Clippers Too Much for Wizards
The Wizards were no match for the Clippers tonight as they fell 107-81 in front of 19,419 fans at Verizon Center. A 24 point halftime deficit gave the Wizards a tough hole to climb out of and they were unable to do so in the 2nd half. John Wall and Nick Young had 14 points apiece to lead the Wizards, while Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 21 points and 11 rebounds. The Wizards will look to snap out of this funk and beat the Raptors for the second time this season when they host Toronto on Monday night at Verizon Center.
Highlights
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Quotes
Wizards Head Coach Randy Wittman:
On Wizards’ losing streak:…
“We’ve got to find a way on Monday to regroup. We have to find something. Maybe I have to play another veteran guy other than Rashard (Lewis). It’s one thing to put the young guys out there but they also have to learn to compete at this level of competition. To me, I didn’t think we were ready for that tonight...there wasn’t a quarter I was happy with.”
On the effort:…
“There is playing hard and being the aggressor and there is playing hard and being on your heels. I thought they were the aggressors. Were we playing hard? I thought our effort was there but we weren’t the aggressors, especially up front, and that’s where we have got to be.”
WIZARDS GUARD JOHN WALL:
On tonight’s performance:….
“Coach gave us a great game plan to play but we didn’t execute it to the end. It wasn’t just one guy it was all guys, everybody didn’t execute to the ‘T’. I didn’t do a great job in running the team on the offensive end and the defensive end they just got whatever they wanted.”
On playing aggressively:
“We know how to play hard, we have done it before. The first four games we played with Coach we were able to do it. The last two games we didn’t do it, and that hurt us. It’s not just one person; it’s everybody not doing it as a team. When we aren’t able to do it as a team, it hurts.”
On preparing for Monday’s game:
“We have to just play basketball. We will watch the film on what we’ve been doing and just trust each other like we did the first four or five games. We were into all of those five games, and we were playing the right way defensively helping each other and offensively taking easier shots instead of forcing tough ones.”
WIZARDS GUARD NICK YOUNG:
On the game:…
“It’s frustrating because we are not playing at the level that we should be right now. We need to do a better job of executing the game plan. We will go back to the drawing board and continue to focus on what Coach says and play good team basketball.”
On the Clippers:
“They are a playoff team. They are very athletic and have great veteran leadership. We can learn a great deal from this experience tonight.”