1 Stud and 1 Dud from the Wizards 118-103 Loss to the Hawks
The aggressively inconsistent Washington Wizards remain inconsistent as the 2021-22 NBA season winds down. In their third to last game of the year, the Wizards fell to the Atlanta Hawks, 118-103. This game was on the second night of a back-to-back that saw Washington pickup a surprising victory against the Timberwolves Tuesday night.
The loss drops the Wizards to 35-45 on the season. They hold the same exact record as the New York Knicks with two games left and lottery balls potentially on the line. Fittingly, the two teams face each other in both of their next games before the Knicks finish the season against the Raptors while the Wizards wrap things up against the Hornets.
It’s only a matter of time before the focus is solely on the upcoming off-season, but before that can happen it’s worth noting some of the worthy mentions on the court during the Wizards’ latest loss.
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Wizards Stud: Kristaps Porzingis
The Wizards big trade deadline addition continues to play despite so little being at stake. It can be seen from both sides reasonably. Should he be playing given his injury history and the lack of value in these games? Or should it be appreciated that he wants to and is working on building something to continue into next season with some of his teammates?
Either way, He was once again reminding those watching how talented and important he is on the court. Not only did he grab an eye-popping 18 rebounds but he also finished with a nice 26 points on 8-16 shooting from the field.
Each time he has taken the court in his short Wizards career it has been as the featured scorer, and more often than not the results have been inspiring. Assuming he can be more of the second option next year, it’s easy to see why people would be excited about this group’s offensive upside.
Wizards Dud: Rui Hachimura
Without being too hard on the still-developing youngster, Hachimura was a fairly obvious dud in this one. It might not be fair to weigh results against what we want to see on a nightly basis but that’s the reality of the current season.
Hachimura remains inconsistent on a per-game basis. In this one, he tallied nine points and six boards in 32 minutes of action. That led to a plus-minus of +/- -19 on the night. Rui missed all five of his shots from behind the arc and went 1-2 from the line, bringing his free throws to 3-8 in the last two games combined.
It’s nearing that time where we need to see more out of him on a more consistent basis. Extra frustrating is the flashes he does display before falling back to a minimally impactful role. He has a few more games to show what he has been working on before he enters a crucial off-season in his development as a player.