For a while it looked like the Wizards were just fine without their All-Star point guard John Wall. They were playing over .500 basketball and competing for home court in the eastern conference first round of the playoffs.
Lately they have been in a slump though as they have lost 8 out of 12 games and are only 1.5 games ahead the No. 8 seed Heat. They also lost a home game to a lowly Knicks team without Kristaps Porzingis on Sunday afternoon.
Bradley Beal was not too happy about it as he made clear in his post game interview.
Via NBC Sports Washington:
“We’re acting like we don’t give a damn, honestly. We thought we could just show up and play because they didn’t have anything to play for. We just thought it was going to be a cake walk and they just smacked us in the mouth,” Beal said.
“I’m tired of talking about this s***. It’s just the same thing over and over,” he said. “Until we do it individually and together collectively, we’re going to get our asses kicked in the playoffs. This isn’t even remotely acceptable, how we are playing right now.”
Those are strong words from Beal. While it does appear like the effort isn’t fully there defensively as often as it should in recent weeks, the Wizards are greatly hampered on both ends without their floor general to get the offense flowing and create easy buckets for others. Not to mention Wall’s size, quickness and defensive ability.
Wall could return as early as Tuesday against San Antonio and the earlier he is able to return the better as it will give the team time to re-incorporate him and find their groove with him back on the floor.
The Wizards are currently not entering April playing the kind of basketball they want to be, but with a healthy John Wall and Bradley Beal they can still make some noise in the eastern conference playoffs, especially against a Kyrie Irving-less Boston Celtics team.
