Monday’s 105-77 loss to Chicago was predictable for the Wizards, who’ve dropped 15 of their last 17 games, six in a row, and four of the last eight losses by 20 points or more. Sure, they may be ever closer to a clean slate with last week’s trade deadline move and Monday’s buyout of Mike Bibby, but he knew what he was doing in sacrificing a boatload of cash to avoid playing in D.C. Why? If for no other reason than the Wizards (15-44) have not advanced beyond square one on the court.
“Our fans were trying to fight back for us,” said Andray Blatche, “but it came to the point where we didn’t give them no reason to fight back after we were down by 20-something.”
Derrick Rose in cruise control? Whatever, he was in complete control. The combination of smoothness and power was on display from the word go, and Rose got better as the game wore on, always capable of another gear, another acrobatic move to the basket, another bullet pass over his shoulder, another crossover, another three-pointer.
“He’s playing great,” said Nick Young. “His level of game has risen. Knocking down three ball, he just played great.”
Meanwhile, Young struggled with 14 points on 15 shots, getting manhandled by a team known for its ability to manhandle players.
John Wall also had 9 points on 14 shots, plus for him to handle Rose for the entire game was a monumental challenge. He was up to it to a point, picking Rose’s pocket once and always pushing the ball in transition. But the rookie struggled to shoot the ball and often forced his finishes in transition, ending up on his back while the play advanced back down to the other end of the court.
Speaking of power, the Bulls were monsters in the paint, dominant early and often on the boards, particularly at the offensive end at the start.
“It was like that first five minutes they were getting every rebound, knocking us all over the place, blocking every one of our shots and so they kind of reached in right from the beginning and took over the physicality of the game,” said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders. “From the beginning some of our guys just never reacted as far as positively matching that.”
The Wizards were outrebounded, 18-7, in the first quarter alone. The second quarter was a bit closer, as Chicago held a 15-13 margin, but 11 of their rebounds came from bench players. The Wizards bench got just four.
“They just played harder than us,” said Maurice Evans. “Coach put up 50-50 balls would be huge for this game, and I think they won pretty much all of the 50-50 balls. Those are the types of things that win ball games, especially when good teams do them.”
With Josh Howard (knee), Rashard Lewis (sick) both limited, Bibby gone and Blatche rusty from not playing the last two games, the Wizards lacked any sort of calming presence on the floor. Wall was running wild, but Young was struggling, JaVale McGee had another off night, and even Jordan Crawford (2 points, 2 assists, 3 steals, 4 turnovers) looked a lot more like an rough and raw rookie. Kevin Seraphin had moments (6 points, 2 blocks, 2 rebounds) but needed to get his hands on more rebounds. He grabbed the box score from me in the locker room and confirmed that himself.
“That’s what happens with young players,” said Saunders. “It’s what we talked about before. A young player takes a step forward and plays well one night, but the next night you’re not really sure. Youth, inexperience brings inconsistency. What you hope happens is when you’ve got five rookies, tonight we had three playing at one time, you’re hoping that they’re not all inconsistent on the same night. We had some inconsistencies tonight, and in that situation, our veteran guys have to really step up. The games that we’ve played well, they have. Tonight, they didn’t as much, and that’s why we struggled.”
Brian Scalabrine? Really? That’s who what was left of the Verizon Center crowd cheered for louder at the end of the game that at any other time during the night. (Shouldn’t they have been cheering for Luol Deng just as much?) Visiting fans taking over the arena isn’t new, especially lately, but the way the place exploded when Scalabrine banked in a jumper in the final minute, it was hard to figure out what the heck was going on. The only saving grace is that most Wizards fans were already gone by then and probably didn’t feel the brunt of the joke.
