Marreese Speights Says He Knew Wizards Would Quit If Warriors 'Turned Up'

The Golden State Warriors mugged the Wizards on Monday night, jumping John Wall and company at the start of the second half and leaving the Washington offense hogtied in a dark, forgotten alleyway.

It's difficult to overstate how effectively the Warriors clamped down after the first half of the 107-76 blowout. The team came out from halftime and held a talented offensive squad to eight points in the third quarter and 19 in the fourth.

That's 27 total points over a half of an NBA basketball game—or one point more than the offensively agnostic Cincinnati Bearcats put up in the first half of their artless NCAA tournament shovel fight with Purdue on Thursday. 

The Wizards are not a bad team, but they can be a fractious one, according to Marreese Speights.

The Warriors big man told CSN Washington's Ben Standig that Golden State pushed hard on the defensive end in the second half with the expectation of Washington crumpling under the pressure.

"We just turned up a little," Speights said. "We knew if we hit them, if we got a couple stops they would start arguing with each other and quit. We went out there with a good mindset in the second half and we did it."

Paul Pierce addressed the Wizards' offensive nosedive, saying his team didn't move the ball well against a Warriors defense that's often overlooked.

"Yeah, we basically struggled a lot in the third quarter. I thought we didn't move the ball from side to side. They're a great offensive team, but they're also a great defensive team. I thought our offense got a little bit stagnant."

"Stagnant" is one word to describe the Wizards missing 14 shots before hitting their first and only field goal of the third quarter. There's no coming back from such a dry period, and Washington found itself being buried by a Warriors squad still not entirely healthy. 

The stage is now set for Golden State to take the next step and make statements in the postseason. The team appears more defensively engaged than ever, and with Stephen Curry in MVP form and the prospect of Klay Thompson providing support and the occasional Klayruption, the rest of the Western Conference can only hope for the underperforming bug to rear its head again. 

Otherwise, you're facing a team with nuclear shooters and a thick defensive shell, and, well...good luck with that. 

Dan is on Twitter. He'd rather watch a blindfolded slap fight in quicksand than Cincy-Purdue again.