Scott Brooks Slams Wizards After Loss to Hawks: We're a Selfish Basketball Team

Washington Wizards head coach Scott Brooks pulled no punches after his team's 103-97 to the lowly Atlanta Hawks on Friday night, their fourth straight loss and 13th defeat in 19 games.

"It's embarrassing that we don't play with the passion that we need to play [with]," he said, per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. "Selfish basketball is no fun to coach, it's no fun to play with, and it's no fun to watch. We're a selfish basketball team right now."

The loss dropped the Wizards to the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, a half-game behind the Milwaukee Bucks and a full game behind the Miami Heat, who also lost Friday night. If the Wizards maintain that position, they'd face a first-round series against the Toronto Raptors.

But Friday, Brooks seemed more concerned about Washington's inability to play fundamental basketball than the playoffs.

"It's a simple game: You pass it to your teammate, you pass it because the game tells you to," he said. "If you don't pass to your teammates, you're not going to end up getting good shots. One-on-one players, there aren't many in this league, and we don't have one on our team."

Superstar point guard John Wall didn't play in the contest, though Brooks wasn't willing to use that as an excuse:

"If we're not going to share the basketball, you can't just say 'John's not here' and all of a sudden we're going to be one-on-one players. John's not here, John's here, it doesn't matter. We still got to play the right way. The game tells you to pass it to your open teammate. The game tells you to guard the ball. The game tells you to help your team, and we're not doing that right now. It's embarrassing."

Point guard Tomas Satoransky said the team didn't take the Hawks—who at 23-57 have the worst record in the Eastern Conference—seriously enough.

"You have to respect everyone who plays in the NBA," Satoransky said, according to Candace Buckner of the Washington Post. "Everyone in the NBA is good, and you have to respect that, and I feel like we didn't do this today. It's bad from all of us. You just have to blame all of us because it's a team sport and we really have to do better."

The Wizards will try to turn things around against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night and Orlando Magic on Wednesday night. But they may have already played their way into the eighth seed with their recent struggles.