The Washington Wizards were supposed to beat the Los Angeles Clippers.
They had a 33-point lead at halftime and their biggest lead was 35 points.
It was so bad that Clippers head coach Ty Lue actually pulled his starters from the floor and was essentially throwing in the towel – a move that seemed to make sense.
But the Wizards have a way of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and they did it again on Tuesday night, as they gave up that monster lead and eventually lost 116-115.
The Clippers just completed one of the most insane comebacks you will ever see, down 35 (!!!!) points. Luke Kennard gets it done at the death. pic.twitter.com/74BnEwofR4
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) January 26, 2022
With their win against the Wizards, the Clippers tied the second-largest NBA comeback since 1996-97 and embarrassed the already struggling Washington team.
It’s been asked a million times but it needs to be asked again: what’s wrong with the Wiz?
A Promising Start
It’s surprising to see the Wizards struggle so much.
Right now, they are 10th in the East, with a record of 23-25.
But it wasn’t always this bad.
When the season began, they actually were putting together one of the best records in the league.
By the middle of November, the Wizards were number one with a 10-3 record – but then things started to fall apart.
The Washington Wizards are 10-3, and the No. 1 seed in the East.
🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/gelOM6mA2S
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) November 16, 2021
The team started losing a lot more games – and many of them were completely winnable.
They got blown out by the New Orleans Pelicans, shocked by the San Antonio Spurs, and embarrassed by the Sacramento Kings.
As made evident by their loss against the Clippers, the Wizards simply don’t know what they’re doing on the floor.
They are not playing like a unit, they are certainly not working as a team.
This is very troubling because they had the pieces to make a competitive and impressive squad, as the beginning of the season proved.
When the team acquired Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Montrezl Harrell, many people didn’t expect much.
But after a few weeks together, some were saying Washington got the better end of the trade and they’d rather have these three than Russell Westbrook, who was now playing for LA.
With the inclusion of Bradley Beal, the team was functioning together and was playing like they had something to prove.
That’s because they did – all of the guys on the team had been written off again and again.
Perhaps that’s why they were performing so well when the season started – they had chips on their shoulders.
So what changed?
Blow It Up?
The obvious truth is that the Wizards just aren’t playing as they should – or like they have.
So you have to wonder what the front office will do: keep things the same or blow the whole team up?
It felt like the team was this close to a complete rebuild for years now.
After such a great start and a total collapse, maybe it’s time to reconsider that choice, sell off all the players they can, and build everything again from the ground up.
Individually, there is still a lot of promise with the players on the roster.
But together, they simply aren’t working out and time is running out to turn it around.
No matter what happens, the Wizards need to do everything in their power to avoid another blowout like the one they experienced against the Clippers.
The fans deserve so much more than that.
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