There's a new starting lineup (for tonight, at least) in Washington. Nick Young and JaVale McGee will start on the bench, while Jordan Crawford and Kevin Seraphin take their place in the starting lineup.
Young and McGee were benched in Tuesday night's loss to Milwaukee, a decision that showed head coach Randy Wittman is serious about disciplining undisciplined play. The move also resulted in a big surge for the Wizards, who stormed back into what was at the time a blowout, and came up one box-out short of a win against the Bucks.
Apparently, that was enough for Wittman to make the switch on Wednesday.
"i found a group of guys last night that went out in the second half and battled their tails off to put us in a position to win," Wittman said before the game. "That's why i went with them down the stretch."
So how did the benched players react to the move?
"I talked to [McGee] today. He's fine," Wittman said. "I said, 'Last night's game's over with. I need you to do what you can do. That's how we got to approach it. Everybody has their ups and downs. learning experiences are a valuable lesson in how you're going to digest it.'"
OK, last night was last night, as Wittman repeated, but apparently the lesson will extend at least one more game.
"Every game is a learning experience," Wittman said. "That's what last night was. We can't look in the past. We now have to look forward to what we're going to do here tonight."
Keep up with this game on our Magic vs. Wizards StoryStream and get more great fan perspective at Bullets Forever.