Youthful Wizards struggle to keep up with Lakers in final tuneup before NBA restart
Washington’s youth was again on display in its third and final exhibition game Monday in Kissimmee, Fla. The Wizards lost to the Los Angeles Lakers’ skeleton crew, 123-116, looking every bit their age with less than a week before the regular season resumes against Phoenix on Friday.
After a pair of solid, highly competitive exhibition losses in which the Wizards earned credit from Coach Scott Brooks despite the outcome, Washington was a beat behind on defense from the start Monday and struggled to keep pace with the up-tempo Lakers. Los Angeles kept its heavy hitters sidelined, resting LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard — Kyle Kuzma also didn’t play because of a slightly sprained ankle — but no matter. Seasoned guards J.R. Smith (20 points) and Dion Waiters (18 points) stepped up to take the youngsters to school.
“We had a quickness struggle tonight,” Brooks said. “Whether they weren’t ready to start the game — I told them after the game, we’ve been great for almost three weeks. Tonight, we didn’t get better. . . . We’ve got to be ready to compete every minute we’re on the floor. I don’t think we did that tonight. Luckily for us, it was the last game of our exhibition season, but that’s no excuse. We’ve still got to bring it every time on the floor. We were just a step behind on everything.”
Guard Troy Brown Jr. returned to the starting lineup after a thumb sprain kept him out of the Wizards’ loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday but brought little of the spark that made him shine in the team’s first exhibition last week. He made just 5 of 14 shot attempts, while another recent standout, forward Isaac Bonga, faded as well, making just 2 of 5.
Forward Rui Hachimura continued to be Washington’s most consistent scoring option and led the team with 19 points and three rebounds. Guard Jerome Robinson picked up some slack and scored 18 points to go with four rebounds.
The team’s two veteran point guards, starter Shabazz Napier (16 points) and Ish Smith (12 points), rounded out the offense.
On defense, the Wizards’ season-long struggles cropped up again. The Wizards didn’t necessarily look lost in their schemes, they simply lagged and couldn’t contain players when they did get set — something Brown attributed to effort.
“Just in general, us coming out today our intensity wasn’t very high,” Brown said. “That’s on us, especially me.”
The Lakers shot 49.4 percent from the field and 46.4 percent from three-point range, while Washington shot 46.1 percent from the field and 29.4 percent from deep. Without Bertans and Beal, the Wizards finished all three exhibitions shooting below 30 percent from beyond the arc.
That outcome wasn’t a surprise to Brooks. He said the solution rests in better — and faster — decision-making and generally better spacing. But as the coach continues to teach his young players in Florida, the thing that has to appear in every game above almost all else is a level of intensity the Wizards were missing Monday.
“You’re not going to win every night,” Brooks said. “Obviously we have a lot of players that have not a lot of experience, but that has nothing to do [with it]. We didn’t play with the passion, the commitment, to outwork our opponent like we have been. . . . Even the last two scrimmages that we’ve lost, we competed in [them]. We didn’t do that tonight.”
