Washington Wizards: 3 takeaways from preseason loss against Heat

2. Is it too early to worry about the defense?

Make no mistake about it, while the bench cost the team the game in the end, overall the defense was not great. All of the Wizards starters saw upward of 20 minutes in the game, but the defense was soft on the outside and lacked an enforcer down low.

Otto Porter Jr. led the starting five in rebounds with seven on the game. Marcin Gortat and Jason Smith combined for a total of just five rebounds. However, it is hard to complain about Jason Smith when he led the team in scoring with 20 points on 7-for-8 shooting and going 4-for-5 from beyond the arc.

The most troubling matter on the other hand is even the backcourt grabbed more boards than Smith and Gortat, as Bradley Beal and John Wall had eight total rebounds on the night. While the Wizards outnumbered the Heat as a team in this category 46-40, it is still going to become a bigger issue down the line.

The Washington Wizards also refused to defend the 3-ball with any type of purpose, allowing Miami to pull up and fire at will at a very effective 16-for-40 shooting (40 percent) from downtown on the evening.

This was as about an off night as you can get from this absolute mismatch on paper.