Knicks vs Wizards Week Analysis

The Washington Wizards just “Can’t get right, Boss”. The Wizards suffer another disappointing loss to the New York Knicks for their second time within the week. On Tuesday night, Washington didn’t even show up and allowed the Knicks to score 131 points. What makes this absolutely egregious is the fact that the Knicks are ranked 30th in scoring on pace to score 96 points per game compared to Washington who ranks 1st in the statistical category. 

In Tuesday’s slaughter, Washington allowed the Knicks to shoot 16 out of 30 behind the arc, shoot 51% from the field, score 24 points off of turnovers, and establish a 31 point lead. Julies “Can’t Go Right” Randle lit Washington up for 37 points and made 7 out of 10 shots from downtown. Randle was 5 out of 6 Knicks players to score double-figures and 3 of those players scored over 20 points. 

Safe to say, we weren’t watching this game. 

Last night was even more dissatisfying for Washington fans because Washington had this game in the bag. In their second game at Madison Square Garden this week, the Knicks defeat Washington 106-102. Washington blew a 17 point lead, Knicks outscored Washington by 19 points in the second half and scored a duplicate 24 points off of turnovers. Alec Burks finished with 27 points in 33 minutes and scored 15 of those points in the fourth quarter. 

“The defense was much better in the second half and then the fourth quarter I thought we were making the right plays,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “We had a good rhythm. A lot of guys stepped up.”

RJ Barrett scored 24 points, shot 7/22 from the field with 3 steals in 41 minutes. Julius Randle had 13 points and Quickley scored 16 points. 

Bradley Beal scored 26 points, assisted on 9 plays, and secured 4 rebounds in 39 minutes but shot poorly from the field only making 8 of 23 shots. Beal struggled in the fourth quarter to find his shot and threw his headband in frustration. There were other options available for scoring but the tides soon changed to Beal needs to score everything. There were times Washington went almost 4 minutes without a single field goal. 

Garrison Matthews scored 16 points making 3 of 4 shots behind the arc in 35 minutes. Rui Hachimura had 21 points on over 50% shooting from the field, why was the offensive gameplan changed to primarily focus on Beal? Another barnburner ignited by Scott Brooks. 

“I thought we were having a real physical mindset and in that fourth quarter we kind of let up and made some critical mistakes,” Wizards coach Scott Brooks said. “And when you do that, they make 3s.”

Bradley Beal spoke on his fourth-quarter performance saying, “I’ve gotta get my head out of my ass and be better”. 

Now it is obvious that Beal uses all his gas to keep Washington in contention the first three quarters and is on fumes in the fourth, which is not his fault at all. On the same token, when you are the leader of the team you have to know when other hands need to touch the ball when your shot is not falling. 

Russell Westbrook made history in the second half but not in a way he would like. Brodie contributed 13 points and impressive 18 rebounds but went 0-8 and committed 6 fouls in the final two-quarters of the game. 

According to ESPN Stats and Info, Westbrook is the first player in the past 25 seasons to go 0-8 or worse from the floor and half 6 personal fouls in any half. 

WOOF!

Takeaways/Trade Deadline

After an impressive month of basketball in February, Washington is back to its ways and has now lost 8 of their last 10 games. They are currently 15-28 and hold the 13th spot in the East trailing 4 games from the Bulls and 6 games from a playoff contention spot. 

The Bulls made very impressive moves during the trade deadline yesterday acquiring Nikola Vucevic, Troy Brown Jr, and Moe Wager. Mo Wagner was later moved to the Boston Celtics (good for him). Yes, The Washington Wizards traded Troy Brown Jr and Moe “Swag” Wagner. 

In exchange, The Washington Wizards received Daniel Gafford and Chandler Hutchinson. Gafford is a 6’10 forward in his second season out of the University of Arkansas. He will provide a lot of benefits to Washington by providing energy, offensive creation, and help on the defensive end. 

Hurts to see Moe and Troy go but they were never going to prosper under Scott Brooks. Troy Brown has played minimal minutes this season after playing very well in the bubble during the summer. Moe will no longer be in a Washington Wizards uniform but he will still always be Moe Swagner in Washington DC. 

p.s. This one is for you Daxandro lol