Eight losses in the row, the longest losing streak of the season. Only one win out of a horrific stretch of five consecutive back-to-back sets, the only victory in the last 11 games. It was only one game as the Wizards fell to the Hawks, 99-92, on Saturday night, but it offered a good glimpse into where this team is with 32 games left in the season:
Take it, Kirk Hinrich: “It’s tough. It gets tough at times, and when you go through a tough stretch of a lot of games in short days against good teams, you’ve got to rely on each other, and be sharp at both ends, and we haven’t been good enough in both areas.”
There wasn’t nearly enough of an interior presence. Atlanta came into the night without All-Star center Al Horford, who averages 9.9 rebounds a game, opening the door wide for the Wizards much-maligned frontcourt to show itself. But instead of asserting themselves on the boards, the Wizards allowed both Josh Smith (16 rebounds) and Marvin Williams (12 rebounds) to record season-highs on the glass, grabbing only five fewer boards (28) than Washington did as an entire team (33). No Wizard had more than six rebounds.
“I was disappointed we didn’t have more of a presence inside,” said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders. “I would’ve thought – in the first half, JaVale [McGee] (12 points, five rebounds) had a rebound that fell into his hands, I’d have hoped we would’ve been able to get a little more presence rebounding inside.”
On a night when the Wizards shot 50 percent from the field and from three-point range, the offense still disintegrated when it mattered. Washington actually entered the fourth quarter shooting at a 53.6 percent clip. But the Wizards went 9 for 21 in the final period, led by Nick Young (21 points) missing five of his final six shots from the field.
“As I told our guys, we get times where we play very individualistic,” said Saunders. “In the key part of the game, as I told Nick a couple of times, it was like PlayStation. You’re going to get enough opportunities making quick decisions – that’s usually when he’s at his best, when me makes a quick decision, not trying to overhandle and do things because then what happens is the other guys, they stand and watch and they don’t get involved. Usually a shot’s taken, you’re bad floor balance and you’re not getting far enough into rotations.”
“Especially down the stretch, players feel like they can get the job done,” said Young, who was 6-10 with the picked out, blown out Afro and who’s highlight of the night was a reverse dunk alley oop from Wall. “It’s having a lot of confidence, but at the same time, we gotta get the ball moving. I’m a part of that myself. I see teams keying in on me. I gotta find ways on how to get my other teammates involved, other ways of scoring because people are game-planning around me. That leaves players open. So I gotta watch more film.”
In contrast, the Hawks got buckets from four different players as they asserted control. Jamal Crawford, after registering just one point in the first half, scored six consecutive points to close out Atlanta’s 10-4 run at the end of the third quarter. Then Marvin Williams made a pair of free throws, Damien Wilkins got a wide open dunk down the lane and Smith hit his own pair from the line during a 6-0 run. After the Wizards cut the deficit to five in one last push, Smith spun around Andray Blatche and left Dray bouncing the ball in disgust with himself while Smith finished out the three-point play to make it 91-83 with just under three minutes remaining.
“We was there, just couldn’t get enough stops and when we got stops, we couldn’t connect on the other end,” said John Wall. “They was getting and-ones and we was taking one pass or no pass and taking the shot, and they was coming down and getting three or four passes. We’ve just got to make more passes and start trusting each other and finish out game. They didn’t care who took the big shot.”
Wall also missed five of seven attempts at the line, part of an 8-for-18 night that just isn’t acceptable for a team that needs to take advantage of every break it gets.
Believe it or not, however, there are areas where the Wizards are showing small hints of improvement. Take Blatche, for example, who has 11 assists and just two turnovers in the last two games, in part because he’s been aggressively double-teamed. But whether he is totally conscious of it or not, he’s sharing the ball instead of putting it behind his back and giving it away to the other team. Take Hinrich also, who has 30 points and nine assists in the last two games, even if most of them come while he’s in angry mode and trying desperately to conjure a late comeback or stave off total meltdown. Trevor Booker would’ve been a nice addition against Atlanta, on the boards especially, but he was undone badly by foul trouble.
Even Wall (18 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds) had a solid outing on the second night of a back-to-back, even fighting through get a tooth knocked loose and have Jaron Collins roll onto his left ankle, which had the entire Verizon Center gasping in horror.
“I got to wear my mouthpiece until it tightens back up,” said Wall, who fell badly then returned to the game almost immediately. “But this is the type of game it is. If you’re going to be the type of person to attack the basket and get things going for your team, you’re going to take a couple of beatings and I think I did a good job of fighting.”
Speaking of Hinrich assists in angry mode, there was nothing more telling than watching him run the break in the second quarter and turn down an obvious alley oop opportunity with McGee to give the ball to Al Thornton, who rose up and threw down on Zaza Pachulia for what was by far the most vicious two points of the season scored in Verizon Center. It was as if Thornton’s frustration over a lack of playing time bubbled up and exploded like a volcano.
“You can say that,” said Thornton. “You can say that, man, but I’m just trying to keep a level head about it. Of course, you want to play more, but it’s just the way it is.”
The Wizards also got a bad break, losing Yi Jianlian to a rolled left ankle in the fourth quarter. He told reporters after the game that he was okay, needed treatment but expected to practice when the Wizards get back together on Monday.
The nagging knocks are building up, too, with Rashard Lewis and Wall both complaining of soreness.
“It’s not a problem, the main thing that bothers me is probably my knee,” said Wall. “Some days it’s going to feel good and some days it’s not. I’m not a 100 percent, I heard a lot of people are never 100 percent and play through injury.”
Okay, so are the Wizards getting any better? Not exactly, but they seem to understand where they are.
“It’s a matter of improvement and competing, and in some of the games we competed overall,” said Saunders, referring to the recent stretch of games. “In some of the games, we had some lapses. Against a good team, when you have a lapse, then what happens is you’re going to lose. Missed calls, you have to be able to overcome those. When you have a small margin of error, they become more difficult.”
The players also insist that his messages to them aren’t falling on deaf ears.
“We all have to listen and try to change because what we’re doing now is not working,” said Blatche. “We have no selfish players, we’re just all trying to be that guy to get us over the hump.”
And since we started with Hinrich, we’ll end with him, too, asked to give the big picture.
“I would hope it bothers us,” said Hinrich. “I think not being here in past years, but having a season going the way it is and looking the way it’s going with losing games that I feel are winnable games a lot of times, just not showing that consistent improvement, it’s frustrating.”
