Washington Wizards head coach Randy Wittman has developed a habit of calling his players “soft” through the media, but unlike center Marcin Gortat, guard Bradley Beal is in agreement with Wittman’s assessment.
Beal was torched by James Harden to the tune of 42 points Wednesday night, in the visiting Houston Rockets’ 109-103 loss.
The 22-year-old says his whole squad needs to toughen up on the defensive end.
Per the WaPo:
“We need to be a more physical team, we need to be tougher, and we need to play harder. We score a lot of points, that’s not our issue, it’s just a matter of us defending. We have to get back to our defensive principles,” Beal said Thursday at practice, a day after his counterpart, Rockets shooting guard James Harden, scored 42 points to lead Houston to a 109-103 win at Verizon Center.
It was the second time in two weeks, that Beal’s inability to keep up with his superstar matchup played a large part in a disappointing home loss. A week earlier a vintage-form Kobe Bryant bullied Beal and turned in a season-high 31 points in the Los Angeles Lakers’ win at Verizon Center. […] Wizards Coach Randy Wittman said after the loss to the Rockets that his team plays “too soft” at home and used the same word to single out Beal, who also committed seven turnovers to outweigh his 15 points. After the game John Wall disputed Wittman’s description and instead cited a lack of urgency against the Rockets.
Thursday, Beal said of Wittman: “He’s right. Turnovers are bad either way, if you have one or if you have seven, a turnover’s a turnover. No matter what, that comes from not being aggressive with the ball, and not being aggressive is quote- soft. So, you can’t argue.”
