Player of the Game - 4/2/09

[miller31time]

Here are your nominees from tonight's win against the Cleveland Cavaliers....


Gilbert Arenas - 11pts (3-11) / 6rebs / 10ast / 1blk / 0 to's / 33mins / +5


Caron Butler - 25pts (7-16) / 2rebs / 4asts / 1stl / 40mins / +14


Antawn Jamison - 19pts (9-19) / 5rebs / 3ast / 1stl / 32mins / +3


Brendan Haywood - 12pts (5-9) / 10rebs / 1ast / 1stl / 32mins / +13


Darius Songaila - 17pts (6-8) / 6rebs / 0asts / 1stl / 1blk / 24mins / +1


Dominic McGuire - 7pts (3-4) / 10rebs / 5asts / 3stls / 35mins / +7

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The Rules

Here's the deal - after each win, we'll have a player of the game thread. You post the top 3 performers (1st place, 2nd place and 3rd place). The top-3 vote-getters will receive points...

1st place = 3pts
2nd place = 2pts
3rd place = 1pt

At the end of the season, I'll tally up the point totals and put it into a thread. We should have a good idea of who was the most valuable player, at least according to Wizards fans.

The poll winner is for posterity only. It has no affect on the recorded winner. If you want your vote to count, post the top-3 performers.

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Player of the Game from 3-25-09 (CHA vs. WAS)



23pts (10-15) / 2reb / 2asts / 1stl / 1blk / 25mins / +0

1st place = Young (42)
2nd place = Jamison (23)
3rd place = James (20)

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Current Status

Jamison (285) - 6 wins
Butler (166) - 2 wins
Blatche (143) - 2 wins
McGuire (123) - 1 win
Young (73) - 1 win
McGee (56) - 2 wins
James (47)
Songaila (38) - 1 win
Dixon (29)
Crittenton (25) - 1 win
Stevenson (20) - 1 win

[no D in Hibachi]

1- Arenas- As Joe Gibbs would say, "He played super smart." 10 assists no TO's. Where are the haters now?
2- Haywood- Nice to have a solid force in the middle to improve the defense.
3- Young- I know this a little surprise, but he played solid defense and came up with some key buckets.

[WizBiz]

1. Songaila
2. Haywood
3. Arenas/Butler (can't decide)

[nate33]

This is really a tough call. It was such a team effort that nobody really stands out. Arenas deserves credit for an excellent floor game: 10 assists and 0 turnovers with at least 3 backbreaker outlet passes. DMac had a nice all around game and was key on the glass. Haywood was dominant in the paint in the first three quarters but disappeared in the 4th. Jamison was Jamison. Butler probably has the best stat line of the night. DSong was a monster in the 4th quarter to clinch the game.

I think I'll give it to Butler. He put up good numbers while making Lebron work at both ends of the floor. Second place is DSong because of the timing of his contribution. Third is Arenas.

1. Butler
2. Songaila
3. Arenas

[DaRealHibachi]

Gil...

Him on the floor creates so many opportunities for the others, and can go wrong with an 11 point, 10 ast 2x 2x...

Haywood...

His defense is what we sorely missed this season... No easy buckets inside when he was manning it... Also had a 12 pts, 10 rbs double double...

Dsong

Clutch as a mofo, big time hustler in the 4th... 17 pts in 24 mins... very nice for The Song...


So yeah...

1. Hibachi
2. Big Wood
3. The Song


Honorable Mentions...

Butler, Blatche, Young, McGuire, Jamison... Hell, the whole damn team did well, even Tankscott did well with his rotations...

[Donkey McDonkerton]

Darius for sure.
Gil
Butler

[miller31time]

This really is one of the hardest POTG threads I've voted in. There were so many factors to this win and each of the candidates (and one guy I left off - Young) made a big difference and were absolutely vital tonight.

But since I have to condense it to three....

1. Darius Songaila - Such an impressive performance. Hustle, smart play, big shots, defining plays

2. Brendan Haywood - Well, well, well....look what we have here. A defensive and rebounding performance, close to the team-lead in +/-.

3. Gilbert Arenas - May not have shot the ball well but don't be fooled - he controlled the tempo of this game and had a well-rounded game (and a few strong defensive possessions).

[Wizards2Lottery]

Songaila willed this team to victory. We were ready to start the tank job.

[keynote]

I'll give it to Song. He may be a subpar starting C, but he's a fairly good backup PF.

[hands11]

Another tough one. Several players did things in an outstanding way to help us win.

