Slow Start Dooms Wizards vs. Cavs

The Washington Wizards were ice cold to start their game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Jeremy Brener | 8 Hours Ago

Dec 3, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Caris LeVert (3) brings the ball up court against Washington Wizards guard Johnny Davis (1) during the second half at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images / Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

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Washington Wizards

The Washington Wizards are starting off December like they did in November with a 118-87 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night inside RocketMortgage Fieldhouse.

The Wizards started off flat, building a 15-point deficit in the first quarter that the team could never erase. The Wizards continuously fell behind, leading to the 31-point loss.

Wizards coach Brian Keefe spoke about the team's slow start and why it led to the loss.

“They came out and hit us in the mouth um and it took us a while to fight back,” Keefe said postgame. “I thought we fought back at the start of the second quarter. They had about five points for the first five minutes but we couldn't really overcome that first quarter. We got to bring it the whole game.”

Keefe's statements were echoed by rookie point guard Bub Carrington, who challenged his teammates to start the game with a little more effort.

“We didn't start the game well as a team,” Carrington said. “People that were on the court and us that were on the bench — we weren't having a lot of energy. They didn't have a lot of energy so overall that's not going to help any basketball game. And in this league, everybody's too good to have slow starts like that. It's going to be hard to fight back so we dug ourselves a hole that we could get out of.”

The loss marked the 15th straight for the Wizards, one shy of the franchise-worst, which was set in the middle of last season. This has been a common theme for the Wizards during this losing streak, but the only way out of it is to approach the next game with a good amount of energy to try and snap out of the skid.

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Published 8 Hours Ago

JEREMY BRENER

Jeremy Brener is an editor, writer and social media manager for several Fan Nation websites. His work has also been featured in 247 Sports and SB Nation as a writer and podcaster. Brener has been with Fan Nation since 2021. Brener grew up in Houston, going to Astros, Rockets and Texans games as a kid. He moved to Orlando in 2016 to go to college and pursue a degree. He hosts "The Dream Take" podcast covering the Rockets, which has produced over 350 episodes since March 2020. Brener graduated in May 2020 from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism minoring in Sport Business Management. While at UCF, Brener worked for the school's newspaper NSM.today and "Hitting the Field," a student-run sports talk show and network. He was the executive producer for "Hitting the Field" from 2019-20. During his professional career, Brener has covered a number of major sporting events including the Pro Bowl, March Madness and several NBA and NFL games. As a fan, Brener has been to the 2005 World Series, 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 NCAA National Championship between the Villanova Wildcats and North Carolina Tar Heels. Now, Brener still resides in the Central Florida area and enjoys writing, watching TV, hanging out with friends and going to the gym. Brener can be followed on Twitter @JeremyBrener. For more inquiries, please email jeremybrenerchs@gmail.com.