The Washington Wizards are coming off a miserable, disgusting, putrid, insert any bad word you’d like, loss against the Boston Celtics. After beating the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, the Wizards were supposed to have the necessary momentum to get another road win on Friday. Noooope.

Washington continued to turn the ball over and their defense, was, well, not good.

At one point, the Wizards were down by 30 points and allowed the Celtics to score 40 in the first quarter. That won’t get the job done.

Thankfully, it’s an 82-game season and we experience memory loss almost immediately following the final buzzer. Throughout the course of an 82-game season, teams are going to take some bad losses — it’s quite inevitable.

The Wizards will have a chance to redeem themselves tonight against the Atlanta Hawks at 7:30pm EST.

Here’s what they need to do to secure another “w”:

Value every single possession

Turnovers were an issue during preseason and they’re still an issue for the Washington Wizards.

Right now, the Wizards are turning the ball over more than 18 times per game. They’re second in turnovers, tied with the Philadelphia 76ers. Whenever you’re tied with the 76ers in anything, you know it’s an issue.

Last night in Boston, the Wizards turned the ball over 24 times. The Celtics had 18 steals. Even though Boston was hitting virtually everything they threw up, turning the ball over at such a high rate makes it virtually impossible to complete a comeback.

The Hawks are sitting atop the Eastern Conference, once again, with a 6-1 record. If you thought Boston did a good job of executing on the extra opportunities, just imagine how excited the Hawks will be when they see the ball get coughed up.

It’s time to start valuing every possession.

Stepping out of bounds occasionally or throwing it out won’t kill the Washington Wizards — it’s the in-game turnovers that cause fastbreak opportunities that derail everything. The pace-and-space offense should work, but it won’t be effective if the Wizards continue turning the ball over like this.

Rotate and contest shots like you mean it

The Hawks are third in assists per game this season. They move the ball ridiculously well. It’s no secret that Coach Mike Budenholzer has implemented a Spursian offense in Atlanta, and for Washington to have any type of success on the road against the East’s best, they have to rotate and contest.

For the most part, Washington did a solid job of rotating and contesting shots against the Spurs. They have to do the same tonight against Atlanta.

The Hawks lost DeMarre Carroll to the free agent market this past summer, but they still have arguably the best pure three point shooter in the league in Kyle Korver. The likes of Tim Hardaway Jr., Kent Bazemore, Jeff Teague and even their big men are capable of lighting it up from deep too.

If the Washington Wizards are slow to contest shots or don’t rotate well, they’re going to pay the price. The Hawks are everything the Wizards aspire to be on the offensive end of the floor.

They’ve been doing this “pace-and-space” thing a lot longer. Play defense — that’s what put you in the position to beat Atlanta in the semifinals, Washington.

Make life difficult for Al Horford

This is a lot easier said than done, but the Washington Wizards have proven that they’re capable of defending good bigs this season — just take a look at how well they guarded LaMarcus Aldridge and Tim Duncan.

For whatever reason, Washington’s front court takes plays off defensively. That’s no bueno. You can’t get up for the Aldridges of the world and then get lit up by Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk.

Marcin Gortat and Kris Humphries have to start committing themselves defensively. I’m aware that not everyone on the roster will play like John Wall and Bradley Beal, but man, at least have some self-respect on D. Getting bullied by Sullinger play after play after play is preeeetty embarrassing.

Al Horford is another one of those players that’s capable of scoring inside, facing up and from the perimeter. I never want to see Nene guard him again after the playoff debacle, but he might be the best option. Gortat looks slow-footed at times and it’s not helping Washington’s chances.

Horford is the best center in the East and he’s going to hit some tough shots, but you can live with those. Giving up open looks is unacceptable, though. Gortat and whoever ends up guarding Horford has to limit the amount of space he gets.

We’ve already forgotten that yesterday happened. Let’s just move on and worry about tonight’s game, because getting a win against the East’s best would be wonderful. Let’s think wonderful thoughts and let the negative pixels from last night disappear into the abyss.