Detroit @ Washington 1/2/2008

[MJG]

It's one hell of an indictment to point out Les Wiz have not won against a team with a winning record since Dec. 1.

How many teams with a winning record have we played since December 1st? One? Two?

[dobrojim]

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He had a hamstring issue, could have played but wanted to rest it. In the chat yesterday (I think is where I read it) Ivan suggests DS9 has been playing injured since early on which is why he's been settling for jumpers not playing underneath where coach has asked him to play.

I thought I heard achilles which could be worse (more chronic).

hope he heals (heels) soon.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

This is a tough loss to diagnose.

It would be easy to say we got buzz-sawed by the hottest team in the East, what with Detroit's 10-0 run, and arguably the best team in the NBA right now. They're firing on all... [ahem]... pistons. And I'm not sure having Gil would have mattered. This team is en fuego.

But I think EJ's postgame comments were spot on. It's a test when you come up against a championship caliber team, and his team didn't rise up to the occasion. Our bench fizzled out, delivering 8 points on 1-10 shooting (compare to 33 pts from the Detroit pine). Our stars put up nice games, but neither Caron or AJ took it to another level, which is definitely what we needed tonight.

It's one hell of an indictment to point out Les Wiz have not won against a team with a winning record since Dec. 1.

The truth hurts.

Yet, the mitigating circumstance is the Wizards were 6-1 the seven games before AD got hurt. That they played nobody tough is reflective of the schedule. Fact is, the Wizards were crushing those teams by over 10 per game during that stretch. Then, concurrent with playing slightly tougher teams AD got hurt. He came back (sharp I might add) against Detroit, but that roster change affected the rotation of the bench.

As far as the loss, I'm not down at all and agree as well with EJ. The Wizards didn't rise up and the bench disappointed.

What nate, the voice of reason said post game is also spot on. All things considered the difference between Detroit and Washington yesterday wasn't THAT vast. Between made threes, made TOUGH SHOTS, and a bunch of bad calls the Wizards were right back to down 10 points before that Maxiell hammer throw down at the end of the third. Until then, it was still a ball game. And despite the great play of the Pistons it ended up only a 13 point loss on a night when Young and Blatche sucked majorly.

By the end of this season, when these two teams meet again it won't go down the same way if Pecherov, Arenas, and possibly even Etan are all healthy.

Right now, the Wizards are just a team trying to stay in the playoff hunt, trying to stay at or above .500, and trying to heal up by season's end.

So far so good.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

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He had a hamstring issue, could have played but wanted to rest it. In the chat yesterday (I think is where I read it) Ivan suggests DS9 has been playing injured since early on which is why he's been settling for jumpers not playing underneath where coach has asked him to play.

That explains a whole bunch, if true. Dude could play last season once his back healed up. Offensively, last season DS9 as you call him was on his game. This season, having a tender hammy would shed a whole lot of light on him lacking explosive movements and being even more floorbound than normal.

Speaking of playing hurt, I'm wondering if maybe Andray's not gimpy, too. It's as if he's playing in slo mo and is stuck to the ground also.

[hands11]

The EJ haters have the find a new angle; he played Brendan big minutes and played Blatche alongside him early.

So because EJ finally did the right thing once he should get a pass on his entire coaching career?

I'm glad he played Haywood extended minute. I'm also glad he played BH and AB together but if you want that line up to work against the the hottest team in the league, you might want to invest more the 10 minutes in that line up the previous 29 games this year. That doesn't even touch how little he played them together all of last year and the boat he missed in last years playoffs.

Not playing Songaila was another positive sign but again, it was only for one game.

Without going back and watching the game uninterrupted, it looks like he lined them up well to win. We just needed someone else to step up. We needed more from DS, Mason, NY and Blatche.

So Nahh. I don't think I need to find another angle just yet. One game doesn't erase the past.

[ZonkertheBrainless]

I have a bad suspicion ab is playing hung over. I hope that's not true, but it's what it looks like.

[hands11]

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That explains a whole bunch, if true. Dude could play last season once his back healed up. Offensively, last season DS9 as you call him was on his game. This season, having a tender hammy would shed a whole lot of light on him lacking explosive movements and being even more floorbound than normal.

Speaking of playing hurt, I'm wondering if maybe Andray's not gimpy, too. It's as if he's playing in slo mo and is stuck to the ground also.

Well, I know he has been playing with a hurt hand - well finger(s).

AB is long and pretty quick but doesn't have amazing leaps. It would be awesome if he worked on that in the off-season. He needs to increase his vertical. It can be done if you work on it.

[daSwami]

can't this just be the game thread?

[LyricalRico]

[closg00]

How'd you dig this up?