The Wizards Are Winning, But There’s Still Cause For Concern
For the majority of NBA teams, the season is a roller coaster ride consisting of constant peaks and valleys. Some may experience lenghty highs, while others will experience woeful lows, but it’s the teams that are considered ‘middle of the pack’ that experience the ups and downs the most.
The Washington Wizards have had their share of ups and downs this season. Fortunately, they sit third in the Eastern Conference with a 41–26 record, trailing the first-place Cleveland Cavaliers by just 3.5 games. They’re tied for a conference best 7–3 in their last 10 games and yet, they’re currently in a rut as the season winds down.
The Wizards recently wrapped up a West Coast road trip that included two sets of back-to-backs, finished off with a game in Minnesota against the Timberwolves. Here is what the exact schedule was:
- March 7 @ Phoenix (131–127 win)
- March 8 @ Denver (123–113 win)
- March 10 @ Sacramento (130–122 OT win)
- March 11 @ Portland (125–124 win)
- March 13 @ Minnesota (104–119 loss)
It wasn’t the most challenging of road trips considering the quality of their opponents, but road trips in the NBA are never to be taken lightly. Going 4–1 would be considered a success to any team, and for the Wizards, it certainly was huge in terms of gaining ground on second place and closing the gap with Cleveland.
The common denominator that sticks out about all of these games is the amount of points given up. In the last six games (including their 112–107 loss to Dallas Wednesday night), the Wizards rank 27th in defensive rating (114.3) and 21st in net rating (-1.2). Luckily for them their offense has been incredible during this stretch, which shows in their 113.2 offensive rating (5th). There were a slew of emotions throughout the trip that included watching a 20+ lead against Denver disintegrate, came back from 15 points to win in overtime against Sacramento, and an incredible comeback against Portland that ended with a controversial Markieff Morris game-winner.
In a vacuum, the wins are great. The way the Wizards battled back in games that they trailed or in the case of the Denver game, being able to battle through adversity and hold onto the win, usually would provide comfort in the fanbase as the playoffs loom closer. But the defensive issues have become a problem that cannot be ignored.
Technical things such as delayed rotations, doubling the post at the wrong times, or shooting the passing lanes when it is uncalled for has resulted in a ton of open three’s for the Wizards’ opponents. In this six-game stretch, their opponents are shooting 48.1 percent from deep, which ranks dead last. Compare this to their usual 36.1 percent (21st) rate, and there are obvious flaws and miscommunication occurring.
Often times it’s as simple as the opposing big on the block with the ball making a quick pass out to the perimeter when a Wizards defender digs. Like good teams do in the NBA, a quick reversal has resulted in wide open three’s for capable shooters. Other times, it seems as if the energy and focus defensively ebbs and flows throughout the course of the 48 minutes. Wall had said this to say following the Denver victory:
‘‘When we find a way to get up 20-something points, the defense started to get like we didn’t play with the sense of urgency we played with to get that lead,’’ Wall said. ‘’We’ve got to figure that out and do a better job of it because playing good teams in the playoffs, you don’t want to give them any life.”
Going forward, the schedule gets much more difficult. Of their final 15 games, 10 are away. From March 25 to April 2 they go on a grueling road trip that includes games at Cleveland, Los Angeles (against the Lakers and Clippers), Utah, and Golden State. If they don’t address these defensive issues quickly, competing for second place in the East could quickly turn into fighting to host an opening round playoff series. The good news out of all this is they’ve done this before earlier in the season which helped spark a massive turnaround. Can they do it again? They’ll have to prove themselves once again, but this time, against a much steeper mountain.
