Bojan Bogdanovic continues hot shooting for Wizards

Here, in Bradley Beal’s words, are what it’s like when Washington Wizards coach Scott Brooks dispatches hard truths at a high volume during halftime:

“It’s a little scary, I ain’t going to lie,” Beal said. “Because he can raise his voice. He can really get mad and really demand a lot of play out of us and cuss us out every now and then. It’s kind of weird because you see the soft side of him, the cool side of him and he turns up on you in five seconds. You kind of put all jokes aside and focus in.”

Brooks told reporters what he said at halftime of the Wizards’ 115-114 win against the Orlando Magic on Sunday was not repeatable.

“He doesn’t do it a lot, but when he does, it really means he’s pissed off,” Beal said. “He always says we’re going to get our [butt] kicked if we come out here and play the way we’ve been playing.”

Another putrid start drew Brooks’ ire on Sunday. Washington, which consistently has trouble with a struggling Orlando team, trailed by 17 points in the third quarter. Eventually, it rallied and barely hung on in when Aaron Gordon’s runner at the buzzer bounced away. Three points from an evening that was more difficult than it should have been:

Bogdanovic has instantly become a weapon. At one point Sunday, Otto Porter, who has led the league in 3-point shooting for a long stretch during the season, swung the ball to Bojan Bogdanovic, who had already made six 3-pointers. This is representative of the massive problem Washington’s lineup with John Wall, Bradley, Beal, Porter, Bogdanovic and Markieff Morris represents. Orlando coach Frank Vogel put it this way: “They put four three-point shooters out around one of the best point guards in the world.” The Wizards have not had this kind of arsenal in the past. Even when Randy Wittman played small with Paul Pierce as the four, it didn’t rival this. Bogdanovic scored 27 points Sunday night on 12 shots. He entered the game with 6:04 to play in the third quarter. He did not come off the floor until it was over. The Wizards are in an odd spot with him. Short-term, they receive the benefits of finally having a bench weapon. But, every night Bogdanovic proves to be a smooth fit who can provide sixth-man-of-the-year level bench pop, his price this summer goes up. Bogdanovic is a restricted free agent. Each time one of his 3-pointers goes through the net, you can hear his agent, Marc Cornstein, yell cha-ching.

Staying big, then going small. Brooks again stayed with Mahinmi on the floor when the opposition went small, like he did Friday night against Toronto. Later in the game, he flipped. Vogel sent bruising Bismack Biyombo back on the floor and Brooks countered with his small lineup that features Morris as the center. Why? Here was his explanation: “With Ian, watching him some times in practice and in games, he does a good job staying in front of smaller players. I thought [Sunday] probably wasn’t one of his better jobs of staying in front of 3-point shooters. But, [Evan] Fournier is a hard cover. He’s a hard cover for our guards, as you saw on the last play of the game. I like what he does. I like the fabric of his game. He makes winning basketball plays. He thinks winning basketball plays. I have confidence when he’s on the floor. ’Kieff has made big plays for us. I thought we needed some more scoring and they have to make a tough decision. Their big fella, Biyombo, does a good job of getting up on screens. Brad and John do a good job of making passes out of doubles. So, I thought ’Kieff gave us a better option rolling.” A byproduct of those lineups: Just 22 minutes on the floor for Marcin Gortat.

Oubre out of the rotation. In the second half, Kelly Oubre watched. He played six minutes in the first half, went 0-for-1 from the field, had two rebounds, a foul and a steal. He has been in an extended slump. Oubre’s field goal percentage in January was 44.2. In February, that crashed to 34 percent. In a small sample thus far in March, he is shooting 25 percent. Brooks opted, essentially, for Tomas Satoransky on Sunday instead of Oubre. In the last three games, Oubre’s minutes have followed that month-by-month dip in play. He went from 24 to 12 to six. Oubre has shot well from two places on the floor: Right at the rim (63.3 percent) where his length and athleticism show, and from 16 feet to the 3-point line (48 percent). Otherwise, his percentages are subpar, including just 29.3 percent from behind the 3-point line this season. It’s not for lack of effort. Oubre is on the floor shooting 3-pointers during the late portion of practice open to reporters. He works out before and after games and Friday night was going over video following a postgame workout. But, to this point, his second season in the league has yielded little more than his first.