Wizards Dropped by Warriors: Key Takeaways from Yet Another Washington Loss
The Washington Wizards need answers—and fast.
On Tuesday, they fell to the Golden State Warriors, 114-107, turning the ball over 26 times en route to their fourth straight loss and ninth in 11 games. They now occupy the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, and lately they've looked like anything but a title contender.
Prior to Tuesday's defeat, the Wizards lost by 17 points to the Pistons and by 38 points to the Cavaliers, their worst home loss in almost 40 years.
There's been endless scrutiny of Washington's offensive strategy, with many questioning why the team doesn't take more threes. The Wizards rank fifth in the NBA in three-point field-goal percentage, but 27th in three-point attempts. Lately, however, even the threes they do take aren't falling (5-of-18 vs. Golden State).
Tuesday marked one of the Wizards' better recent efforts against an elite opponent, as they kept the game close and dominated on the glass. But there were still glaring problems, including continued shooting woes, poor defensive rotations and the complete fourth-quarter absence of Marcin Gortat.
Here are three key takeaways:
1. Gortat Is Frustrated with His Lack of Late-Game Playing Time
Center Marcin Gortat signed a five-year, $60 million deal with Washington this past summer. He's an invaluable piece of the Wizards' roster and has played very well since the All-Star break. But head coach Randy Wittman has been reluctant to give him substantial fourth-quarter minutes.
Gortat was great for three quarters against the Warriors on Tuesday, scoring 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting, with 11 rebounds, three assists and a block.
He spent the entire fourth quarter on the bench.
Wittman justified the decision by saying he wanted to counter Golden State's small lineup, per Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post:
"Wittman: Gortat didn’t play 4th to counter small lineup. Asked if Gortat’s size would’ve been advantage he said it was decision he made.
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgeccastillo) February 25, 2015"
Gortat, who's usually talkative, was visibly frustrated in the locker room:
"Gortat was asked if he’s discouraged/surprised he didn’t play in the 4th after playing well since break: “Next question.”
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgeccastillo) February 25, 2015"
Chris Miller of CSN Washington noted just how drastic Gortat's drop-off in playing time has been late in games:
"Marcin Gortat Minutes Played – By Quarter This Season 1st 621 2nd 253 3rd 620 4th 154 (0 in 4th quarter vs Warriors)
— Chris Miller (@cmillscsn) February 25, 2015"
Whether or not that's a justifiable coaching decision is up for debate, but Wittman at least needs to make sure his big man doesn't become too resentful.
2. The Wizards Need Bradley Beal Back
Bradley Beal sat out his sixth straight game on Tuesday with a right fibula injury. Garrett Temple has been playing shooting guard in his absence, and while he's done a decent job, he's not much of a long-distance shooter. Beal is the best three-point threat the Wizards have.
As Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post points out, the Wizards have made 33 of 117 three-point attempts—or 28 percent—since Beal's latest injury.
In the same article, Steinberg quotes Jeff Van Gundy on the Wizards' three-point shooting approach. While some demand that the team take more threes, Van Gundy says that the construction of the roster is not necessarily conducive to that style of play:
"It’s really not a style [question]; it’s really more of a personnel question. Obviously the confusing part is if they shoot a high percentage, then why don’t they shoot more? But what people don’t think about is that if they shoot more, they probably won’t shoot a high percentage, because they just don’t have those guys.
"
Van Gundy suggests it would be counterproductive to ask guys like John Wall, Otto Porter and Ramon Sessions to chuck up more deep balls.
But Beal, who recently told Jorge Castillo he's "close" to returning, is one of the top three-point shooters in basketball, at 43.6 percent. And yet, as Steinberg notes, Beal has attempted fewer than half as many three-point shots as Golden State's Steph Curry or Klay Thompson.
Beal ought to recognize this when he comes back and should not hesitate to shoot more often. Something, anything, to kickstart the Wizards' lifeless offense.
3. The Effort, at Least, Was There
The Wizards have been called out by various pundits lately for a lack of mental toughness, as well as by Beal himself, who had this to say earlier in the week (via J. Michael of CSN Washington):
"I think we lost that hunger. We lost that chip on our shoulder. We had a great record at one point and we just got comfortable, got complacent rather than continuing to be aggressive, nasty team that we were at the beginning of the year. We fell off. We definitely fell off. We lack on defense. We're not aggressive on either end of the floor.
We're getting too laxed like everything is just guaranteed to us, like 'OK we're in the playoffs and everything's going to be fine we're going to cruise through.' We have to figure this out.
"
But after Tuesday's loss to the Warriors, Wittman applauded his team's tenacity, saying it was "as hard as we've played in a couple weeks probably," per Jorge Castillo.
Paul Pierce, who hurt his knee taking a hard screen in the final seconds, but seems to have escaped injury, added, per Castillo, “I saw something different today than I did the last two games outside of our turnovers. We played with much more urgency. If we can play like that the rest of the season, we’ll be fine."
On Wednesday night, the Wizards will have a golden opportunity to gain more confidence and finally pick up a win when they visit the 12-43 Minnesota Timberwolves. If they don't win this game, well, there won't be much left to say.
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