what you’re getting from the backcourt every night. It’s the play from everyone else that makes the difference.

There was no secret matchup they exploited against Boston — they just combined their talent with their effort. And when they do that, they’re hard to keep up with. Will they do this every night? We’ll see. They haven’t so far.

But when they do? Watch out. The Wizards are dangerous.