That the Washington Wizards had a shot to win Game 2 in Boston at the end of regulation was due to three key things. First, Isaiah Thomas played a game for the ages. Second, John Wall was brilliant for three quarters, until he ran out of gas (they asked him to guard Isaiah Thomas on one end and carry the offense on the other).
Third was Markieff Morris, who felt like the emotional leader of the team trying to rally the troops.
Playing on a severely sprained ankle, Morris had 16 points, six rebounds, one blocked shot, and one toss of Al Horford into the front row. On a night a lot of the Wizards players seemed dazed and confused, Morris brought it. Hard. And after the game, he was frustrated more guys didn’t bring that same passion, as he told J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com.
“We’re not playing tough enough. We had the advantage late in the game and all we had to do is play tough. We didn’t have to make shots. We didn’t have to get stops. All we had to do is play tough,” said Morris… “We let them get offensive rebounds late in the game. Guys just walking to the basket and we’re worrying about our own personal (expletive). It’s about the team. It’s about winning. We didn’t care about that too much tonight. We let them back in the game and got to regroup and get the next one.”
He’s right. Toughness can be rephrased as passion or commitment or a host of other things, but whatever you want to call it there wasn’t enough of it from Washington Tuesday night.
Washington is down 2-0 to Boston, but the Wizards are not out of this. They are heading home, where maybe they get more out of Bradley Beal and the bench, both of which were awful Tuesday. The Wizards also need to try to exploit Thomas on defense more, they only do it for stretches. Washington could win both games at home and even this series.
Washington could win both games at home and even this series. They just need to play more like Morris to do it.
