Three minutes into the Wizards-Mavs game, Otto Porter single-handedly cut a seven-point deficit to just two points with a 17-footer followed by a 3-point shot. Four minutes later, that smooth Porter stroke gave Washington their first lead of the game, 13-12, and it felt like a perfect storm of positive mojo was in motion. The Wizards were winning and, per Coach Scott Brooks’s directive, Porter was operating under the greenest of green lights.
Sadly, that was the last time the Wizards would lead the entire night. That sliver of hope morphed into the equivalent of Lucy pulling the ball away from Charlie Brown.