The Washington Wizards returned to action last night to face LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was a matchup of the 4th and 5th seeds in the Eastern Conference with a great deal at stake in terms of tiebreakers, seeding, and momentum leading into the stretch run.
The result; the Wizards were embarrassed by 38 points at home on national television.
The game in a lot of respects was a culmination of the inconsistent play, coaching, and intensity we’ve seen since the calendar turned to 2015. Instead of writing immediately after the game last night, I decided I needed to sleep it off and not write while I was furious. Unfortunately, I woke up just as angry this morning. Here are my morning after thoughts:
There’s a 1st tier in the Eastern Conference (Atlanta, Toronto, and Cleveland), and a 2nd tier (Washington, Chicago, and Milwaukee <— yes, Milwaukee). Any argument where the Washington Wizards try to include themselves amongst the 1st tier goes out the window based on their 1-8 record versus those teams.
A closer look paints and even uglier picture. In those nine games the average points against as been 107 and the average points for has been 94; a 13-pt differential. The Wizards have only topped 100 points in two of those nine games, while Atlanta, Toronto, and Cleveland have gone over 100 points on seven occasions.
The Wizards are in 5th place in the East, in-line with last season. They’re on pace for a 49 wins, four games better than last year, but having lost seven of their last nine games, and at just 11-13 since January 1st, it wouldn’t be a surprise if they finished closer to last year’s 45 win total.
If a team can shoot the basketball, the Washington Wizards don’t have a chance. Atlanta, Toronto, and now Cleveland with their improved shooting are matchup nightmares for Washington. When the Wizards defense gets over-extended, their age shows and they are very slow to recover.
The Cleveland Cavaliers did a great job of identifying and correcting needs early on in the season. They needed more shooting, perimeter defense, and a rim protector and filled every single one of those needs. They’ve also done a great job of identifying and accepting roles. LeBron leads the team but there’s a clear pecking order with LeBron and Kyrie Irving leading, and everyone else following.
Irving isn’t forced to play the traditional point guard because of LeBron’s passing acumen. Additionally either LeBron James or Kyrie Irving is always on the floor, so the Cavaliers always have an elite scorer on the court whom they can play through.
The Washington Wizards on the other hand have five starters who want touches. The pecking order on the Wizards should be the backcourt and Nene (I’ve changed my tune here). The backcourt NEEDS to be the focal point for them to reach their ultimate potential.
It can’t be force the ball to Marcin Gortat one night, Paul Pierce the next, and have John Wall pick his spots. Beal’s third season as a pro has been a struggle, but this team has no choice but to keep going through him, and hope that better shot selection and attacking could equal a return to what we saw in last year’s playoffs.
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A committee approach to scoring will lead to inconsistency. We’ve also seen Wall have stretches where he carries a team offensively; its crunch time now, so it’s time for one of those stretches.
Otto Porter should be starting at small forward. The Nets moved Paul Pierce to a reserve stretch-four role for a reason. Pierce has been very streaky as a catch and shoot player and his age is clearly showing.
Having Pierce on the second unit, where he can be one of the focal points offensively and get to the basket versus reserve power forwards is the role he’s best suited for right now. It worked for him last year in Brooklyn, but Randy Wittman tried to fix what wasn’t broken.
Back to Porter; having 4 steals like he did last night is no fluke. He can fill up a stat sheet if given the opportunity but he has to be more aggressive on offense. He’s a second year pro now and is only doing himself a disservice when he plays passively. He was the Big East Player of the Year for a reason. It’s time for him to step up and assert himself offensively.
The notion that the shooting guard and small forward are interchangeable on this team is ridiculous. Maybe they are X & Os wise (in Wittman’s offense for simpletons), but it shows when they are forced to dribble versus other team’s smaller, quicker defenders. Watching Martell Webster, Otto Porter, or Rasual Butler try to dribble the ball is horrifying.
For the Wizards to have the best chance at Kevin Durant, I think it was important to be an ascending team on the verge of a championship instead of a team that has plateaued, or worse, a descending team that is just hoping Kevin Durant can carry them to a championship. Right not they look like the latter.
John Wall was effective guarding LeBron. Should the Wizards consider having Wall guard the opposing two-guard and Beal the point? Beal has troubles guarding height, but Wall has the length and speed to disrupt opposing shooting guards. Wall however struggles with small, pick & roll offensive minded point guards and that’s were Beal’s strength in fighting through those picks can be a benefit. It also will take a little load off of Wall as we enter the final stretch of the season.
Marcin Gortat complaining about the Wizards’ wings needing help defense was ill advised consider his 8-point, 6-rebound box score with a -28 +/- in 27 minutes.
The Washington Wizards have to do something to improve, and they have to do something fast. If you have any suggestions, leave it in the comments below.