Deni Diary 2/5: Give A Crap
Two NBA firsts for the young rookie.
You’re reading DENI DIARY, a weekly dispatch from Deni Avdija’s rookie season by Louis Keene. (Follow me on Twitter!)
Even the well-intentioned make mistakes, which is one way you might explain this Wizards season to a small child. But even good-faith mistakes have consequences, which is how Deni Avdija got benched in his first game back from a 20-day absence caused by COVID-19.
The Wizards were playing the Brooklyn Nets, loaded Eastern Conference contenders this season who Washington somehow beat in January. The Nets feature Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving on offense, a veritable three-headed monster made even more lethal by sharpshooter Joe Harris orbiting around them. Harris hit three triples in the first two quarters, and the Wizards, who fell behind by 18 points early but had fought back within striking distance, had clearly talked about tracking Harris more diligently in the locker room at halftime.
But the third quarter began with Avdija losing track of the Nets forward twice in the first three minutes, and Harris drilled open threes both times. Scott Brooks was pretty unhappy and gave Deni the quick hook, inserting Davis Bertans (a shooter who hasn’t shot well all season). Of course, Harris proceeded to make a three pointer a couple minutes later (he made 8 altogether and finished with 30 points), but it didn’t make a difference; Deni spent the rest of the game warming the bench.
The Wizards stormed back and stole that game by scoring 8 points in the game’s last 10 seconds, which means half of their four wins on the season had come against Brooklyn. (I don’t know the NBA this season is weird.) But Deni was out on the court after the game getting shots up.
I know I mentioned this 100 words ago, but he hadn’t played or really practiced in almost three weeks, and one doesn’t just roll out of bed and get back into NBA shape after being touched by Covid-19. Effort wasn’t the issue on the plays that got him benched — it was inexperience and focus, which will come back with time. Naturally it was going to take some time to return to the flow of things, and it was heartening to see Avdija try to accelerate the process after a disappointing outing.
Anyway, he rebounded quite nicely in the next game! And if this week brought his first NBA benching, it also brought his first NBA SLAM DUNK, in Wednesday night’s thrilling victory over the Miami Heat. With top-notch defender Avery Bradley hounding his dribble at the top of the key, Deni freed himself with a quick spin move, took a couple giant strides towards the rim, and detonated with his right hand:
More importantly, Deni’s three-point accuracy, which dipped slightly leading up to his illness, has returned to Zion. He’s made five threes in the last two games, and his 46.7% clip from behind the arc is good for 11th in the entire NBA. Not bad for a guy whose shot was a “question mark” coming to the league. To belabor the obvious: my man needs more attempts!
Stats for the week:
1/31 vs. Nets: 1/4 FG, 0/2 3PT, 2 pts, 2 reb
2/2 vs. Blazers: 5/6 FG, 2/3 3PT, 1/1 FT, 13 pts, 7 reb, 3 ast
2/3 vs. Heat: 5/9 FG, 3/5 3PT, 13 pts, 4 reb, 1 stl
The highlight of the week might not be the dunk, though. Earning praise from Brooks three days after the coach sent Deni to the bench is pretty good, too.
Just kidding, it’s definitely the dunk.
Shabbat Shalom!