The Washington Wizards’ roster played their hearts out on Saturday night when they beat the Houston Rockets in thrilling fashion to pay tribute to Coach Randy Wittman’s older brother, Rick, who passed away, unexpectedly, earlier that day. While Randy Wittman fought through an emotional day on Saturday to stay with the team and coach, he will be taking a leave of absence that started tonight against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Assistant Don Newman will take over the lead responsibilities over the two game span.
Things were certainly a shootout to start, but then just turned into Oklahoma City making it rain much longer than Washington sustained. Getting down as many as 15 points early in the second quarter put up an impossible obstacle for the Wizards, who simply showed little defensive presence. In less than three quarters of work, Russell Westbrook had himself a triple-double and each of Kevin Durant’s 28 points were daggers to the hearts of all DC sports fans. Getting outrebounded 53-27 over the course of the game was the only stat anybody who did not watch the miserable game needed to know. By the end of the agony, Washington got set to return home following a 114-98 thumping.