On December 17, Beijing time, the NBA regular season, the Wizards lost 98-118 to the Suns. From the second quarter of the game, the Sun firmly grasped the initiative on the field, gradually pulled the point difference apart, in the middle of the third quarter there was a 20-point gap between the two sides, and the game entered garbage time very early. In the end, the Suns successfully won the game with the help of 8 people scoring double-figures with excellent team cooperation.
The Wizards are in a worse state of the game's main players, only Beal's play is more normal. He played 11-of-18 in 31 minutes and had 26 points, three rebounds and five assists, making him the team's best player in statistics. Of the rest of the main players, only Aaron Holliday, who replaced Dinwiddie, scored in double figures. Kuzma had just four points, three rebounds and three assists on 2-of-6 shooting, and Pope scored just nine points on 3-of-9 shooting. This is also the main reason why the Wizards suffered a four-game losing streak on the road.
The Wizards' overall form has been very sluggish lately, and they are currently in the midst of a six-game streak. A winless match in the first three away games, a blow in a difficult schedule, was even worse for the entire team. In the past 10 games, the Wizards have won 2-8, and they can only find a sense of winning against weak teams such as the Pistons and Timberwolves.
At the start of the season, the Wizards were in full swing, and they played a wave of 10-3 starts, including a reversal of 16 points behind. Such an outstanding record once helped them reach the top of the East, beating the Nets, Bucks, Bulls and other strong teams. Now their winning percentage has slipped from 70 percent at the start of the season to 50 percent, and they have slipped to no. 7 in the East, and if they lose again, they will fall below 50 percent, potentially leaving the top 8 in the East every minute.
Many in the media thought the Wizards made a very suitable deal this summer, and they managed to send Westbrook away, getting Kuzma, Pop and Harrell in the Hands of the Lakers. Judging by his performances at the beginning of the season, Harrell has regained the level of the best 6th man, Kuzma and Pop bring athleticism and outside firepower to the team, and can well share the pressure of Beal. This is also an important reason for their good results at the beginning of the season. When the Lakers started unfavorably, Pope also said that he was very satisfied with the status quo, and Kuzma also said that the Lakers did not have their own season start 7 consecutive losses (preseason + season opener), both of which had the meaning of mocking the old club.
But as the season progressed, the eastern dark horse team was gradually beaten back to its original form, and they eventually returned to mediocrity. The high-paying signing of Dinwiddie has scored many times in doubles in recent times. In contrast, the Lakers, Wei Shao slowly integrated into the team. In yesterday's game against the Lone Ranger, he delivered consecutive key assists to help the team complete the killer, and the game state became remarkable. Nowadays, no one seems to question the deal made by the Lakers, and it seems that getting Wei Shao is not a loss-making transaction.
The future Wizards' two opponents, the Jazz and the Nets, are both the top teams in the league, and it will not be easy for the Wizards to end the losing streak.
(Text/Yuwen Basketball)