Wizards Drop Nail-Biter
Once again the Wizards built themselves a big lead heading into the fourth quarter, but similar to what happened on Thursday night, they were unable to execute down the stretch and lost a tight one, 95-92, to the Hawks on Saturday night at Verizon Center.
Another strong effort and a very solid first half, especially from newly acquired center Nene, who finished with a team-high 21 points and 11 rebounds. After just three games, Nene's presence has already made a big impact, as he has now attained double-doubles in two of the three games.
Jordan Crawford had another solid performance, dropping in 20 points.
Edwin Ubiles had a nice night off the bench, adding 10 points of his own which is a career-high for the former D-League star.
Next, the Wizards travel to Boston where they will take on the Celtics on Sunday evening (6pm).
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Highlights
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Postgame
WIZARDS CENTER NENE:
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On the game:
“We played hard tonight. I’m proud of my teammates and the effort we gave tonight on the court. I like what I’ve seen from them the past three games. It’s a tough loss but we have to learn from it and move forward. It’s disappointing because we played so well for most of the game.”
WIZARDS GUARD JOHN WALL:
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On the game:
“We made shots, they made shots but they were able to get the free throw line more. We did our best to execute, but they just came back. A big change in the game was when Joe Johnson hit that three point shot. They gave me my shots but I just missed them by holding onto the ball too long and falling short. I really want to give credit to their defense. My team did a great job of carrying us but I just fell short of closing the game. It’s tough when we get into situations like this, we just need to execute better when it gets down to the wire. Sometimes we take short cuts but they really closed out and that is what you can expect from a playoff team. We need to learn how to get there.”
WIZARDS GUARD ROGER MASON JR:
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On the Wizards:
“We’re playing a whole lot better. We fought for three and a half quarters, and to lose two games like this — I really feel like we just gave them away.”
On tonight’s game:
“I think as a team, we didn’t execute down the stretch. We’re still getting used to new guys being in certain places, but it’s no excuse. At the end of the day, these are two winnable games and we didn’t get the job done.”
em>On Nene:
“We’ve got to get the ball to him (Nene). They knew, so they tried to deny him the ball. They did a good job. We couldn’t get it to him and it hurt us. We feel really good getting the ball in his hands at the end of the games.”
WIZARDS HEAD COACH RANDY WITTMAN:
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On the game:
“It’s a tough one to swallow. I couldn’t ask for much more from our guys tonight on both ends of the floor. We just had problems scoring in the fourth quarter and they made big shots. They have All-Stars that hit some big shots down the stretch for them. It’s a tough one to lose.”
On the fourth quarter:
“We missed shots and we didn’t get the ball inside. We played one way up until this trade and now we have to break that. The ball has to go inside more – inside out. We have guys that will pass the ball back out. The ball has to get inside more, especially in crunch time. We are never going to get to the foul line by playing out on the perimeter at the three-point line.”
On Chris Singleton guarding Joe Johnson:
“Playing these guys a time or two you learn something … For a rookie playing star players like that you learn little nuances that they like to do or don’t like to do and I think he is picking up really well on that. Chris (Singleton) is always going to get the tough assignment and he is not one to back down.”