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The Washington Wizards dropped a fourth straight game on Friday, this time in disappointing fashion against the lowly Atlanta Hawks, who are among the worst teams in the league.
Despite the return of All-Star point guard John Wall (who was out for rest), the Wizards have been unable to get back in the winning column, and look far from a playoff-ready team — having lost eight of their last 10 games.
Head coach Scott Brooks was the least happy person in the room, noting his team had gone from a ball-sharing culture to a selfish one.
Article Continues Below“Selfish basketball is no fun to coach, it’s no fun to play with, and it’s no fun to watch, and we’re a selfish basketball team right now.” Brooks said, according to Candace Buckner of The Washington Post.
Brooks didn't hold back on ripping his team in every aspect, also finding a huge problem with the defense, which allowed 11 3-pointers to a Hawks team not known for its long-range proficiency (16th in the league) — including a wife-open look to Mike Muscala that shut the lights off the Capital One Arena.
“We got to start guarding somebody, and we got to start moving the basketball the way we’re capable of doing it,” warned Brooks. “If we’re not going to do that, I’ll find five guys to do that. I don’t care how small we are or how big we are.”
If that wasn't enough, Brooks gave his team an ultimatum through the media — play better or somebody else will for you.
“It’s not a divided team. It’s a together team, but if we’re going to talk about doing things, we’ve got to do it with our actions,” said Brooks. “We got to guard somebody. Our perimeter defense is porous. It’s embarrassing we get beat backdoors after backdoors. But I got to do a better job, and I have to figure out going into the playoffs who’s going to be able to not make mistakes as many times that we do.”
Wall has been a difference-maker since his Mar. 31 return, logging 10 or more assists in his three games since he's been back from a knee surgery, but the Wizards have only gone 1-2 with him on the court, and 0-2 without him — failing to yield the right results and now sitting in eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
