|
WASHINGTON -- Maybe this is simply the week in the nation's capital when brutally honest, high-profile coaches publicly hold their franchise players accountable for mistakes. With the city still reeling from Jay Gruden's sharp criticism of Robert Griffin III earlier this week amid the Washington Redskins' prolonged NFL struggles, Wizards coach Randy Wittman refused to mince words in delivering a message to his NBA team and its marquee player about competitive maturity. "John Wall is never going to play, in his career, a perfect game," Wittman said of the All-Star point guard. "He's going to have a screw-up somewhere. How you handle a screw-up is more what I'm concerned about. I understand this is a game of mistakes and who makes the least of them, who moves on from them. And that's where I'm trying to get into." Wittman's comments came as the Wizards prepared for Friday's visit from LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on the heels of several costly mistakes midway through Wednesday's setback against Dallas that ultimately led to Washington's first home loss of the season. The larger point Wittman was attempting to make is that if the Wizards want to prove they belong among the teams expected to contend for a championship, there's absolutely no time for anyone to feel sorry for themselves in the midst of games against playoff-caliber opponents. Wall's breakout play through the first month of the season is largely the reason Washington (7-3) had gotten off to the franchise's best start in 40 years. But roughly two consecutive minutes of miscues and sulking that bridged the end of the first half and the start of the second on Wednesday were also the reason the Wizards got off track and were forced to rally from a double-figure deficit. On the surface, it might be difficult to find much fault in Wall's performance. Despite shooting 5-of-17 from the field with three turnovers, he finished with 11 points, 11 assists, six rebounds, two blocks and two steals in 35 minutes. But Wall and the Wizards are being held to higher standards this season as they look to build on last season's run to the second round of the playoffs. So Wittman nitpicks out of necessity. It's a symptom of growing pains. "Against good teams, you can't let your -- we got hijacked by our emotions in a negative way, because we made a bad play," Wittman said. "[Then, it's] put my head down, compounded it with multiple mistakes or multiple minutes of bad play because of our emotions. "All of a sudden you're down one and then you're down 10. But you don't have that two-minute period of that, you're not digging yourself out of as big a hole as you are. That's the difference between winning and losing against good teams." The first miscue in that stretch came when Wall fouled Monta Ellis in transition with 2.5 seconds left in the half, which resulted in two free throws that gave Dallas a 54-53 lead at the break. The next set of blunders came in the opening minute of the third quarter, when Wall committed two turnovers that contributed to a 9-0 run that pushed the Mavericks' lead to double figures. Wall took responsibility for his mistakes immediately after Wednesday's game, even before Wittman addressed the team's need for more maturity in those situations after Thursday's practice. "I put my head down and my teammates were telling me to keep going," Wall said of sulking after bad plays. "Next time, we have to go on and move to the next play because those good teams are not waiting for you to fix your mistakes. We have to do a better job of that." Few may notice nationally, but Wittman is often as blunt as San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich when analyzing his team. And also much like Popovich, Wittman doesn't shy away from holding his best players accountable and using them as examples for corrective purposes. Friday's game against the Cavaliers (5-5) offers a quick turnaround for the Wizards, who have another chance to test their resolve in what's expected to be a playoff atmosphere at the Verizon Center. The Wizards didn't even attempt to downplay the significance of this stretch of two games in three days. If the loss to Dallas proved how miniscule the margin for error is against elite-level teams, the matchup with Cleveland presents Washington another chance to measure its progress early in the season. Wizards guard Bradley Beal, who returned from wrist surgery to score 21 points in his season debut Wednesday, said the team had to find a balance between reviewing Wednesday's mistakes but not harping on them so long that they might linger into Friday's game.  "[Wittman] didn't heckle on it too much, but he brought it up, brought it to our attention, saying we need to move onto the next play," Beal said. "It comes with growth. But we have to realize we're never going to play a perfect game. Nobody. You're going to miss shots. You're going to turn the ball over. You're going to foul, make silly mistakes. But it's how you retaliate to it." The term 'retaliate' was an interesting word choice for Beal considering the drama that has played out between the Wizards and Cavaliers. James characterized the matchup as one of the few true rivalries he sees in the league because the teams met three consecutive seasons during his first stint with Cleveland, which ended with his departure in free agency to Miami in 2010. None of the current Wizards were with the team during those previous heated postseason encounters. But a fresh batch of acrimony surfaced during training camp when Wall and Beal exchanged barbs with Cleveland's Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters over which team had the best young backcourt in the league. "It's not just me and John versus Kyrie and Dion. It's the Wizards versus the Cavs," Beal said. "And that's the way it's going to be. That's the way we're going to approach it. We don't know how they're going to approach it, and we really don't care." And then there's the decade-long history of run-ins between James and Wizards forward Paul Pierce. "We don't like teams that like to be like us, really good," Wizards center Marcin Gortat said. "It's just business. I have a few friends on [that] team. I hang out with a few of those guys in the offseason. But I'm going to try to whoop their butts. And that's it. We're not going to talk about friendships. We're not going to come in, shake hands and hug. We're just going to go at each other, try to prove you're better." For Wittman, the Wizards simply need to prove they're better than they were two nights ago. Incremental maturation should be his team's primary motivation. "You want to put your best foot forward every night, not because you're playing on a national stage or you're playing against Cleveland," Wittman said. "We've got to get to that point if we want to grow. There shouldn't be any more onus on this game. You don't get two wins for doing this. I want them to think that way every night."
|
