Every time you think the Washington Wizards have reached rock bottom, they keep digging and digging until they find another layer. They’re 8-14 on the season, and they’ve dropped two straight now, with the latest loss a 123-98 blowout on the road at the hands of the Sixers.
In the Wizards’ defense, they were without both Dwight Howard and Otto Porter Jr., but they once again showed very little fight as they trailed by as many as 35 at one point in the second half as both Joel Embiid (15 points, 16 rebounds) and Ben Simmons (13 points, 10 assists) were able to rest the entire fourth quarter.
Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 19 points, while John Wall finished with 11 points and seven assists on the night but shot just 4-of-15 from the field. After the game, Wall had harsh words for the officiating crew, continuing his emerging trend of criticizing referees after tough losses.
John Wall spent much of his postgame availability talking about refs: “I have nothing to say to them. I have no respect for them. Simple as that. I get the same excuse every time…I don’t get those calls. I have no respect for them…I have nothing nice to say towards them.”
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) December 1, 2018
Wall has made critical statements against officials after a game against the Magic earlier this month and another bad home loss to the Blazers. In fairness, there was a slight free-throw disparity in the latter case, just as there was against Philadelphia on Friday night, as the Sixers went to the line 33 times versus the Wizards 19 attempts from the stripe, hardly enough to merit a legitimate gripe.
Yet the Wizards’ issues clearly run far deeper than that, as problems of chemistry, effort, cohesion, and leadership continue to hound them both on the court and off this season. Everyone in Washington remains on the hot seat, and things don’t appear to be looking up anytime soon.
