After a thrilling win over LeBron James and defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers just 24-hours ago, the Washington Wizards came out flat with a 122-105 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night at Capital One Arena. Here is what the team had to say after the game:
“You would’ve hoped that we would’ve came out with better physicality, better juice and we did not do that and I don’t know if that negates last night’s win or not but we don’t feel good.” -- Scott Brooks
The Wizards showed tremendous heart the night before. After trailing the Cavaliers by nine after the first quarter, they outscored LeBron and company 88-72. Perhaps Friday night was a trap game. The Wizards are in the midst of a big stretch post All Star break where they’re playing 14 of 15 games against teams in the playoff picture in the Eastern and Western Conference. That one opponent that the Wizards faced on the outside of the playoff picture looking in was the Hornets who entered the game 25-33 and 10th place in the Eastern Conference.
"They definitely have our number." -- Bradley Beal
This marked their third loss to the Hornets this season, and their first in DC. Prior to Friday’s contest, the Wizards had won five consecutive home games against Charlotte.
The first meeting took place back in November on the night before Thanksgiving where the Wizards squandered a nine-point lead with three and a half minutes remaining. In the second meting back on Jan. 17, the Wizards gave up 77 points in just the first half alone.
“When we play the basketball that we were playing and succeed from, we reap the benefits. Tonight we didn’t do that." -- Kelly Oubre Jr.
Oubre also says in the video above that the team didn’t play good defense against the Hornets. The team allowed 67 points in the first half, not as bad as 77 but still bad.
The defense in transition was also bad as the Wizards allowed 28 points off of turnovers. The team also allowed Kemba Walker, Marvin Williams, and Frank Kaminsky to put on a three-point clinic as the trio combined for 15 three-pointers.
Walker was held scoreless for much of the first half, not scoring until just under a minute left in the second quarter. Walker finished with 24 points, 15 coming from just the third quarter alone. Six Hornets players finished in double figures.
“We the only people that can stop us.” -- Kelly Oubre Jr.
This game marked their 14th loss of the season to a sub-.500 team and their first loss since being embarrassed by the Mavericks 98-75 just over a month ago. The Wizards need to lock in and play together as a team for this important stretch they got coming up.
A Big Test Ahead..
Oubre sees opportunity and not intimidation for the road ahead.
Beginning on Sunday night against the 76ers and continuing through March 23rd against the Denver Nuggets, the Wizards will face 13 straight opponents who are in the top eight in either the Eastern Conference or the Western Conference.
They’ll see the defending champion Warriors this Wednesday, the Raptors on Friday who are ranked first in the East and even get another big game with the Celtics in Boston on March 14th. Those are just a few of the highlights on this upcoming stretch.
In a way, it could be a blessing in disguise. The Wizards have shown this season that they can compete with the good teams. This 13-game run could get them battle tested for the playoffs. If they can play together for a full 48-minutes, they could beat any of these teams. By the time the stretch ends, they may even get their point guard back fully healthy.