Sometimes in life, you must deal with the cards you’re dealt. In the case of the Wizards, they were dealt a hand of cards that didn’t include their two leaders John Wall and Bradley Beal last night in Chicago. So on the fly, the Wizards had to engage in the “next man up mentality,” however after giving up nearly 30 points in the 3rd quarter this team would lose to the Bulls 106-95 and the losing streak would continue.
Reflecting on the game in Chicago, honestly, it wasn’t so grim at least for the starters. Markieff Morris had a dominant performance on offense and chimed in with 24pts and owned the boards grabbing 15 rebounds. Marcin Gortat was the owned the boards also with 14 rebounds and added 18pts. Wizards saw some bright spots with Sheldon McCellan who had a career high of 15 points. Wizards dominated the Bulls for the entire first half and went into halftime leading 56-53. Then the bottom fell out for the Wizards. They were outscored 28-14 in the 3rd quarter and couldn’t recover. They had no answer for Jimmy Butler who finished the night with 37pts and knocked down all 14 of his free throws. In addition to that, Nikola Mirotic contributed 17pts and 11 rebounds not to mention he was 3-4 from downtown off the bench in 23 minutes.
Speaking of second units, that’s where the Wizards have had the most trouble so far this season. In a combined played 66 minutes, the second unit which compromise of Kelly Oubre, Trey Burke, Marcus Thornton, and Jason Smith had a total of 18pts shooting collectively 25% from the field. This lack of production from the 2nd unit caused some strong criticism from Gortat.
As Kelly Oubre was talking about togetherness and not falling into the blame game, Gortat simultaneously spoke to the media and stated: “I think right now as far as I know. I think we’ve got one of the worst (benches) in the league right now.”
According to the Washington Post and via NBA’s website the Wizards bench is amongst the 4th worst benches in the NBA. They are in bad company with teams such as Philadelphia, and New York both teams they face this week. What Gortat said was statistically accurate, however, how will that impact his fellow teammates has yet to be seen. Kelly Oubre was asked about the team’s morale and he said, “We gotta stay together. Said Oubre, then he went on to say, “we got to stay together and lift each other up.”
The Wizards will have a few days until their next game on Wednesday at Philadelphia to focus on turning things around. They are 2-7, but their opponents next week include both Philly and the Knicks followed by the Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns. If the Wizards want to get near .500 this is their chance over the next week and a half. It’s too early to write off the Wizards but they must find a way to stop losing games. Granted in Chicago they were without John Wall and Bradley Beal, however, the Wizards find themselves giving up big points particularly in the second half and can never recover from that.
The last thing this team wants to do is become two different teams. The second unit vs the first unit and with recent comments by Gortat and Beal it seems as though that divide is starting to happen. At the same time, it’s worth noting that Kelly Oubre and Trey Burke must also step up and contribute as they are the young guys on the team that many would say are the future of the Wizard. If there’s light at the end of the tunnel, then the tunnel must go through Philadelphia on Wednesday at 7pm.
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