In the last four games, the Washington Wizards have lost three times. This is unacceptable for a team looking to compete in a tightly contested Eastern Conference Play-In picture. As it stands right now, they are only a game removed from losing their spot in the postseason.
This makes every matchup incredibly important. The games against opponents near them in the standings become incredibly important as just one game can shift the standings around. The Hawks and Raptors are especially important for the Wizards.
With how the Wizards have played in the last week, especially in their games against the Hawks and Pistons, hopes are fairly low.
The Washington Wizards dropped the ball in their last time out.
Despite Kristaps Porzingis dropping a career-high 43 points, the third most efficient 40+ point game in team history, they managed to blow another huge lead. A league-leading seventh time this season.
This was due to a number of reasons. However, one of the biggest was the horrible play off the bench. This was only multiplied by the fact that players like Deni Avdija and Monte Morris stayed in the game far longer than they deserved late in the game.
On days where they play well, by all means leave them in the game. However, neither one of those players had good games in any way, shape, or form. Taj Gibson also got minutes late in the game. They can’t waste away clutch minutes by playing numerous players having bad games halfway through the fourth quarter while the other team is on a huge run.
The Washington Wizards need to avoid having a repeat performance in the second half of this mini-series against the Hawks. If they have a fourth player play decently and not ger injured, they will have a much better chance at splitting the two games.