Wizards sluggish shooting leads to a Sunday afternoon loss
The Washington Wizards played their first regular season game on ABC in seven years yesterday afternoon, and failed miserably while doing so. They took on the Houston Rockets and shot a terrible 38.7% from the field in the game.
Starting point guard John Wall was the only player able to find any success, as he filled up the stats sheet recording 25 points, 12 assists, eight rebounds, and four steals. However, only two others on the team scored more than ten points and only one of the the six players that took more than five shot attempts on the night made half of them.
Washington was denied of a chance to clinch a playoff spot last night, losing the game by a score of 99-91. They will get eight more chances to clinch that elusive playoff spot (elusive… Yeah right, this is the East we’re talking about!). All they need is a win, and they’re in.
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Standing two and a half games behind the No. 4 seeded Toronto Raptors, it looks like the Wizards will finish the season with that same No. 5 seed that they held in last years postseason. They also clinched a non-losing record for the second straight year with their double overtime victory against Charlotte on Friday night.
After winning five straight, the team has now lost five of six and are back to their losing ways. With the playoffs set to tip off in just a couple of weeks, this is no way to be performing.
The Wizards place in the standings likely can’t be helped at this point, but that does not mean that the remainder of the regular season is obsolete. Confidence is a big thing to have, and the Wizards must gain some before the playoffs begin.
Coming up next for Washington are the lowly Philadelphia 76ers, who they will face off with Wednesday night in the Verizon Center. At 18-56, the Sixers hold the third-worst record in the league and the second-worst in the Eastern Conference only above the New York Knicks.
After trading away their only star in Michael Carter-Williams in advance to this years trade deadline, they are in full-blown rebuilding mode, and it is extremely evident.
This contest will be the Wizards to lose and if they do grab the victory, they will have clinched back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in seven years.