Golden State at Washington Game Thread 3/4 7pm et.

[Tyrone Messby]

Blatche is terrible. Pathetic game overall. This city makes me sad in sports.

[Higga]

Meh, Mack was a 2nd round pick which is like the equivalent of a 6th-7th rounder in the NFL. If they can even crack your rotation it's a good pick. 99% of them are out of the league in a few years if not 10th man.

I still like Singleton as a defender, but he's not a starter in this league. At best he'll be a solid 7th-8th guy you have come off the bench to stop the other team's best perimeter guy.

Vesley though...seriously how did we get the one European guy who can't shoot?

[BanndNDC]

Mack is what he is. That being said he is (as sad as this fact is) the best back up point (depending on how you classify antonio daniels) we've had since steve blake (7 freaking years ago). he is a reasonably decent 5th guard on a decent team. unfortunately we are not a decent team. ive never been high on him but im not going to pile on tonight because frankly my expectations for him are pretty low (and unlike EFG dont consider "toughness" to be the primary metric for drafting backup points).

but speaking of mack one play kind of stands out for me tonight and really makes me wonder what the hell their pick n roll instructions are. towards the end of the 1st quarter (maybe a minute left) GSW ran a pick and roll. the wizards defenders were vesely and mack. vesely showed on the pick and then mack cut him off on the roll part leading to an easy bucket for GSW. ves was then pulled by whitman (for wall) indicating he was at fault but to my untrained eye (and not knowing what they were supposed to do) it was mack's fault for cutting ves off (thereby setting a "friendly" pick). are they being told to switch? did ves take too flat of an angle back to his man? did mack make the bad angle? i dont know. but i do know that it was the type of play that should not have happened on any sort of "team". decent communication alone should have prevented the keystone defenders routine regardless of what they're supposed to do.

[doclinkin]

Guys....JonathanJoseph said Mack was a better point guard than Wall earlier in the season. If you don't accept that Mack is the future and Wall is fools gold, you're an idiot.

Ok. We get it.

People liked him when Wall was playing pretty poorly. What would you expect. People look for the silver lining. Specially early in the season.

Not a big deal.

Way to hide from your own "Wall sucks, Vesely is the real franchise player" stance.

Take your lumps, admit you were hasty and made a poor read of the situation, otherwise you'll just have to run along in the dust behind the bandwagon when it really gets rolling. You can't on the one hand bring up how you always said this that and the other, then duck and wave away what you always said back when you were dead wrong.

[old rem]

Blatche is terrible. Pathetic game overall. This city makes me sad in sports.

Blatche hardly played. Aside from Booker...I was thinking...WTF? Are those guys over-sedated or what?

The Warriors only managed 75 against Toronto......you seriously need some D...and less chucking.

And..Veseley? Not sure why he got picked so high.

[miller31time]

Uh, actually Nick must have paid attention to EFJ for something because that's what EFJ would say all the time. "Gotta tip your cap to them, they were hot and hit shots."

Now see, I actually remember EFJ's pressers. Hell, that's why I don't watch them anymore.

"You've got to tip your cap to them"

"They hit shots and we didn't"

"The (other team) was awful hot tonight"

Really liked the guy as a person and he seemed like a genuinely good person but damnit if his post-game press conferences didn't make me want to chuck something at the television.

[tontoz]

Guys....JonathanJoseph said Mack was a better point guard than Wall earlier in the season. If you don't accept that Mack is the future and Wall is fools gold, you're an idiot.

Ok. We get it.

People liked him when Wall was playing pretty poorly. What would you expect. People look for the silver lining. Specially early in the season.

Not a big deal.

JJ was saying just last week that Mack ran the half court offense better than Wall. I wouldn't be surprised if he keeps saying it the rest of the season.

