Game Thread: WAS vs PHI - 12/22/09

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

What's done is done.

Jamison can now privately ask for a trade. He can man up off and on the court. Off the court, I believe since he's vocal criticizing young guys when they mess up, maybe he should have comment on his reaction. Leaders have to set a standard and live up to it. On the court, he can do is what Caron did.

Caron responded selfishly in the past when he was benched; but apparently, he's received the memo that it's about the team. He cheered the subs and has, as you mentioned, DRH, been humbled. Caron's in step, and Jamison should follow.

The Captain needs to show some humility and realize he's making 11Mil and blessed with good health to play a sport for a more than good living. Check the ego and see the bigger picture.

Might be time for him to go to a better team, any way. Or, he could be the sixth man for years and years like Reggie Miller was. I dunno.

[LyricalRico]

Caron responded selfishly in the past when he was benched; but apparently, he's received the memo that it's about the team. He cheered the subs and has, as you mentioned, DRH, been humbled. Caron's in step, and Jamison should follow.

It's possible Caron sees the writing on the wall that they are going to make some changes and he's feeling the heat but wants to stay. OTOH, Jamison might think that he's still safe even though Abe's gone.

Either way, if they're gonna try Jamison at 6th man, now is the time to do it. Chances are he fights it and that will further pave Jamison's way out of town. If the mainstream fans start seeing him as a grumpy vet who needs to move on, it'll make it a lot easier to send him to Cleveland.

[bulletproof_32]

A man sitting in front of me at the game had a pad of paper with NBA logo on it, graphed with columns to record referees' calls. Each call that was made (and maybe some missed calls too) he wrote down the ref, the time, maybe the players involved, and some narration. I saw one column that had only the letter C in it, and wondered whether that stood for "correct." I heard him talking a little about missed calls. I meant to ask him what it was all about, but didn't want to bother him unless there was a clear break, and I never got around to it. Anyone ever encounter this?

Also, did the Wizards switch ends of the court tonight?

I really wondered about some calls last night. I think it
was Kevin Fehr? that made a couple of very 'interesting'
calls.

Yes the Wiz did switch ends last night. I always wondered
how those things were decided. I assume the home team
gets to decide which end of the basket they start shooting
at. Not sure why the Wiz would change it every so often.
I seemed to remember a couple other games this season
when they did this too.

Re: switching ends of the court -

My understanding is that the team that comes out of the locker room first chooses the side of the court that they'll warm up at (which determines the basket they'll shoot at in the first half). I'm away for the Holidays so I didn't attend/ see the game to confirm who was first out of the gate, but when I saw the highlights I noticed the same thing. I think most coaches prefer to be closest to the basket their defending during the 2nd half in order to shout out instructions so it typically works out that the Wiz always shoot at the basket closest to their bench in the first half.

With that said, I've noticed that when we play the Jazz at the VC that we almost always "switch ends of the court" (remember Gil's game winner a few years back?). I've always thought Sloan did that on purposes to try to throw the opponent out of their comfort zone a bit at home. Not sure if EJ was trying to do the same thing or if it was just a coincidence (maybe he's just completely punted defense and prefers to bark out offensive instructions during crunch time ).

[montestewart]

It's possible Caron sees the writing on the wall that they are going to make some changes and he's feeling the head but wants to stay. OTOH, Jamison might think that he's still safe even though Abe's gone.

Maybe Jamison sees the writing on the wall -- team playing far below expectations and he's had three sub-par games in a row, is still showing signs of his injury, and he's the oldest starter -- and maybe his failing is in responding to his own personal adversity.

I'm not agreeing with the move, but I could see Saunders thinking that 1) Jamison was taking it the worst and needed to be pulled back into the team concept; and 2) Boykins and Young scored almost all the 2nd unit points in the 3rd, so bringing Jamison back in was justified not as an appeasement but as a move to bolster offense. It didn't work and his defense was horrible, but it might have, and the starters as a group walked over the Sixers in the 4th.