Having already defeated the Brooklyn Nets twice, albeit not with James Harden, the Washington Wizards were going to come with their best effort so a competitive matchup was unsurprising. Despite a 20-6 lead to start the game, Washington eventually succumbed to the Nets, 113-106, despite pulling to within one with three minutes to play. In just 11 minutes off the bench, Deni Avdija did not score and missed both of his shot attempts in a team-worst -18 in +/- differential.

Washington’s offense can be one of the best in the NBA when they are able to get a shot attempt up on every possession. When they have 19 turnovers that turn into 27 Brooklyn points, they are simply shooting themselves in the foot. Russell Westbrook had eight turnovers, while Bradley Beal had six while facing multiple double teams as well as box-and-one coverages. Scott Brooks attributed some of the turnover issues to less spacing without Davis Bertans to which Westbrook simply said, “it doesn’t” when asked if that was the case.

Blake Griffin's first bucket with the Nets naturally a dunk pic.twitter.com/6khE8fLTXc

— Hoop District (@Hoop_District) March 22, 2021

Both Brooks and Westbrook alluded to the Wizards’ second unit not coming prepared with the needed mindset in the game. Besides Robin Lopez, Raul Neto, Deni Avdija, and Isaac Bonga combined for just two points on 1-for-7 shooting. Brooklyn had their way offensively attributing to Washington’s -47 from their bench in a combined 63 minutes. Avdija played just three minutes in the second half out of necessity to give the heavily worked starters a breather. There will be minutes up for grabs to Avdija with Bertans sidelined approximately two weeks with a calf strain, but Brooks has shown that they will not be given if not warranted in his mind.

“Our bench did not come into the game and lock into the game plan,” Scott Brooks said. “We don’t have a lot of room for error, guys are out, we need everybody to be in. We can’t daydream when you come into the game. I thought that second unit did not play the way they’re capable of playing. [Bertans] is not playing, but that’s no excuse. You still got to be mentally into the game. You’re not going to make every shot, you’re not going to read every play, but you got to be into the game, mentally. It’s the easiest thing to do, to play hard and be into the game mentally.”

Wizards love to overthink end of game situations pic.twitter.com/efqrB5bVE9

— Hoop District (@Hoop_District) March 22, 2021

“We just need all guys to be ready, it’s as simple as that,” Russell Westbrook stated alluding to his teammates off the bench. “We put ourselves in a position to win the game, just need everybody on the team ready to go.”

Washington will hope to get back in the win column against the Knicks who they will play back-to-back on Tuesday and Thursday to finish their New York road trip.