After starting out the season with a 22-9 record, the Washington Wizards have been on a slump of late. Since December 30th, the team is 9-10, and are nine games behind the Hawks in the Southeast Division.
Washington lost on Monday night to the Heat, in which guard Bradley Beal called out his team for not being aggressive.
“I think we definitely took several steps back in these last five games, especially defensively,” Wizards guard Bradley Beal said. “We haven’t been the same team that got up and was physical and tough on them. We are pretty soft right now.”
Beal’s back court mate John Wall would add to those comments, saying against certain teams, the Wizards seem to play more passive.
“Against some teams we feel like we don’t have to be that physical,” Wall said. We let teams punk us and that’s when we lose the games.”
While the back court duo think their lackluster play of late is on their teammates lack of aggression, Wizards head coach Randy Wittman has taken the blame for it.
“We point fingers and until we all get back on the same page and come out and play hard for 48 minutes, and look at ourselves in the mirror and say, ‘What can I do more?’ rather than point our finger and say ‘It’s not me,’ that’s where we are at,” said Wittman. “Like I said, I’ll take the blame for that, of allowing us to get there.”
Big man Nene, however, disagree’s with Wittman’s comments saying he’s not the one to blame in this situation, it’s the players.
“It’s not him who’s going to be defending players so he can say whatever he wants,” Nene said. “That’s not him who’s going to be inside the court defending players. That’s the thing. In this game you need energy and take pride in guarding your man. We don’t play like that in the last few games here. That’s one thing. Teams have been playing hard, they’ve been playing more physical, and sharing the ball more than us.”
One who has not commented on the situation yet is veteran forward Paul Pierce, who last season called the Nets soft after game two in the first round of the playoffs last season.
