The Wizards lost to the woeful Bulls, 113-94, on Sunday, a result that would’ve been more shocking if fans hadn’t become so accustomed to watching Washington struggle against sub-.500 teams this season.
Chicago, which has been looking forward to the NBA draft lottery since at least December, earned its first win against a team with a winning record since Feb. 9, a span of 22 games. The loss was Washington’s 13th against a team with a losing record this season, tied with the Heat for the most among teams currently in position to qualify for the postseason.
After the Wizards allowed the Bulls to tie their franchise record with 18 three-pointers made, Coach Scott Brooks criticized his team’s lackluster effort.
“If you can’t get your body and mind to focus on 48 minutes of basketball, come on,” Brooks said. “You’re cheating the game. You’re cheating your team. And you’ve got to lock in for 48 minutes. You have 23 hours and 12 minutes to do what you want to do. It’s unacceptable how we played today.”
If you’ve been paying attention, you know it’s not the first time Brooks or one of his players has used the u-word to describe the Wizards’ performance this season.
March 25: Knicks 101, Wizards 97
“This isn’t even remotely acceptable how we’re playing right now, because we’re playing like we’re going to be done on April 11, April 12,” Bradley Beal said after the Wizards gave up 42 points in the second quarter.
“We looked like we didn’t give a damn, honestly,” Beal added. “We just thought we could just show up and play because they don’t have anything to play for. We just thought it was going to be a cake walk and they smacked us in the mouth.”
March 10: Heat 129, Wizards 102
“It’s unacceptable,” Brooks said after the Wizards allowed the mediocre Heat to score 76 points in the paint. “It’s unacceptable that we came out with the effort that we did. … We didn’t give any resistance. They were just putting their heads down and attacking us, and we had no protection at the rim. They outplayed us. There is no way around it.”
January 17: Hornets 133, Wizards 109
“It’s unacceptable the way we competed,” Brooks said after Washington fell to 0-3 against Charlotte this season. “We’re going to have change some things and make sure we’re all going to compete. If not we’re going to have to find guys who are going to compete.”
December 27: Hawks 113, Wizards 99
“It’s unacceptable,” Brooks said two days after the Wizards’ Christmas Day win over Boston. “I take the blame as much as the players take it. We all are responsible for this and we got to do a better job of playing and competing and staying focused throughout the 48 minutes.”
December 22: Nets 119, Wizards 84
Beal found a different word to describe Washington’s ghastly loss to the lowly Nets. Namely, bad.
“It was just bad overall,” Beal said. “It was terrible. We couldn’t make shots, let alone defend anybody. It was bad. It was really bad. It was really one of those games you just want to forget about and move on to the next one.”
December 4: Jazz 116, Wizards 69
The word “unacceptable” also went unsaid after the Wizards’ most lopsided loss since 1971.
“They punched us and punched us again and punched us again,” Brooks said. “Surprisingly, we didn’t fight back. One of the first times since I’ve been here we didn’t play with fight.”
November 3: Cavaliers 130, Wizards 122
“We can’t give up 40 in a quarter,” Beal said after Washington gave up 42 points in the first quarter to the actually good Cavaliers. “That’s two games in a row now that we’ve done that. That’s unacceptable for sure.”
November 1: Suns 122, Wizards 116
“We’re going to start holding guys accountable because this is unacceptable,” Beal said after T.J. Warren scored a career-high 40 points at Capital One Arena. “We weren’t undisciplined. We were too cool. We thought it was gonna be a cakewalk and they bust our ass, plain and simple. We can’t let anyone come in here and score 40.”
The good news for fans tired of watching unacceptable basketball? The Wizards only play two more games this season against teams with losing records, and Washington is an acceptable 22-22 against teams that are .500 or better.
“I was talking to one of my friends [Saturday] and, you know, just thinking about all of the games that we did give up earlier in the season and midway through the year and even up to this point,” Beal said after Sunday’s loss. “There’s a lot that we should have. I feel like we should have over 50 wins at this point in the year, but we kind of shot ourselves in the foot with that one.”
Instead, Washington will finish short of 50 wins for the 39th straight season since 1979. That’s un…believable.
Read more on the Wizards:
Listless Wizards lose by 19 points against a Bulls team that isn’t trying to win
John Wall’s return to the lineup means Wizards will limit their rotations
Steve Buckhantz among latest class of D.C. Sports Hall of Fame inductees
