Second unit has struggled recently
While the Wizards repeatedly struggled to start games in competitive fashion early in the year under former coach Flip Saunders, lately the problems have come when the scoreboard has turned to the second quarter.
Recommended Stories
Trying to find a dose of scoring and reliable defense from Washington’s second unit will be one of interim coach Randy Wittman’s key tasks as his team departs for a five-game road swing over the next nine days.
“I’m playing with that a little bit,” Wittman said after Friday’s 106-89 loss to Miami. “I hadn’t liked the last couple games. The end of first, start of second quarters were slow.”
| Up next | ||||
| Wizards at Pistons | ||||
| When » | Sunday, 6 p.m. | |||
| Where » | Palace at Auburn | Hills (Mich.) | ||
| TV » | CSN | |||
Against the Heat, the Wizards were outscored 29-23 in the second quarter, but it was the best they had been in their past four defeats, in which they averaged a scoring deficit of 10.3 points in that quarter.
The New York Knicks (35-23 in the second quarter), Los Angeles Clippers (30-17) and Toronto Raptors (33-23) all seized control by taking advantage of the lack of experience and scoring on a team that is missing three of its most experience players: Rashard Lewis (left knee soreness), Andray Blatche (left calf strain) and Ronny Turiaf (broken hand). Lewis is the most likely to play during the road trip, potentially returning for Sunday’s game at the Detroit Pistons (8-20).
In the meantime, when John Wall and Nick Young take a seat, Wittman must turn to Jordan Crawford (11.3 points, 2.9 assists per game). The second-year guard is shooting 31 percent from the field in February and rarely has shown the same kind of spark he did late last season when he was starting alongside Wall while Young was injured. Against the Heat, Crawford missed 10 of 12 shots and had a team worst plus/minus of minus-18, negating his six assists.
Without a reliable offensive presence inside from Jan Vesely or Kevin Seraphin, Wittman went with JaVale McGee for the entire second quarter. But the trade-off was McGee struggled later in the game, grabbing just one of his 13 rebounds in the fourth quarter.
“I’ve got to recognize JaVale sometimes gets winded quicker at different periods of the game,” Witt?man said. “That’s where he’ll miss a rebound or one goes off his hands out of bounds. I’ve got to do a better job of recognizing that and getting guys in and out.”
Injuries have opened the door for Maurice Evans, who is simply happy to get any playing time at all but hasn’t yet found his rhythm as Wittman has shuffled the rotations.
“I’m cool with it because I can go out there and will myself to make something happen,” Evans said. “But some of these young guys that haven’t been in that situation, they’re not used to that kind of role, and that bothers them a lot. … I think that you’ll see a difference in our second unit once we start jelling.”
