Wizards struggle down the stretch in loss at Oklahoma City

The Wizards played the Oklahoma City Thunder even for 44 minutes last night. The final four minutes showed Washington still is learning how to play big in big games. The players admitted they basically gave the game away.

The biggest giveaway was with under a minute to go. They trailed by 3 and had possession after a Thunder missed shot. There was plenty of time to take a 2-point shot closer to the basket. Point guard John Wall was indecisive about what he wanted to do.

It appeared he was waiting for Marcin Gortat to post up against OKC's Kevin Durant. Gortat had decent enough position and was much stronger. For some reason, Gortat couldn't fight his way to an open area.

Wall panicked and threw a soft cross court pass which was stolen by Russel Westbrook. The pass was intended for backcourt mate Bradley Beal. Westbrook grabbed the ball and raced down court toward the other basket. Somehow, Wall blocked Westbrook's layup attempt from behind without fouling. Unfortunately, nobody from the Wizards came back to rebound the ball. Oklahoma City picked up the ball and Westbrook scored to put the Thunder up by five points. That was the game, for all intents and purposes. Washington eventually lost by seven but it seemed closer.

Their offense late in the game exposed some fatal flaws. When they don't pass the ball around to open teammates, they struggle. Too often, the Wiz took many forced shots. Andre Miller grabbed a Thunder missed shot and dribbled down the right sideline. He was stopped from going toward the basket as the Thunder stayed still on defense and took a long shot falling away from the basket. Later on, Wall took an ill-advised three-point shot with no teammates near him or the basket for an offensive rebound. Even the three-point basket by Bradley Beal was a little unorthodox. Wall dribbled from the Thunder basket all the way to the Wizards basket and almost under the rim. He was close enough to shoot a 2-foot basket but decided not to. Beal isn't not at fault either. He didn't hustle downcourt to help Wall out on Westbrook's steal and game-changing basket.

It was a terrible loss in a completely different way than against Dallas on Tuesday. In that game, they didn't play well after the first 12 minutes. In Oklahoma City, the Wizards played superbly for almost all of the game, except the last few minutes. What makes it even worse? Tonight (Saturday), they take on the defending NBA champion Spurs in San Antonio, a place they haven't won in for the past 18 games going back nearly a decade.