The Big Picture
…Uh oh. These guys are in trouble, for real. The Wizards are currently a horrendous 1-5, good for a 3 way tie for 2nd to last place in the entire league. Yikes. It’s not like the schedule has been that hard either, the fact of the matter is, despite this teams clear and obvious talent, the Wizards need to find themselves soon, or else Scott Brooks isn’t going to be on the sideline much long in the district.
Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little. Dwight Howard returning from injury can fix some of what is wrong. Right now the Wizards, despite the 21 million dollars between Ian Mahinmi and Jason Smith, lack a playable center. Markieff Morris is a tough guy, but he is also 6’10” with not great hops and is the only playable option at the five right now. This gives Brooks some leeway, but it’s hard to come back from 1-5, if they lose much more this is going to be a looooong uphill climb to the playoffs.
L @ GSW 144-122 (10/24)
Holy crap did Steph Curry go off. The best shooter in NBA history looked the part last Wednesday as he bombed in 51 points going a staggering 11-16 from beyond the arc. As if that wasn’t enough, DC native Kevin Durant added 30 points of his own while acting as a second option for Steph Curry. It’s not as if the Wizards stars had a bad night, Wall, Beal, and Porter all crossed into double digits, but when Steph gets hot there is only so much one can do.
One thing that I want everyone here to pay attention to is rebounding. At this point in the season, anyone paying attention knows that the Wizards rebounding is likely the worst in the league. The Warriors are not a great rebound team (maybe the only thing they aren’t great at), however they still crashed the boards hard against the Wizards. Golden State outpaced the Wizards by 14 in that category, clearly, small ball isn’t the end all solution for this club.
L @ SAC 116-112 (10/26)
YOU. LOST. TO. THE. KINGS?!?! I am aware that Sacramento is currently a shocking 3-3, but like, really?? If anyone wasn’t worried before this game, they should be now. It was a game that we’ve all seen before at some point or another in the last two seasons, the Wizards were just out efforted by a lottery bound club. Otto Porter didn’t play nearly enough (22 minutes, Scott Brooks what are you doing?), Markieff Morris picked up a technical foul. Anything else? Oh yeah, the Wiz were out rebounded by double digits, again, for fifth time in five straight games.
Bright spots were hard to come by in this one. Kelly Oubre continued his hot streak with 22 points and 5-8 from three, Jeff Green was quietly efficient on the night with 13 points and nine boards off the bench. Oh yeah, the Wizards attempted 42 threes on the night, a franchise record, however they only made 14 so…probably not a positive actually.
L @ LAC 104-136 (10/28)
For a little bit it looked the Wizards could win this game, they fell behind early but were within striking distance until Markieff Morris left the game with a concussion. As I mentioned in the intro, Kieff is the only real option at center on the team at the moment. Without him the Wizards were annihilated by the Clippers abundance of height. Ian Mahinmi posted an outstandingly awful -24 plus/minus rating, however this game wasn’t just on him. DC was 5-27 from deep, the core quintet of Wall, Beal, Porter, and Kief were a combined 1-13.
There was little to no positive in this one. The vets on the bench: Jeff Green, Austin Rivers, and Tomas Satoransky all had ok individual games, but they all also tanked plus/minus wise. If Morris is out for even a couple games with that concussion than the we could be staring down a disaster in this young NBA season.