A large part of why the Washington Wizards are still alive this late in the season is thanks to the blue-collar mentality and backbone forward Markieff Morris has brought to the organization. After he struggled in Washington following the midseason trade between the Wizards and Phoenix Suns last year, Morris has enjoyed a much more successful campaign in 2016-17 thanks to a definitive role on the floor and in the locker room.
With Morris being the leader of the hardnosed mentality Washington plays with, it should come as no surprise that the Kansas product went off on his team’s lack of toughness following their 129-119 overtime loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of their second-round series. Following from J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic:
“We’re not playing tough enough. We had the advantage late in the game and all we had to do is play tough. We didn’t have to make shots. We didn’t have to get stops. All we had to do is play tough,” said Morris, who returned from a bad left ankle sprain from Game 1 to post 16 points and six rebounds in 27 minutes of play. “We let them get offensive rebounds late in the game. Guys just walking to the basket and we’re worrying about our own personal (expletive). It’s about the team. It’s about winning. We didn’t care about that too much tonight. We let them back in the game and got to regroup and get the next one.”
The criticism Markieff Morris doled out towards him and his team was spot-on. While there have been a lot of things that have gone wrong for Washington in their two losses against Boston, the evident lack of intensity is at the forefront.
The Wizards have been getting bullied inside for a majority of this series in a frontcourt matchup that they should have a clear advantage in.
On top of the lack of grit, star point guard John Wall hasn’t had nearly enough help from his supporting cast, specifically from Bradley Beal who is a plenty explosive scorer. Couple those struggles with their absence of tough play and you have the Wizards in a two-game hole heading back to the nation’s capital for Game 3.
With Morris currently hampered with an ankle injury and the Washington defense struggling to contain Isaiah Thomas and the rest of the Celtics shooters, Game 3 on Thursday will show what this Wizards team is really made of.
