With 5:47 remaining, the Washington Wizards were poised for their third win. Then they didn’t score another point.
When rookie Bilal Coulibaly scored with 7:25 remaining, it gave Washington a 106-90 lead. But it would be the last made basket by the Wizards.
Kyle Kuzma made one of two free throws with 5:47 left, and Washington never scored again on the way to an 111-107 defeat.
Kuzma was a big reason for Monday’s collapse. He ran into the backcourt to encourage his coaches to challenge an out-of-bounds call that went Toronto’s way, but the Raptors simply inbounded the ball and scored easily playing five-on-four.
While Kuzma scored 34 points, he also had six turnovers, including two in the final 6.1 seconds. Jordan Poole wasn’t much better down the stretch, missing all three of his shots and committing two fouls in the final minutes.
After the last miss, Pascal Siakam came down and hit the go-ahead basket, giving him 39 points on the night.
It’s the third game in a row that Washington has blown a late lead. Sunday in Brooklyn, the Wizards had a five-point lead with 4:08 remaining, before the Nets outscored them 15-2 the rest of the way. Friday, Washington led by double-digits early in the fourth quarter before losing 124-117.
The good news is that the Wizards are taking big leads late in games. The bad news is that they’re losing those leads in embarrassing fashion. They’re showing they’ve earned their 2-8 record.
