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WASHINGTON -- After the Washington Wizards lost for the fifth time in six games under new coach Scott Brooks, shooting guard Bradley Beal stood in the home locker room and spoke in hushed tones, trying to wrap his head around whats gone wrong so far.We dont want to be 1-5 right now. Everybodys frustrated. Everybodys mad, Beal said. At the end of the day, we all got to look at ourselves in the mirror individually first, before we start pointing fingers. Just try to figure out how we can get better. We all got to play better individually, one through 15.The problems are adding up already for a club that made two consecutive trips to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs before going 41-41 and missing out last season, costing Brooks predecessor, Randy Wittman, his job.A .500 record would sound great at this point; only the Philadelphia 76ers, at 0-6, are worse in the East. Heading into Wednesdays game against the visiting Boston Celtics -- and things dont get any easier after that, with LeBron James and the reigning champion Cleveland Cavaliers in town on Friday -- the Wizards are among the leagues poorest defensive teams, and theyre not scoring all that much, either.Hardly an ideal combination. And Brooks thinks theres a connection, because when his players arent putting the ball in the basket, he senses that they lose the will to keep opponents from racking up points.That happens, and thats not a good trait for a basketball team. You cant ride the roller coaster of making shots, because if you have a great night, youre (still) going to miss half your shots. And in order to have a great defensive night, you cant have that dictate your defensive intensity, your defensive disposition, Brooks said Monday night after Washingtons 114-106 loss to James Harden and the Houston Rockets.The Wizards allowed the Rockets to make 52 percent of their field-goal attempts, including 46 percent of their 3-pointers.Were not going to pitch a no-hitter, Brooks added. When they made a couple shots, we got down, and weve got to correct that.The type of stretch hes talking about came against Houston in the second quarter, when Washington missed 10 shots in a row during a 16-0 run for the visitor.Afterward, an irritated-sounding Brooks criticized his players for not putting forth maximum defensive effort for a games full 48 minutes, saying: Weve talked about it enough. Now we have to do it.It echoed Wittmans frequent lament about his teams defense, and the numbers are pretty stark this season.Washington is tied for the worst opponent 3-point shooting percentage in the 30-club NBA at 39.5, and ranks second-worst in overall shooting-percentage defense at 46.7. The Wizards are giving up 105.5 points per game.All-Star point guard John Wall, who broke Hall of Famer Wes Unselds franchise record for career assists before getting ejected in the final minute Monday, conceded that Brooks is correct. He pointed to problems in transition defense, in particular, and allowing open tries on 3s.We just have lapses, Wall said. When we turn the ball over or take bad shots, we have lapses where we dont get back.Part of the bigger-picture problem is that Washington is not able to overcome its defensive woes with its offense: Its one of only nine teams in the league averaging under 100 points (98.7) and ranks 27th in 3-point shooting percentage (29.4).Its adding up to loss after loss for a club that began the season expecting a return to the playoffs.We know theres a lot of games left, Wall said, but you cant keep falling back any further.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich Lakers Jerseys China . Houston won 3-0 to advance to face New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Last in the game, Di Vaio and Romero got into a shoving match with several Houston players. Romero appeared to elbow and kick Houston defender Kofi Sarkodie. Lakers Jerseys 2020 . - The Oakland Raiders re-signed offensive lineman Khalif Barnes on Friday. https://www.lakersjerseycheap.com/ . -- The Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake played to a 0-0 tie Saturday night that left the top of the Western Conference standings unchanged. Los Angeles Lakers Store . Meanwhile, there were huge victories for Sunderland and West Ham over fellow relegation rivals, leaving the battle to avoid the drop up for grabs with the bottom 11 teams separated by just six points. Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres scored second-half goals to seal a fourth straight victory for Chelsea, which climbed above Arsenal and Manchester City in the standings ahead of their games on Monday and Sunday respectively. Los Angeles Lakers Shirts . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. METAIRIE, La. -- Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro takes little consolation from how close three of New Orleans four losses have been.Hes not ready to throw in the towel on the season. But he wants teammates to demand better of themselves and not get caught putting a positive spin on things by saying they could have won those close games if just a few plays had turned out differently.Nobody blows anybody out anymore. Every team that lost is answering questions, `Well, these three plays, Vaccaro said. You cant have those three plays if you want to win. The good teams eliminate those penalties and eliminate those mistakes.The Saints lost their first game by one point after a defensive pass-interference call on a fourth-down play allowed Oakland to continue a late drive that ended with a touchdown and bold 2-point conversion for the win.New Orleans lost its second game on a last-second field goal by the Giants, whose only touchdown came on the return of a blocked Saints field goal attempt.And on Sunday, an interception for a touchdown on Drew Brees deflected pass, the recovery of Saints running back Mark Ingrams fumble inside the Kansas City 10-yard line and defensive tackle Nick Fairleys late personal foul away from the ball all helped sink the Saints in a 6-point loss.Its three games where theres really been pivotal times where we had the opportunity to win, veteran safety Roman Harper said. Were just finding ways to lose games. ... These things will continue to happen if we dont accept the fact that we have to change.Fortunately for the Saints, they play in the NFC South, a division in which no team has pulled away. Atlanta has dropped two straight to fall to 4-3 and Tampa Bay has won two straight but sits at 3-3. Carolina is 1-5. So the Saints (2-4) are 1+ games off the division lead with 10 to play, starting against Seattle in the Superdome on Sunday.After starting 0-3, New Orleans appeared to have righted itself with victories over San Diego and Carolina.Trustt me.dddddddddddd Everybody in this city was ready to jump on the bandwagon if wed have won three straight, Harper said. Talents not an issue for this team. I think thats the most frustrating part, is that were a really good team. It doesnt always look like it on paper, but performance-wise and some of the things that were doing are what really good teams do.For the most part, New Orleans offense has looked elite. If not for his somewhat fluky interception, Brees would have had a stellar statistical line, completing 77 percent of his passes for 367 yards and three touchdowns. Meanwhile, coach Sean Payton said he thought New Orleans defense played one of its better games in Kansas City. Yet that units task became harder because of two Saints turnovers -- one resulting in a Chiefs TD, while the other almost certainly prevented New Orleans from scoring.One on hand, Payton wants to maintain a positive, optimistic vibe in the locker room. But the coach also said he found it disturbing that his team gave itself a chance to win a third straight game on Sunday, only to squander it with pivotal mistakes.You have to be brutally honest with your team, Payton said. Our margin for error is different with this team. We are going to play in these close games. Youre going to bat .500 if youre making the same type of mistakes.Game notes Starting CB Delvin Breaux, who fractured his fibula in the regular-season opener, said he went through individual cornerback drills on the field Monday and came away encouraged. I feel amazing, Breaux said, but stopped short of forecasting when hed return to the lineup. Its up to the trainers and the coaches, and of course, me. Were just being patient, taking it one day at a time and working. We should be out there soon.---Online:AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '