The first two shots of Garrett Temple’s 2014-15 season were behind the three-point line at American Airlines Arena last Wednesday night. They both clanked off the rim. He was anxious and Bradley Beal, from his seat on the Washington Wizards’ bench, noticed.

“I was floating and he was telling me, ‘Stay in your shot, stay in your shot, stay in it,’” Temple recalled.

Beal is the emerging star Temple is replacing in the Wizards’ starting lineup. But he’s also Temple’s best friend on the team and his biggest supporter. The two began conducting three-point contests when training camp opened in late September after every practice. They would hoist 10 shots from five stations around the three-point line and tally the winners every day.

But the competitions ceased when Beal fractured his left wrist in Washington’s fourth preseason game against the Charlotte Hornets. Glen Rice Jr. was initially given the opportunity to replace Beal in the starting lineup, but he sprained his right ankle two exhibition games later. Temple was next in line and he has capitalized with Beal in his ear providing the encouragement.

The 6-foot-6 combo guard is complementing his first-rate defense with a dose of unprecedented offensive production. After contributing seven rebounds and six points on just 2-of-8 shooting against the Miami Heat on opening night, Temple scored 10 of his 12 points in the first quarter of the Wizards’ win over the Orlando Magic on Thursday.

The Post Sports Live crew previews the Washington Wizards season, which opens Wednesday night against the Heat in Miami. (Post Sports Live/The Washington Post)

On Saturday, he quickly established a presence on both ends of the floor with one play, stealing Milwaukee Bucks center Larry Sanders’s pass and taking it coast-to-coast for a layup 36 seconds into the Wizards’ 108-97 victory. He finished with a career-high 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 2 for 4 from beyond the arc. He logged 38 minutes, including the entire second half.

It has been just three games — two against lesser opponents in the Magic and Bucks — but Temple’s performances have softened Beal’s absence.

“He’s playing with great confidence,” Coach Randy Wittman said. “And the energy and the effort that he can give us defensively is still there.”

The Wizards re-signed Temple over the summer as an end-of-the bench defensive option and a positive off-court presence. Temple doesn’t smoke or drink. He doesn’t have a tattoo or earrings. He explained he takes after his father, Collis Temple Jr., who was the first African American to play basketball at LSU in 1971, and two brothers, both of whom also played at LSU.

“I’m the life of the party sober,” Temple said. “And in terms of tattoos, people started getting tattoos to be different and now everybody has tattoos. So I pride myself on being unique in terms of not having them and that’s basically it.”

Temple, 28, believes the clean-cut image has helped him secure jobs. He went undrafted out of LSU in 2009, but signed with the Houston Rockets as a free agent to begin his professional basketball career as a nomad. He played for five NBA teams in his first two seasons and in Italy for the 2011-12 campaign before joining the Wizards the next season.

“You want guys that are not knuckleheads,” said Temple, who is the Wizards’ representative for the players’ union. “You want guys that are going to be great locker-room guys. I’m not saying that people that drink or smoke are knuckleheads but that clean image definitely goes a long way and that’s a personal preference. I don’t judge anybody that does it. But I think it has helped.”

Temple joined the Wizards on Christmas Day 2012 after bouncing between 11 pro and D-League teams and was immediately required to shoulder a significant burden. First, he started at point guard for the injured John Wall. Then Beal suffered a leg injury and Temple’s services were required at shooting guard.

“He’s my utility infielder,” Wittman said. “He might start at first base tomorrow instead if third base.”

Temple started 36 games during the 2012-13 campaign, but had his playing time plummet last season. His three-point shooting efficiency plunged with it, from a mediocre 32.5 percent to 20.7 percent. Temple attributed the struggles to a lack of confidence, a flaw he sought to correct over the offseason.

And with Trevor Ariza in Houston and injuries to Beal and Martell Webster, the burden has once again unexpectedly shifted back on to Temple. And Temple, with the help from the teammate he’s replacing, is stepping up.

“It’s gratifying to know that the work you’re putting in is definitely paying off,” Temple said. “It makes me want to work more.”