[hands11]

Mack is what he is. That being said he is (as sad as this fact is) the best back up point (depending on how you classify antonio daniels) we've had since steve blake (7 freaking years ago). he is a reasonably decent 5th guard on a decent team. unfortunately we are not a decent team. ive never been high on him but im not going to pile on tonight because frankly my expectations for him are pretty low (and unlike EFG dont consider "toughness" to be the primary metric for drafting backup points).

but speaking of mack one play kind of stands out for me tonight and really makes me wonder what the hell their pick n roll instructions are. towards the end of the 1st quarter (maybe a minute left) GSW ran a pick and roll. the wizards defenders were vesely and mack. vesely showed on the pick and then mack cut him off on the roll part leading to an easy bucket for GSW. ves was then pulled by whitman (for wall) indicating he was at fault but to my untrained eye (and not knowing what they were supposed to do) it was mack's fault for cutting ves off (thereby setting a "friendly" pick). are they being told to switch? did ves take too flat of an angle back to his man? did mack make the bad angle? i dont know. but i do know that it was the type of play that should not have happened on any sort of "team". decent communication alone should have prevented the keystone defenders routine regardless of what they're supposed to do.

From what I know about it, I am not expert, there are 4 basic options for defending it and that changes depending on who is running it. There isnt a set way to defend it. It depends on if the ball handler running the P&R and the pick setter can shoot and or handle to ball well.


As for Doc. I said Wall was playing bad back when he was. He wasn't just playing bad, he was playing stupid and forcing way to much for way to many games. I also said when I thought the light went on which was back after the Boston game. Then it went off again. But under Randy he seems more steady and finding his J has really helped his game. I like the way he has been playing recently which is more like a PG instead of McGee.

I did say I would rather have had Kyrie. I dont see that as something to take my lumps over. Kyrie is really good.

[Nivek]

I'd suggest not overreacting to Mack's performance yesterday. He's played decently for a backup, and he should be fine as a 2nd or 3rd PG for the next few seasons.

Don't remember who suggested Crawford as the backup PG, but...no. He's a shooter, not a PG.

[dlts20]

I'd suggest not overreacting to Mack's performance yesterday. He's played decently for a backup, and he should be fine as a 2nd or 3rd PG for the next few seasons.

Don't remember who suggested Crawford as the backup PG, but...no. He's a shooter, not a PG.

IDK if I agree with you on JC. You might be right but its worth a try. He was decent at it last year. He sucked trying to run the point this year which is why Mack played in the 1st place but at that time he just sucked anyways. He sucked at the 2 which is why he was benched for NY.

I think he would play better there now and it may be a blessing because it may make him tone down his jacking ability. He said earlier in the year that at the point he doesnt look for his shot nearly as much. Even if he did shoot, its not like Wall or Gil didnt score and its not like we dont need scoring. We espically need it at times in the 2nd unit. Weve run alot of Mack, Mason, Evans, JV, & Seraphin lately. You need another scorer out there

[hands11]

I'd suggest not overreacting to Mack's performance yesterday. He's played decently for a backup, and he should be fine as a 2nd or 3rd PG for the next few seasons.

Don't remember who suggested Crawford as the backup PG, but...no. He's a shooter, not a PG.

IDK if I agree with you on JC. You might be right but its worth a try. He was decent at it last year. He sucked trying to run the point this year which is why Mack played in the 1st place but at that time he just sucked anyways. He sucked at the 2 which is why he was benched for NY.

I think he would play better there now and it may be a blessing because it may make him tone down his jacking ability. He said earlier in the year that at the point he doesnt look for his shot nearly as much. Even if he did shoot, its not like Wall or Gil didnt score and its not like we dont need scoring. We espically need it at times in the 2nd unit. Weve run alot of Mack, Mason, Evans, JV, & Seraphin lately. You need another scorer out there

Probably the biggest problem with this team and it is why Dray, Nick, Crawford and McGee have all tried to do to much at one point or another. Even Wall was trying to do to much earlier in the year. They lack scoring options so players are trying to be THE MAN and show they can be that #2 or even #1. Well, the team has made progress with Wall finding his J. At least that is getting established. He is not longer afraid to shot. Actually, he is looking for his shot more. That is a 180.

If they had established 2nd options, then other players could fall in line better. Right now, the best chance for them to have that is probably Crawford so I don't mind him taking shots. I put him just above Mo and Booker but not by to much. After that, Singleton, Mason then McGee and Dray.

