DALLAS -- The temptation now, almost too tantalizing to resist, is to focus on Kyshawn George, the second-year point forward who played his best game as a pro and outperformed Cooper Flagg and everyone else.
The spotlight also could shine on rookie Tre Johnson, who returned home and played in front of his mom, dad, two younger brothers and grandparents, plus nearly 200 people with ties to his nearby high school.
We'll get to all that, but homing in on only two people would contradict the spirit of what the Washington Wizards accomplished Friday night. They defeated the Dallas Mavericks 117-107 because they played like a team -- a tough, hard-nosed, physical team -- and they did it from start to finish.
"We made sure we came out with the right mentality in this game, the right intensity," George said.
Bub Carrington fought over screens. Alex Sarr deterred the Mavericks at the rim. Johnson hounded ballhandlers. George, all 6-foot-9 of him, closed out on 3-point shooters like a defensive menace. The contributors also included Tristan Vukčević, who, contrary to his reputation as a finesse big, took a charge during the second quarter and later took umbrage with a foul by the Mavericks' P.J. Washington in which Washington sent him sprawling to the court surface.
The win wasn't easy, even if the final score makes it appear that way. Dallas stormed to a 23-9 lead in the first quarter, but not because of a lack of effort from Washington. In that sense, the start to Friday's game contrasted to their unfocused beginning to Wednesday's loss in Milwaukee; this time, the Wizards played forcefully and didn't deviate from that approach even when their shots didn't fall.
As one of the league's youngest teams, the Wizards remain in the formative stages of developing an identity. It will take time, and it could require more tinkering to the roster. On Friday, though, the players offered a glimpse of the kind of team they hope to become.
"We were relentless, and that's what Coach wants and has preached," said guard CJ McCollum, one of the team's few veterans.
That coach, Brian Keefe, opened his postgame question-and-answer session with reporters by listing most of what he liked, praising his players for "a great team effort."
"Our bench came in and really changed the game," Keefe added. "We ended up playing 11 guys, and everybody had a contribution to that. We were able to establish the physicality against a pretty veteran, big team from the get-go. Even though we didn't make shots at the beginning, we stuck with the game plan and trusted what we were doing."
George is a starter, but Keefe has structured his substitution pattern to ensure that George serves as the second unit's primary ballhandler. George excelled, leading the Wizards' bounce back late in the first quarter and early in the second quarter. He dominated, compiling a stat line that any player in the NBA would have loved: a career-best 34 points on 11-of-15 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds, four assists, two steals and three blocks.
"He's the total package," McCollum said. "He's got it all. A three-level scorer. Obviously, you see the handle, you see the defensive pressure."
George opened the game as the primary defender on four-time All-NBA First Team big man Anthony Davis, while Sarr guarded Dereck Lively II. But George also flew around the court, sometimes making multiple efforts per possession to stymie Dallas' perimeter shooters. On one sequence early in the second quarter, George hustled toward Naji Marshall in the right corner to prevent a 3-point attempt. When Marshall passed to Flagg near the top of the arc seconds later, George closed out hard on Flagg, forcing a missed 3.
George was the Wizards' best player on Friday but far from its only effective player.
Johnson, the sixth pick in June, arrived from the University of Texas with an offense-first résumé. He distinguished himself on the other end against the Mavericks.
With the Wizards ahead 47-41 in the second quarter, the Mavericks' Brandon Williams brought the ball past midcourt, but Johnson impeded him step-for-step, swiping at the basketball without committing a foul. When Williams tried to speed ahead, Johnson blocked Williams' path, resulting in a personal foul. Keefe loved that sequence. As Keefe stood on the sideline and an official whistled Johnson for the foul, Keefe applauded and yelled, "Yes! Yes, Tre!"
Asked why he enjoyed that specific play, Keefe answered, "We want to pressure the ball and make teams uncomfortable when they're running their offense. If you're going to get an occasional foul by playing hard and we're not in the (penalty), no problem. So it was great. He was pressuring, trying to set the tone ... But he wasn't the only one. We had a lot of guys do that tonight."
Johnson impacted the game on offense, too, adding 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting. In his two NBA regular-season games so far, he has made seven of his 14 attempts from beyond the arc.
Johnson grew up in Dallas, about a 25-minute drive from American Airlines Center. His father, Richard Johnson Jr., would take him to Mavericks games at the arena to celebrate his birthday. Richard Johnson Jr. watched Friday's game with his family in Section 123, Row C, where they enjoyed a nice view of the Wizards' bench.
"A lot of people from the city of Dallas are here to see him play," Richard said. "It's a beautiful thing."
And for the Wizards, it was a beautiful night, an evening when they limited the Mavericks to 43 percent shooting from the field and forced 21 Mavericks turnovers.
When Flagg found his rhythm in the fourth quarter and the Mavericks threatened to wrest control, the Wizards recovered. Late in the fourth quarter, with Washington ahead 110-103, McCollum passed up a 3-pointer late in the shot clock because he saw George standing alone in the right corner. McCollum hurled a pinpoint pass to George, who launched a shot that swished through the net.
"Whatever it takes to win," McCollum said.
On Friday, that's exactly what the Wizards did: everything they needed to win.
And they did it as a team, which made their accomplishment so satisfying.