Washington Wizards anything but “soft” in 137-134 loss to Milwaukee Bucks
By Ethan Smith
One night after their coach called them soft, the Washington Wizards showed some real fight against the NBA’s best team.
After the Washington Wizards dropped their second consecutive game since returning from the All-Star break, two games against seemingly beatable opponents in the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers, Scott Brooks had some strong words for his team.
"“Well, we’re playing soft. That’s pretty simple; we’re playing soft, and we’re playing — just comfortable. And it’s disappointing,”"
With a game just one night later, the Wizards had a chance to respond to their coach’s disappointment. And respond they did.
Coming back home to host the Milwaukee Bucks, the Wizards looked like an entirely different team than the one that dropped games to some hapless Eastern Conference foes just days earlier.
Bradley Beal took his impressive scoring season to new heights and set a new career-high with a 55-point performance just one night after scoring 53-points against the Bulls. The Wizards defense actually showed up, stifling the MVP front-runner Giannis Antetokounmpo and forcing him to foul out late in the fourth. And the short-handed Wizards, without Thomas Bryant and Davis Bertans, battled back from multiple double-digit deficits to force overtime thanks to a 22-point fourth-quarter from Beal.
But Beal didn’t d it all by himself, for once. Shabazz Napier hit some big buckets down the stretch to help keep the comeback effort alive. He finished with 27 points, the most of his Wizards tenure, and seven assists off the bench.
Even though it was another loss, it was quite a different showing from the Wizards than what we’ve seen in the last week. And it was nothing like the Wizards’ last game vs the Bucks, a 151-131 loss to a Giannis-less squad in Milwaukee. But, at the end of the day, it’s another L. And another nail in the coffin carrying Washington’s playoff hopes.
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After being in a prime position to make a playoff push after the break, the Wizards have dropped the ball, quite literally, and only let the gap between them and the Eastern Conference playoffs widen. If those playoff hopes are still alive, the Wizards will need to pick up a win over in their next contest, a matchup with the 7th seeded Brooklyn Nets at Capital One Arena.