Washington Wizards: Player grades from loss to the Nets

The Washington Wizards fell to the Brooklyn Nets, 125-118.  The team now stands with a disappointing record of 11-18.

The first quarter looked promising as the Washington Wizards led 31-27. It all went south once the second period began. The Brooklyn Nets scored 43 points, which resulted in Brooklyn heading into halftime with an 11 point lead.

Jeff Green hit a couple big triples in the third quarter, but it wasn’t enough as Spencer Dinwiddie took over the game. The Nets outscored the Wizards 21-11 and boosted their lead to 16 heading into the fourth.

Washington cut the lead to single digits as they went on a 10-2 run. However, it wasn’t enough with the deficit they created.

The defense just wasn’t there for the Wizards. Every time they managed to make some big plays they weren’t able to get key stops on the defensive end. Washington even shot better than Brooklyn, 54.4%-52.4%.

The Nets were also able to take advantage of the interior. They out-rebounded the Wizards 46-25. Grabbing only 25 rebounds won’t win Washington any games going forward. They need to stop worrying about the offense and start focusing on fixing the other aspects of their game.

The All-Star backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal can continue to put up great numbers, but that won’t get the team anywhere if they can’t get key stops on defense.

Trades are bound to happen here soon. The Wizards were already close to obtaining Trevor Ariza in a 3-team trade with the Phoenix Suns and the Memphis Grizzlies before it fell through. Hopefully, Washington realizes that they shouldn’t trade Kelly Oubre Jr. as he is one of the best young assets the team has.

Anyway, despite a late rally, the Wizards came up short against the Nets. This has been the story for the entire season thus far.

Here are the player grades from the matchup.