It isn’t so much that the Wizards have yet to win a game this season. It’s that the losses seem to get more and more heartbreaking each and every time.
Washington fell to 0-11 on Saturday, after taking Charlotte to double-overtime before eventually losing by a final of 108-106.
Even though the Wizards were typically brutal in this one -- turning the ball over 20 times, shooting 36.6 percent, and trailing by double digits in the second half -- they had their chances to win, and legitimate ones at that.
At the end of regulation, Martell Webster headed to the free throw line with the Wizards trailing by one and 17 seconds remaining. He made the first to tie things at 92, but missed the second. That could have been disaster had the Bobcats secured the rebound, but it landed in the hands of Chris Singleton instead.
With 15 seconds remaining and possession, Jordan Crawford dribbled down the clock, before pulling up for a good look at a 21-footer that wasn’t all that close. If you’ve watched the Wizards at all, you just knew that wasn’t the way the team was going to secure its first win of the season.
So we go to the first overtime, where Washington had their chance to win handed to them by the officials, quite literally. But they simply couldn’t take advantage.
The Wizards trailed by two with 1.3 seconds remaining, and called timeout to advance the ball after a made free throw from Byron Mullens. Chris Singleton launched a long three from the wing with 0.4 remaining, and it appeared that he missed and the game had ended -- except the closest referee ruled that Singleton was fouled, and gave him three free throw attempts and essentially an unguarded chance to score the points necessary to put Washington in the win column for the first time this season.
But it wasn’t meant to be. Singleton made the first, missed the second, and made the third to send it to the second overtime session, where the Bobcats made sure that the Wizards had run out of chances.
Having the chance to win a game at the free throw line and not coming through can be pretty frustrating for a team without a win yet this season, but for this Wizards team, it’s just par for the course.
After the way they lost their last time out in Atlanta -- with Martell Webster’s potentially game-winning putback being waived off right at the buzzer -- they may be starting to believe that anything that puts them on the wrong side of victory is possible.
