Washington Wizards: What in the world is going on?

After falling to the 23-43 Minnesota Timberwolves by a score of 97-77 last night, the Washington Wizards are officially struggling. After going as far up as 16 games over .500, the Wizards have fallen to 33-25 with 25 games left in the season. They have lost 12 out of the last 16 games, and are currently in the midst of a five-game losing streak.

They have fell from being the second seed in the Eastern Conference to the fifth seed; only a half-game up on the No. 6 seed. It has been quite a struggle for this Wizards team over the last six weeks or so. At first, there was no need for panic. They lost a string of games, which isn’t good, but it is normal. After starting out the season as hot as they did, a losing streak was bound to come sooner or later.

However, the extent of it has gone too far. They took 29 of their first 42 games, and have since then lost 12 of 16 as I mentioned before. This is where John Wall has to come in and prove that he has the ability to take the role as a leader over an NBA team and help them overcome obstacles.

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Every team faces challenges, but the clubs that deal and overcome them the best are usually the ones that come out on top in the end. Washington has a bunch of young players on their team, and it showed to their advantage in the first half of the season. However, that has caught up to them here in the second half.

Veterans Nene and Marcin Gortat are going to have to step in and teach these youngsters how to overcome and deal with adversity, because they are the only wise veterans that the Wizards posses of.

The postseason is coming up pretty soon, and this is no way to end a season. There are still 25 games remaining in the regular season. That is plenty of time for Washington to find their way and get back to doing what they do best – playing great team basketball.

When this team was enjoying a good number of victories early on in the season, they were referred to by a couple of people as a young San Antonio Spurs. They have a great starting lineup, with one or two stars, and a deep bench. They have a bunch of unselfish players that are willing to sacrifice just to help their team win.

That part of this team has to be found. If the Wizards do manage to get back on track, this will be a dangerous team in the playoffs that can potentially make a huge run. Time will tell.

Next: Wizards face their toughest challenge against Golden State