An ex-teammate singled them out, hopeful his new team will draw the Wizards in the first round of the playoffs.
It’s no secret why. The Wizards have limped into the final stretch of the season.
And now they’re struggling to not be a good team, but to simply win a game. One more win will clinch a playoff berth. It also might be difficult to get.
“According to everyone else, we’ve been written off,” said Wizards guard Antonio Daniels. “When you’re written off, there’s no pressure. The only pressure is we want to win that one game.”
They played Cleveland well on Friday, only to lose thanks to 23 turnovers and missed free throws. They played New Jersey well on the road a day later, only to lose in overtime because they failed to secure key rebounds.
It’s becoming a common theme now that they’re minus injured all-stars Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler. The Wizards are playing well enough to stay competitive, but not win.
“You almost have to play a flawless game,” Daniels said, “especially in the fourth quarter.”
Which, of course, was difficult for them to do with Arenas and Butler in the lineup. But, the point is, the Wizards have had a lot of things go right since losing those players to injuries.
And, yet, they still can’t win. They turned the ball over too much against Cleveland and missed too many free throws. They failed to get key rebounds in the overtime loss to New Jersey. Coach Eddie Jordan called the latter problem a season-long issue.
“Guys are stepping up,” Hayes said. “But it still leaves a sour taste because it’s an L.”
Without the All-Stars, the Wizards have altered their identity. However, they’ve only practiced twice since losing the players, making it difficult to work too much on a new emphasis.
“You need time to do that,” Daniels said. “It’s tough to do that 76 games into the season.”
Meanwhile, ex-Wizards guard Juan Dixon told reporters the other night, “We want that third seed. We’d rather play a depleted Washington team than a [healthy] Chicago or Cleveland right now in the first round.”
To which Daniels said, “That’s cool,” before turning away, clearly miffed at Dixon’s words.
But before they can worry about playoff seeding, they have to win another game to earn a spot.
“It’ll happen,” Wizards forward Darius Songaila said. “Hopefully it happens sooner rather than later so we can get a couple more.”
Wiz notes
» Washington hosts New Jersey at 7 tonight and plays at Miami on Wednesday night. After tonight, the Wizards will have two home games remaining: against Chicago on Sunday and Orlando on April 17.
» Forward Andray Blatche will be available tonight. Blatche could provide the defense and energy that’s been missing off the bench, with three ex-reserves now starting.
» In the three games since both Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas have missed, Antonio Daniels has averaged 14.3 points and 13 assists in the three games; Etan Thomas has posted two double-doubles in that time; Jarvis Hayes has made nine of his last 16 three-pointers and is coming off a career-high 29 points; and Antawn Jamison has averaged 29.7 points.
