The boos started sometime in the second quarter and got uncomfortably louder, with the Wizards eventually hearing them again as they walked off the floor down 29 at halftime to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night.

It was part of a 44-20 second quarter that featured embarrassing defense by the Wizards and sloppy turnovers. The Thunder were outrageously hot, just to pile it on. There was a little fight in the third quarter, with the Wizards winning it 35-31, but it was too little, too late as Oklahoma City finished off a 134-111 victory to drop Washington to 1-7.cheap nfl nike jerseys china

“I’m not hitting the panic button. I’m not hitting it, and I don’t think we are either as a team,” Wizards guard Bradley Beal said. “We understand it’s still early, it’s not perfect. We understand patience is running low from everybody, from ourselves. Nobody is more disappointed than us. I’m definitely going to say that.”

The defensive indifference was jarring at times, highlighted in the Thunder’s opening possession of the second half as the Wizards disregarded Terrance Ferguson in the right corner. He splashed from 3 to put Oklahoma City up 32.

“Offense has never been a problem for us,” point guard John Wall said. “We score the ball very well. It’s just what can we do on the defensive end. Until we figure that out, we’re going to have these same problems.”cheap nike nfl jersey

In his Wizards debut, Dwight Howard was a bright spot, scoring 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting in 23 minutes. Beal finished with 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting and tried to spark the Wizards in the third quarter, hitting a pull-up 3 and clapping and encouraging his teammates.

It didn’t work. The Thunder re-established their lead, and Russell Westbrook, Steven Adams and Paul George sat the entire fourth quarter.

“I’ll never give up on this team,” Beal said. “What are we going to do about it? Just fold up early in the year and give up on the year or fight back and try to compete like we know we’re capable of doing? And I refuse to let the ship sink, so as one of the captains on the team, I put a lot of responsibility on my shoulders. I’ve got to be better leadership-wise on the floor, giving more, leading by example, and hopefully guys will follow.”