The Wizards dropped their second-straight game at home, falling to the Blazers 108-98. The Wizards started the first and second half flat and were unable to make up the difference, despite some more spirited effort in second and fourth quarters.
Videos
Randy Wittman's presser is above, but other players' videos are below:
Links
Here's the recap roll for the night:
Notable Comments
So I misplaced the algorithm Albert uses to compile the exact comment counts from Monday's game (sorry!), so instead I'll pull two notable comments from the game. First, let's revisit this discussion from late in the second half.
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What's interesting about the 23-1 run in question was that the Blazers kept the same five players on the court, while Wittman tried four different lineups in that span, including some doses of Marcin Gortat and Nene playing together, which we haven't seen much of this season, just to see if something could get them going. In hindsight, it's easy to say Wittman should have called a timeout sooner to change things up, but he wasn't a standing idle during the run that put the game away either.
There's a lot of stuff you can put the blame on Randy Wittman for, but when your team gives up a 19-6 run to start the game and a 23-1 run to start the second half, a good portion of the blame for that has to go on the starters for just not being ready to play.
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To some extent, every team looks great when they're doing well and bad when they're not themselves, but the Wizards exemplify this because everything flows through one player. Even when the team is healthy, most of the roster depends on John Wall to put them in positions to score. When the opposing team keeps him from doing that, they don't have a counterattack.
It's like watching a football team with a great quarterback and no running game. If you can find the right blitz package to keep the QB out of a rhythm, you've stopped the whole offense, and that's what we've seen from the Wizards most of the season because they don't have another guy who can take the pressure off Wall to make something happen.
Monday Food Specials
The Wizards did not lead after the first quarter, did not win, did not get to 100 points, and did not get a Blazer to miss two free throws in the fourth quarter.
Enjoy your Tuesday everyone!