Throughout the season, the theme for the Washington Wizards has been the same, play better defense and take care of the ball. Unfortunately, neither of those panned out on Saturday night as the Wizards fell to the Indiana Pacers 119-112.
The Wizards allowed 22 turnovers which gifted the Pacers with 25 points. The Wizards were “bullied in the paint” as Bradley Beal put it which is a symptom of the defensive struggles they continue to have as a team. The Pacers were able to put up 58 points in the paint compared to the Wizards’ 46 points. Another problem area was three-pointers. The Wizards were only 37% (13-35) from behind the arc. The Pacers got the best of them there as well shooting 44%. Not extremely impressive but they were able to make threes when it counted the most.
The Wizards didn’t go down without a fight, however. They amassed an 18-2 run pulling within three multiple times in the fourth quarter. Beal had another outstanding night following his season-high 46 points on Friday against the Charlotte Hornets. He had 35 points on the night but it wasn’t enough without more help from his teammates. Thomas Bryant added 23 points and 12 rebounds off the bench. For the Pacers, Bojan Bogdanovic (18 pts., 4 rebounds) and Thaddeus Young (22 pts., 4 rebounds) led the charge.
The Wizards were hoping to come back strong after the All-Star break with hopes of vying for the 8th seed in the NBA’s Eastern Conference Playoffs. With a 24-35 record coming into the game, that was already a tough task. Now after losing four in a row, two before the break and two after, that task just became even more difficult. The Wizards are under .500 (24-36) and 4.5 games behind Orlando and Miami in the Eastern Conference. At this point, there may be too much ground to make up.