A hot start and cold finish summarizes the Washington Wizards’ 98-85 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats this past Wednesday night at the Verizon Center. Although the score may indicate a game easily won by the Bobcats, the two teams rallied back and forth within six points up until the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
All-star Wizards’ point guard John Wall came out with a hot-hand, scoring 12 points in the first quarter and finishing with 23 while the other four starters for Washington totaled only 37 points on 15-for-42 shooting. Washington shooting guard Bradley Beal had 18 of those points.
It wasn’t until Wall’s questionable foul against Charlotte’s point guard Kemba Walker happened for a three point conversion that everything started unfolding. And from there, the cookies crumbled quickly.
On Walker’s second free-throw attempt, Wizard’s head coach Randy Wittman’s apparent displeasure with the call earned him a technical foul. Walker buried the last four attempts, increasing the Bobcats’ three point lead to seven points, 87-80. Still, Wizards fans didn’t start dispersing until about 3:45 seconds remaining, when the Bobcats increased the gap to 10 points with a score of 90-80.
Even Wall himself “hit a wall” in the fourth quarter. He went scoreless during the final 12 minutes of the game and the entire Washington squad was unable to convert a field goal for almost four minutes, giving the Bobcats an 11-0 run.
On Charlotte’s offense, center Al Jefferson had 26 points, Walker had 16 points and shooting guard Gerald Henderson had 13 points in his first return to the starting lineup after missing five games due to a calf injury.
The Bobcat’s small forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and shooting guard Chris Douglas-Roberts both contributed 10 points. Douglas-Roberts’ point came from the bench after being taken from the starting lineup upon Henderson’s return.
With this loss and the Brooklyn Nets’ win over the Miami Heat, the two teams trade spots, pushing the Wizards to No. six in the Eastern Conference, still making them contingents for a playoff seed.
The Bobcats are right below at No. Seven and seem to be on a roll, winning their last four of five games.
The Wizards and Bobcats will meet again twice more — March 31 and April 9 — intensifying an already potent rivalry, and giving both teams a little pre-playoff taste. Charlotte has not seen the playoffs since 2010, while Washington’s visit to the post-season dates back a little farther — to 2008.
Games like Wednesday’s are opportunities that the Wizards must clinch in order to stay on the radar for a post-season berth. With only 18 games left to play — half of them on the road — all chances at home should be capitalized on… although Wall and Wittman may beg to differ after some of Wednesday night’s calls.
Wizards head to Orlando on Friday on their quest to playoffs one game at a time.