I would use Nick only in case of emergency. Bring him in when you are down 20 so he might light it up and get you back in the game if to many of those other players don't have it going.

[7-Day Dray]

One step closer to Anthony Davis.

[doclinkin]

As for Doc. I said Wall was playing bad back when he was.

I did say I would rather have had Kyrie. I dont see that as something to take my lumps over. Kyrie is really good.

No what you did say was that you thought ultimately Vesely would be more of a franchise player than Wall. That Wall just didn't have 'it'. Really? You're trying to weasel out of it now? It's okay to be wrong, and loud wrong, but when you're clearly proven wrong, dude, man up about it and you'll get more respect. The "I Was Dead Wrong" thread waits to see if you have the juevos to admit the truth whenever you're ready.

[Ruzious]

Hands, you had clearly completely given up on Wall. Fwiw, I remember calling you out on it and telling you that you had no perspective.

[tontoz]

As for Doc. I said Wall was playing bad back when he was.

I did say I would rather have had Kyrie. I dont see that as something to take my lumps over. Kyrie is really good.

No what you did say was that you thought ultimately Vesely would be more of a franchise player than Wall. That Wall just didn't have 'it'. Really? You're trying to weasel out of it now? It's okay to be wrong, and loud wrong, but when you're clearly proven wrong, dude, man up about it and you'll get more respect. The "I Was Dead Wrong" thread waits to see if you have the juevos to admit the truth whenever you're ready.

He said JV would be the franchise guy by next year no less.

[dobrojim]

from the incredibley sucky AB thread...this is more about McGee so I moved
it to the game thread for the game we're talking about

I understand the dismay with the Wizards. However, Blatche did not start against the Warriors. That game was lost in the first quarter when the STARTERS got down by 17. Blatche or Nick Young had little to nothing to do with that. McGee played well in the first quarter. That game was lost on the perimeter, when Nick was on the bench.

I'm just saying, boo Blatche when he is not trying, not when he is. He was rebounding and passing the last couple of games. Just sayin

McGee is/was the starter in that game and the 'defensive anchor' that
is at least partly responsible for the Warriors getting 41 points in the qtr.
McGee has shown repeatedly to be completely inept at guarding the PnR,
which the Warriors ran repeatedly.

He has seemed to improve in some ways this year ie the hook shot.
At this point though, I have to conclude that any team that has McGee
as its C will be at a considerable handicap when trying to become a
decent defensive team, even if JM leads the league in blocks.

[tontoz]

from the incredibley sucky AB thread...this is more about McGee so I moved
it to the game thread for the game we're talking about

I understand the dismay with the Wizards. However, Blatche did not start against the Warriors. That game was lost in the first quarter when the STARTERS got down by 17. Blatche or Nick Young had little to nothing to do with that. McGee played well in the first quarter. That game was lost on the perimeter, when Nick was on the bench.

I'm just saying, boo Blatche when he is not trying, not when he is. He was rebounding and passing the last couple of games. Just sayin

McGee is/was the starter in that game and the 'defensive anchor' that
is at least partly responsible for the Warriors getting 41 points in the qtr.
McGee has shown repeatedly to be completely inept at guarding the PnR,
which the Warriors ran repeatedly.

He has seemed to improve in some ways this year ie the hook shot.
At this point though, I have to conclude that any team that has McGee
as its C will be at a considerable handicap when trying to become a
decent defensive team, even if JM leads the league in blocks.

Mcgee's defense leaves something to be desired for sure but when Blatche came in for McGee the score was 29-22 . Twelve of their 29 points were from 3.

[dobrojim]

seems to me Javale doesn't show hard enough or long enough
against good shooters like GS has. He makes a half hearted lackadaisical
effort on the play. If you want to say I'm being unfair about
his D that far on the perimeter, fine. I'd argue that if it's his
man that's setting the pick/screen, he needs to work harder
and smarter at stopping the play.

[tontoz]

They were only down 7 when he went to the bench. Everyone knows Mcgees pnr defense is weak but picking out the first quarter as evidence of it is a reach. The bigger problem was that GS went on a 12-2 run in less than 3 minutes after McGee went to the bench.