Washington Wizards Struggling to Get Home Crowd Support

In addition to being an atrocious basketball team, the Washington Wizards have had to deal with a increasingly antagonistic fan base. The WaPo asks the players and coaches for their take on the ugly situation: “The supposed comforts of home are often absent when the Wizards take the court at Verizon Center, where fans can purchase tickets on the black market for the price of a call from a pay phone, Andray Blatche gets booed every time he touches the ball, and large crowds only come out to support the opposing team. […] ‘We’ve played enough games, we know what the crowd is going to be,’ rookie forward Chris Singleton said. ‘Seems like they are against us the first three quarters and they’re on our side for the fourth. I guess that’s how Washington is.’ With a 4-11 home record and several dreadful displays of basketball, the Wizards haven’t exactly allowed the locals to cozy up to them. But it doesn’t make it any easier to deal with. ‘That’s tough,’ Coach Randy Wittman said. ‘That’s our job to play to have those guys on our side. Everybody that pays a ticket has a right to root for who they want. But obviously, at home, you want the fans on your side. We’re going to get to that and it’s going to be that way some day.’ That day hasn’t arrived. […] ‘Most of the time when teams come inside, we’re battling to get the crowd on our side. So, we make it a good game, the crowd start to turn over and come to our side,’ [John] Wall said. ‘When you got a crowd on your side, playing against these type of teams, it helps motivate you. You get more energy and more life to do certain things. We got to do it even when the crowd might now be on our side that day.'”