A few days off has probably cooled Randy Wittman down some, but whether anything changes with his team's defense remains uncertain.
Washington's next chance to clean up the root of their coach's distress comes Saturday night against the visiting Orlando Magic, who the Wizards have had no trouble shutting down lately.
Tuesday's 125-101 home loss to Oklahoma City was Washington's third straight defeat, offering up little in the way of defensive resistance each time, and Wittman had a point to make in his postgame news conference after his team dropped to 3-4.
"We don't defend. Guys drive by us at will. We don't have any toughness. We don't hit anybody and rebound the ball. We've got guys that play 27 minutes and get one defensive rebound," Wittman said. "I can get a rebound, I guarantee you. If you give me 27 minutes on a Saturday, I'll get you a rebound. And that's what it boils down to - 50-50 balls; the dirty stuff.
"We don't get dirty. And that's on me. We've got three days to find the guys that'll play that way."
Since their season-opening win, the Wizards have given up an average of 114.3 points per game, so defense was the main topic in this week's practices. The players are about as disgusted.
"You score 100 points in this league, you think you can win those games," John Wall said. "But if you're giving up almost 130, you have no chance."
During the losing streak, the Wizards - whose foundation for success during playoff runs the last two seasons was their defense - are giving up 119.0 points per game.
"If we're not communicating and talking out there, there's going to be breakdowns, and that's when we're giving teams uncontested layups," Wall said. "We're just giving guys easy freedom to run and flow anything they want to on offense."
The Thunder scored 37 points in the first quarter and 68 in the first half. They made 51.2 percent of their field-goal attempts, including 65.2 percent on 3-pointers (15 of 23). They outrebounded the Wizards 53-41, including 43-29 at the defensive end.
"We're just too soft of a team right now. I might as well stick four guards and a center out there and play, because we're getting beat on the boards with my supposed big men out there," Wittman said. "We let teams take it to us the last three games."
None of his starters had more than five rebounds Tuesday, when shooting guard Bradley Beal sat out with a sore left shoulder and backup forward Nene was sidelined by a bad back. Only one of Oklahoma City's starters had fewer than six rebounds.
Washington center Marcin Gortat was the one whose specific stats Wittman mocked: 27 minutes, one defensive rebound.
"It's definitely my fault. I've got to take the blame," Gortat said. "It's my part of the game, where I have to rebound and take that challenge. I've got no explanation. I just wasn't in a good position."
Washington has won the last nine meetings with the Magic while limiting them to 91.1 points per game.
The Magic (5-5) are seeking a third straight win after Friday's 102-93 home victory over Utah. They've won four of five while limiting opponents to 94.6 points and 42.3 percent from the field. Orlando jumped out to a 33-15 lead after the first quarter, then allowed the Jazz to make things interesting.
"It shouldn't be that hard to sustain how we started," said Evan Fournier, who scored a game-high 21. "We have to play the same way for 48 minutes."
Victor Oladipo sat out with a concussion sustained Wednesday.
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