Washington Wizards: Portland Trail Blazers beat dysfunctional Wizards team

The Washington Wizards fell to the Portland Trail Blazers, 119-109. Another painful loss for D.C.

Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers man-handled the Washington Wizards all night long as he poured in 40 points with 6 rebounds and 5 assists. CJ McCollum added 25 points and 7 rebounds and helped this All-Star duo control the entire game. They proved they were the better backcourt last night.

This was the fourth game of the Wizards five-game homestand. Washington started off strong, but from the looks of it won’t finish to well. Their record now falls to 5-11 and the team looks as though they are spiraling out of control.

It was all downhill from the get-go. The Blazers started off with a 32-12 run and never looked back. The Wizards tricked us into thinking they would actually be competitive in this game when they cut the lead down to seven after the first quarter, but we were sorely mistaken.

John Wall led the Wizards with 24 points, but had a disappointing 3 assists. Kelly Oubre Jr. was the only other teammate that looked interested in playing basketball Sunday evening. He dropped 19 points off the bench and had a plus/minus of +14. Once again he outplayed Otto Porter Jr., but we can argue about that again on another day.

It was a night where everything went wrong for Washington. Not only did they trail by 21 heading into halftime, but Dwight Howard left the game with gluteal soreness. It still boggles my mind how someone can aggravate their butt, but regardless, the Wizards have no interior presence when Howard isn’t on the floor.

On top of this, the team  shot 47.6% (10-21) from the free-throw line, compared to Portland’s 85.7% (30-35). The second unit mounted a 17-7 surge to cut the lead to 10 with 1:56 remaining, but it was nothing significant enough to make a push for a win.

On paper, Washington shot the ball well enough to win the affair. Something needs to change with this team. Perhaps the starting unit?

The bench played with more passion, heart, and enthusiasm, and were able cut into some of the deficit. Scott Brooks and this coaching staff need to stop being stubborn and shake things up. Change might be good and light a fire under some individuals. It can’t get any worse at this point.

At this point it seems like Washington enjoys having a double-digit defect going into the break. I’m joking of course, but the team won’t be able to afford trailing by these large amount especially with the next six games being against potential playoff caliber teams.

There is only a limited amount of time left for the Wizards to figure it out. The coasting and complacency needs to be addressed. Trade, replace, bench, do whatever needs to be done to get this team back on track.