Facing a Pistons team that was 11th place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 21-33, this should have been an easy victory for Washington.After losing 7 of their last 9, the Wizards looked like they were on their way to a victory after leading 52-47 at the half, with a lead as large as 11.
The first half was a game of runs, as the Pistons took an early lead, followed by a Wizards comeback, followed by a Pistons comeback, and then a Wizards dominant performance in the mid second quarter. They held the Pistons to 20 points in the second quarter, while scoring 30 easily.
Coming out of the half, the offense was stagnant, and the defense was nonexistent. While only scoring 37 points in the second half, 19 in the 3rd and 18 in the 4th, the Wizards gave up 35 in the 3rd and 24 in the 4th. When you are a team that lets Kentavius Caldwell-Pope go off for 16, you should expect to lose every game the rest of the season. The poor defense gave up 18 points to Andre Drummond, 17 to Reggie Jackson, 15 to Greg Monroe, and 10 to Jodie Meeks off the bench. Coming into the game, the Wizards knew they would struggle as they always do with the frontcourt tandem of Drummond and Monroe, but allowing the Piston’s guards to have the games they had is simply unacceptable.
Kris Humphries (11 pts, 7 rbs) and Rasual Butler (7 pts) being the only players able to perform off the bench, and lack of production from the starters resulted in this blowout loss to a team that should not even be on the same court as them. Marcin Gortat (24 pts, 10 rbs) recorded a double double, and was the lone bright spot for a Wizards team that is struggling to find its identity at the moment.
The Wizards have now fallen to 5th place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 33-22, and are only 1.5 games ahead of the Bucks for that spot. Wednesday will be a home game against Golden State (43-9) where we will see a matchup of two of the best young backcourts in the league. This game is not a must win, but is an important one to see where the Wizards stand against the league’s best team. They need this win to get out of this slump, and prove to the league they can compete with any given team on any night.
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