I call it a team win.

But for the tally.

1-CB - I had a feeling he would lead them and he did. Good Pts and Good D.
2-The Song - He gave so much effort and just does more with less then most players in the league.
3-Haywood - His shutting down Z and gobbling board was awesome. We have a center on the floor.

But Gil was also awesome with 10 assist. I love it.
DMac grabbed a ton of boards and dished 5 assists.
Nick played another solid game.
AJ toughed it out
Blatche - Im amazed to not see much in his stat line. He didnt play a lot but was solid when he did.
McGee even gave an effective 5 minutes.

Everyone contributed. How else are you going to be the team with the best record.

[doclinkin]

1. Haywood snuffed the Cavs interior offense like euthanasia. LeBron avoided the paint all night unless Big Wood was out the way.
2. Gilbert calmed the team down, directed the offense, exploited the weakness of their plodding huge front court goliaths by firing the outlet break to our forwards on every missed basket (forced by Haywood).
3. I've never seen the Gentleman Jamison throw the rock down with such immoderate unbridled violence. Kinda like it...

But DSong was key. Butler was key. Dmac was key. Nick Young played better than usual. And Mike James did everything I ever wanted of him.

[20MexicanosIn1Van]

I'll give it to Song. He may be a subpar starting C, but he's a fairly good backup PF.

Yes.

A smart contending team (i.e Spurs) would utilize him very efficiently. He's a good player in the right role for him.

[DaRealHibachi]

1. Haywood snuffed the Cavs interior offense like euthanasia. LeBron avoided the paint all night unless Big Wood was out the way.
2. Gilbert calmed the team down, directed the offense, exploited the weakness of their plodding huge front court goliaths by firing the outlet break to our forwards on every missed basket (forced by Haywood).
3. I've never seen the Gentleman Jamison throw the rock down with such immoderate unbridled violence. Kinda like it...

But DSong was key. Butler was key. Dmac was key. Nick Young played better than usual. And Mike James did everything I ever wanted of him.

Awesomeness...

[doclinkin]

Thenk yew.

Let me also say Wally Scrotalsak deserves an honorable mention. That guy is sucktastic.

[fishercob]

1. Haywood
2. Songaila
3. McGuire

[MJG]

Most of us are not fans of Tap, but how about the rare thumbs up to him for giving Haywood 32 minutes? Don't think we would've seen that under EJ.

[hands11]

Most of us are not fans of Tap, but how about the rare thumbs up to him for giving Haywood 32 minutes? Don't think we would've seen that under EJ.

Thats kind of the amazing thing. Look at the minutes across the board.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=290402027

We won against the team with the best record and

GA only had 11 pts and played 33 minutes.
AJ only 34 minutes.
Only CB got up there with 39 minutes.

If you pulled CB back, you gain 5 minutes for other players.
AB could have used a few more then 12 but that's it.

There weren't even extra minutes for Crit if he was healthy enough to play.

And if that is true, I see no minutes open for DS or James if healthy. I'd rather have Crit or NY taking those.

So we do have enough talent to play everyone 34 mins or less and still win against the top teams.

Tapps did a great job and like I said over and over. Be fair and judge what he does when he has something to work with. He never had Haywood or anything close to him at center all year. DSong was our best center and he doesn't rebound well as a center.

How many people think EJ would have done these line ups and rotations?

This team never got down this year. He gets credit for that also.

And.... Nick seems keeps playing this new smarter ball.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Most of us are not fans of Tap, but how about the rare thumbs up to him for giving Haywood 32 minutes? Don't think we would've seen that under EJ.

+1

Tapscott coached his butt off tonight. Went big when Brown went small. Rested Haywood. Played Gil a bit more than 32. Gave Jamison a ton of rest and EVEN benched him at clutch time in favor of Darius. Really used the bench well.

Best coaching I've seen him do since his first or second game as head coach.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

doc, my play of the game was the hammer dunk by Jamison. That was nice to see.

I voted Darius for POTG just because he took over when the game was tied.

Caron was great all game. Haywood was terrific til he gassed a bit in the fourth. Gilbert played as smart a game as you could hope to see. He even started to drive and get to the line after listening during halftime to Barkley trash him for "not playing".

Really could have had any of three or four players get POTG. McGuire, Young, Jamison, and Blatche--even McGee, all had solid games.

[toughjuice03]

1. Haywood
2. Songaila
3. Arenas

Haywood had a nice double as did Arenas but D-Song was efficient tonite and came through when we needed him.