There’s no way around it. Andrew Wiggins lost the game for the Golden State Warriors tonight.
Stephen Curry gave the Warriors a three point lead with about 20 seconds left in the game. The Washington Wizards took the ball up and took a three to tie the game and Russell Westbrook missed badly. Now many will wonder why Steve Kerr didn’t foul and play the free throw line.
The reason being is Westbrook only shoots 32.1 perecent from three so the likelihood of it getting made was small. Unfortunately the Warriors were not able to get the rebound and the ball wound up in the hands of Bradley Beal who had a good look and got fouled by Wiggins in the process. He made the three and made the ensuing free throw to put the Wizards up one.
Golden State did get an opportunity to take the lead, yet Damian Lee inexplicably got the ball and instead of at least trying to draw a foul he looked to pass and ended up throwing the ball away. Two free throws by Beal sealed the win for Washington.
Even with the four point play blame also goes to Wiggins who with a little under three-and-a-half minutes to play missed two free throws. He splits those free throws, it’s a tie game and the Warriors are playing for the win.
Wiggins is getting paid over $29.5 million this year and he went 1-4 from the free throw line and for the season he sits at 69 percent. That’s unacceptable.
Overall Wiggins has failed to impress most Warriors fans. His defense for the most part has been good. What’s frustrating is the lack of consistent offense from him. The sad part is that he’s going to set a career-high in field goal percentage and three-point percentage, yet is taking the lowest amounts of shots per game since his rookie season in 2014-2015.
His 18 points per game average is the third worst of his career. There’s also nothing more frustrating to find Wiggins on the floor without Curry and he doesn’t become the focal point of the Warriors offense.
Also noteworthy in the past two games in the first half his offense has been non-existent and he has barely looked to score. Wiggins is a definite problem for the Warriors and it’s time for Kerr to light a fire under him.