Brooks rips Wizards after loss to Hawks: 'We're a selfish basketball team'

We're a long way from "everybody eats."

The Washington Wizards, lauded a few short weeks ago for their newfound energy, selflessness, and zippy passing, have since gone into a mystifying tailspin. They've lost eight of their last 10 games, with four of those losses coming to lottery teams in the Knicks, Pistons, Bulls, and, most recently, the Hawks.

The Wizards were on the second night of a back-to-back on Friday after a gutting loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but head coach Scott Brooks didn't consider that an excuse for coming out completely flat against the team with the worst record in the Eastern Conference. After their 103-97 loss to Atlanta, Brooks shredded the Wizards for their lack of effort, unity, and trust.

"If you don't pass to your teammates, you're not going to end up getting good shots," Brooks told reporters after the game. "If we're gonna talk about doing things, we gotta do it with our actions. We gotta guard somebody. Our perimeter defense is porous; it's embarrassing when you get beat by backdoor after backdoor.

"Selfish basketball is no fun to coach, it's no fun to play, and it's no fun to watch. And we're a selfish basketball team right now."

Washington was playing without point guard John Wall, but Wall's just a week removed from his return after a knee injury, and it was without him that the Wizards unearthed their new pass-happy identity to begin with.

"You can't just say 'John's not here, and all of a sudden we're gonna be one-on-one players,'" Brooks said. "John's not here, John's here, doesn't matter. We've still gotta play the right way."

The Wizards clinched a playoff spot last week, but the recent swoon has dropped them from fifth in the East to eighth. Brooks is less miffed about the losses themselves and more by the way those losses have occurred.

"It's not an embarrassing loss to Atlanta, with their guys out," he said. "It's embarrassing that we don't play with the passion that we need to play (with)."

The Wizards will have three long days off to chew on that challenge before closing the regular season with a back-to-back against two teams - the banged-up Boston Celtics (who are locked into the 2-seed) and the moribund Orlando Magic - who have nothing to play for.