Washington Wizards: 5 keys for the home stretch of the regular season

3. Spread the wealth

The Washington Wizards are more than just John Wall and Bradley Beal. After all, their starting lineup combined for 90 of their 115 total points on Thursday night. It looks good from an overall standpoint, but a deeper look into the fourth quarter gives a better perspective on why the Wizards lost.

Wall and Beal were a combined 2-for-10 from the floor in the fourth quarter. Otto Porter and Marcin Gortat attempted just one shot each in the final frame. Wall finished with just one assist and five shot attempts despite leading by eight after three quarters.

As the floor general, keeping the flow on offense and spreading the wealth is more vital at this juncture in the season than getting a bit shot happy. Call it nerves or call it court rust, but what Wall has to realize is he can either make the game simple or difficult based on the speed at which he plays.

It is very hard to get a return on a $106.5 million investment when they get one shot attempt in the fourth quarter. Now, I’m not completely ignoring the fact that Wall and Beal finished with 22 assists in the game. That’s all fine and good when you get a victory. When you lose though, it simply means adjustments need to be made. In this case “everybody eats” needs to extend beyond Washington’s top two scorers, that’s all.