Player of the Game - Wizards at Raptors (12/1)

[miller31time]

I voted for Jamison, who I think was the obvious choice. I thought Haywood played good defense and hit the boards pretty well, but how anyone could vote for him as POTG [apart from the chronic anti-Jamison bias of many on this board] defies comprehension. Haywood had to be taken out of the game at the end because he was a menace to the team on the free throw line.

The best coaching move of the game, by far, was Saunders removing Haywood at the end and replacing him with Blatche, who promptly grabbed an offensive rebound, got fouled on the shot and hit both free throws to seal the win. Based on the first 47 minutes of the game, there is no way Haywood hits those shots. Think about it: The best coaching move of the game was to take Haywood out. How then can Haywood be the game MVP? It's absurd. He played good defense, got some nice points and hit the boards well, but he couldn't be trusted to be on the court in absolute crunch time. Seems like a game MVP would be on the court in crunch time.

Jamison led the team in scoring and rebounding...again. Easy pick.

I agree. You can't overlook how good Haywood was on defense and with his offensive rebounding but the fact is Jamison had a monster game and carried us all game while Haywood's horrid ft shooting made him a liability down the stretch.

I guess the counter is that Shaq was at times kept out of the final minutes of games due to Haywood-esque free throw shooting but also being the best and most dominant player on the floor, but while Haywood was good, he was no prime O'Neal.

[jerold182]

what will happen to foye? will he be traded? does boykins have the one year contract signed already for good?

[fishercob]

I voted for Jamison, who I think was the obvious choice. I thought Haywood played good defense and hit the boards pretty well, but how anyone could vote for him as POTG [apart from the chronic anti-Jamison bias of many on this board] defies comprehension. Haywood had to be taken out of the game at the end because he was a menace to the team on the free throw line.

The best coaching move of the game, by far, was Saunders removing Haywood at the end and replacing him with Blatche, who promptly grabbed an offensive rebound, got fouled on the shot and hit both free throws to seal the win. Based on the first 47 minutes of the game, there is no way Haywood hits those shots. Think about it: The best coaching move of the game was to take Haywood out. How then can Haywood be the game MVP? It's absurd. He played good defense, got some nice points and hit the boards well, but he couldn't be trusted to be on the court in absolute crunch time. Seems like a game MVP would be on the court in crunch time.

Jamison led the team in scoring and rebounding...again. Easy pick.

Spence, you know I love you, but this is one of the rare cases in which you're wrong.

I'm not going to discredit Jamison's contributions, as they were obviously critical. You point out Flip's subbing Haywood out for a better FT shooter late in the game; were it not for Brendan's heroics up to that point, such a substitution would have been academic.

Yes, he struggled mightily from the line, but let's not confuse that with bad offense. He had 15 points on 70% shooting! He had seven offensive rebounds (and he's leading the league at 4.5 per game). Add three blocks, two steals, and elite defense against Bosh -- the unquestioned leader and star of a top-3 offense -- plus leading the Wiz in +/-, and it defies comprehension that anyone would vote against him for POTG

I don't buy you're crunch time argument either because it's both incomplete and flawed. Firstly, Haywood was indeed on the floor for the critical defensive possessions, he only came out when Toronto was fouling in attempt to extend the game. But more importantly, the 48th minute of the game is no more important than the first, 18th or 23rd. The points all count the same. Haywood was undoubtedly POTG.

The defense rests (for now).

[GhostsOfGil]

aj
gil
wood

[queridiculo]

For me it was between Haywood and Jamison. I used the free throw shooting as tie-breaker.

Man this team is awful from the charity stripe this season.

[GilArenas88]

1. Jamison- As much as I wanted to go with Haywood, I just couldn't. Antawn has been great so far this season. 30 and 12 is nothing to look past. I love how he's having a great balance of post and perimeter game this season, its keeping defenders on there feet.

2. Haywood- He's been fantastic as well this season, what a great defensive player he is. Man played one of the hardest big man matchups in the league, and for all intentive purposes shut him down whenever he was on him. Had he not gone 1-8 from the line, although Jamisons 4-8 weren't much better, I probably would have chosen him number one. Same sympathese as fishercob, Haywood must be re-signed.

3. Arenas- Again as mentioned not a great defensive game, but he came up big with a 9/1 ast/to ratio, 12 fourth quarter points, and something I think many have overlooked was he made all his free throws. All his made free throws were crucial cosidering the margin of victory and with Jamison/Haywoods 5/16 performance from the line. We need him to regain his form from the line.

[W. Unseld]

Spence, think Shaq back when he was dominant but couldn't hit free throws. He still had some mvp games. With that said, I can't really vote against AJ either.

[wermolwermol777]

Frankly I had no idea that Jamison returning would mean him returning as a freaking all-star every game. I don't even want to think about what we'd be like without him.
Captain for president!

Haywood was great also, but damn...1/8 is just horrible.