The Washington Wizards season is off to a less than ideal start as they sport a disappointing 1-5 record in their first six games. The Wizards have been on a four-game West Coast tour that has resulted in three of the five losses. This includes a record-breaking 51-point performance from Steph Curry in the Golden State Warriors 144-122 victory and a 136-104 rout by the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night.
To put things in perspective, the Clippers finished with an overall 54.4% shooting average and shot 55.2% from 3-point range compared to the Wizards 39.2% shooting average and 18.5% from beyond the arc.
#Wizards defensive struggles continue. #Clippers up by 21… #WizClippers
— Carita Parks (@CaritaCParks) October 29, 2018
If anything can be attributed to the series of losses, it continues to be poor rebounding, uninspired defense and giving up too many second-chance points. The Wizards have allowed their opponents to amass 750 points through six games. Even more staggering is the Wizards overall league rankings for 3-point percentage (28th), total rebounds (25th), and assist/turnover ratio (21st). Not to mention Dwight Howard has yet to suit up with the team. This leaves the Wizards last in the Southeast division and searching for a quick turnaround.
“We’ve got to get better,” Coach Scott Brooks said in reference to the team’s defensive woes. “We’ve got to be able to take some pride on that end of the court. It’s problematic right now for the coaches and players. We’ve got to find a way to get it done. Every night, the last three games, the defense is not what it’s going to take to win games in this league. We all know we’ve got to do better.”
Frustration with the Wizards performance recently boiled over into finger-pointing by the team’s leaders John Wall and Bradley Beal after a 112-116 loss to the Sacramento Kings.
“We suck right now, that’s just how it is,” Beal said. “We’re not doing anything we’re supposed to do on the floor, on offense or on defense. Sometimes we have our own agendas on the floor whether it’s complaining about shots, complaining about playing time, complaining about whatever it may be.”
“Everybody on their own agenda,” said Wall. “We showed glimpses when we do stuff as a team. We show how good we can be and then we go back to trying to do it individually, and that’s mostly on the defensive end. Not helping each other out, not team rebounding, and that’s what’s killing us.”
It is never good for the locker room when teammates start subliminally calling each other out to the media. However, Brooks understands his team’s frustration and stresses unity.
“We’re all frustrated but it’s about staying together,” Brooks said. “We’ve all been in this situation. Nobody’s been on a team that you’ve never had a tough start or bad stretch in the season. It’s six games in. We still have a lot of time left to get better. If it’s not a long season, then I’d be worried. We all know it’s a marathon in this league and you have to be able to approach it and stay with the ups and downs and still have the mentality of just playing with one another. We have to figure out how we can do that better.”
Washington’s slow start is a concern but there’s no need to panic just yet with more than 70 games left in the season. There’s still hope if the Wizards get back to the basics and focus on situational basketball. More importantly, team chemistry has to improve on-and-off the court.
One can only hope they show vast improvement when they face the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night.
“We’ve had tough stretches in the past,” Brooks said. “We’re going to have tough stretches in the future. It’s about being a basketball team. You’ve just got to stay together and our guys will.”