Story By: Sol Tucker
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Washington, D.C–
For the past few weeks, we have been looking for excused to why the losses keep mounting. Some players out of the line-up… Kuzma.. Poole.. all of those with maybe it was an off night for scoring.. but then there was tonight. Another L, one of that just can’t be overlooked inside of the locker room.
The effort by the Wizards tonight in the 137-101 trouncing by the Mavericks, was at best, just showing up so they don’t get fined. You, know that phrase, and it’s not one player we are referring to, it’s the team.
Yes, the Wizards were without Kyle Kuzma and Corey Kispert, but they just didn’t have much else going for them and at times the younger core seemed lost when Jordan Poole was off the court.
Kyrie Irving looked like he was back in his old Boston days offensively, putting up 25 points on a solid 10-of-16 from the floor. Luka Doncic contributed 21 points as well as a block and 2 steals – keeping pace with his 1.8 steals per game that has him sitting at 10th in the league.
Bilal Coulibaly had the worst shooting game of his career, going 0/10 from the field and 0/5 from beyond the arc. Something just seemed off, or it was the Mavs defense that seemed to have the Wizards looking for shots that definitely fell against other teams.
The 36-point margin of defeat is the largest of the season thus far, surpassing the 31-point mark set in the previous game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
People also seem to be forgetting that while the Wizards have kept some of the games this past month close, they did not win a single game in the month of November, a franchise record. Not sure that stats like that should be kept, but alas here we are.
The Wizards have one day to prepare for two back-to-back home games against Denver on Saturday night and Memphis on Sunday. Could this losing streak stretch into the second week of December? Odds are high. Let’s hope this can get better before worse, otherwise it’s time to shop this team and really rebuild… not just try.
