Washington VS Portland

[J~Rush]

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they may be depleted but they have some players.........even without Roy in there they have Jack, Frye,and guys like Allston off the bench......flat out terrible game all around...not much you can say

We do?

[Spykes]

very classy post. hope you guys recover from the Oden controversy at the beginning of the season and dominate in the west next year. Got a really exciting team over there with Roy.

Thanks for that. I don't usually go out and post in other teams Game Threads unless it's a team that I genuinely like, and the Wizards are definitely one of those teams. Gilbert got on my nerves a bit last season, but I generally like him and find him pretty funny.

[closg00]

Washington needs to get some shooters on the floor. Take Daniels out of the game. The Blazers defense is sagging every time he handles the ball because they know he can't threaten them with his jumper.

Put Mason on the point.

Exactly, they've done their research on AD. We need some firepower out there, some lights-out shooters. Mason should really be playing the heavy minutes with the injured AD coming off the bench.

Us playing teams on a b2b is an automatic L for us

[LyricalRico]

we lose to these teams without their stars all the time. Why is everyone so surprised?

I'm not surprised at all. A completely predictable choke job from a team with no killer instinct.

[nate33]

Mildly disappointing, but nothing to get worked up over. The Wizards looked a step slow in the first half, but the big thing was that Portland was making every shot. The Wizards somehow managed to stay in the game throughout the first half despite playing so poorly and Portland playing so well. The 3-ball kept us within striking distance.

Unfortunately in the second half, Portland just kept on hitting, and we fell in love with the 3-ball just as it stopped going in.

It happens. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. Let's just come back and beat Seattle and Sacramento and go from there.

To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure who I want to play in the playoffs between Detroit, Cleveland and Orlando. If we slip back to 6th or even 7th, it won't be a big deal.

[hands11]

I agree with what CCJ is saying.

As well of a game as EJ coached against DET, this was the exact opposite. He coached a terrible game. I don't blame this on energy, I blame it on match ups. You want energy, put your young legs in.

He knows how to beat a team like DET. He doesn't know what to do against teams like Portland and Atlanta.

Teams like Portland or ATL cause us problems because they are quick and athletic. Even on a back to back they had the younger legs. As with the ATL game, it's not that we aren't giving effort it's that we didn't match up well, with our starters. AJ couldn't get any separation.

Name the quick players in AD, DS, CB, AJ and Haywood. CB is about it to start but he didnt have any helpl. If you are going to go with a vet line up like this against a very quick team, then you have to pound them in the post, get fouls and make free throw. We didn't do that.

We didn't go to Haywood or the post consistently to start the game. After 4 plays of this, I know we were in trouble. When I did see us go to the post a few plays, we looked good but we just didn't stay with it enough. I know it was tough in there but you have to keep pounding because plays like Haywood's miss, rebound and follow up dunk change momentum and slow them down.

Also, as CCJ said, it was the second unit that got us back to with in 1 pt. Why? Quicker younger legs. It was sloppy but we matched their quickness better. Blatche made some bad players but he also made some massing plays. Then the starters return with like 3 min to go in the half and we tanked. EJ made no adjustment. He just stuck with what wasn't working in hopes that is would. He did the same in the 3rd. Same things he did against ATL. Then the youngs came back in and we looked alive again but it was to late. Sorry but that was terrible coaching.

We should have seen more NY, DMAC, Mason and AB earlier and more often. DS was absent the first quarter. Put in Mason or NY. It took so long to get NY in the game that I thought he was still injured.

So mark down any team that have legs like Portland and ATL as teams that EJ hasn't figured out how to beat. Hey, he is the one calling the plays, right. Why didn't they go inside more like they do when they win.

[LyricalRico]

EJ made no adjustment. He just stuck with what wasn't working in hopes that it would.

This could be used to characterize half of the games over the last few years and this is why I don't have many expectations for this team, with or without Gil. Sure I get excited sometimes about the possibilities (anything can happen, even under EJ) but games like last night's bring me back to the reality that this team likely won't go farther than it's already gone under this guy.

Seriously, how can you not be disturbed by last night's loss? Home court in the first round is in sight, the opponent was on a back-to-back, and they were missing their best big man. That is a game that you absolutely have to win IMO. But the Wizards couldn't do it. And the fact that people aren't even surprised really shows how big a problem this is because we've actually come to expect stuff like this to happen.

If you ask me, how you can expect the team to choke and yet still support the coach is a true oxymoron, with heavy emphasis on the "moron".

[doclinkin]

Teams like Portland or ATL cause us problems because they are quick and athletic. Even on a back to back they had the younger legs. As with the ATL game, it's not that we aren't giving effort it's that we didn't match up well, with our starters. AJ couldn't get any separation.

Add Philly to that mix.

Defensively the book on the Wiz is that you can disrupt their patterns and passing lanes if you can body up on them all over the court. The difference maker is if Jamison can hit an outside shot early. When he's off, we're off. And now with the starters worn out and wounded, if you can keep the Wiz running (even in the half court) they can't rely on their upfront defense. They can Princetonstyle backdoor us to death.

Portland had the energy to do both. Did us like we do other teams when we're running right, took advantage of the travel lag that East Coast teams often suffer from. And too that's a longarmed squad. Really big even without Aldridge and er... Oden. I can't believe how much young talent they have stocked away.

Actually veteran slowfoot Darius Songaila had more energy and quicks than our starters, the team fell apart (or re-fell apart) once his unit came back out of the game. For a few minutes there we looked good. I didn't like the substitution myself, wanted to ride it out with that squad for a little bit since the starters were clearly logy. Also later we had a small(-ish) ball set that looked alright.

Boy howdy, live wire McGuire is gonna be alright one of these days. Needs to work the jumper and get the confidence (& armstrength) to actually jam the ball sometimes. BUt he does one or two things per game that make your eyes bug.

Curious to see the Seattle game. It's no 'gimme' against the PG County Sonics.

[nate33]

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Add Philly to that mix.

Denver too. They destroy us with their athleticism.

The worst thing is when we face athletes who can also shoot the 3. That's why Atlanta and Portland kill us. I think we'll be in slightly better shape against Philly because they can't shoot. Philly is a rich man's Charlotte. And we own Charlotte.

[closg00]

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This could be used to characterize half of the games over the last few years and this is why I don't have many expectations for this team, with or without Gil. Sure I get excited sometimes about the possibilities (anything can happen, even under EJ) but games like last night's bring me back to the reality that this team likely won't go farther than it's already gone under this guy.
Seriously, how can you not be disturbed by last night's loss? Home court in the first round is in sight, the opponent was on a back-to-back, and they were missing their best big man. That is a game that you absolutely have to win IMO. But the Wizards couldn't do it. And the fact that people aren't even surprised really shows how big a problem this is because we've actually come to expect stuff like this to happen.

If you ask me, how you can expect the team to choke and yet still support the coach is a true oxymoron, with heavy emphasis on the "moron".

Co-sign EJ will never get the max out of this roster, a better coach could. EJ is responsible for 10 L's easy.

[dobrojim]

brutal, if I were a Wiz fan I could accept a loss even to a depleted Blazers team, but not a blow out like this

(just picked up the game thread on the page that started with the above)

I would say no. What I concluded from watching this game was
that when this team loses, it goes all the way. But it's a loss whether
by one or 31 points. We've had some truly ugly losses this year
including to your Cadavaliers/travaliers. For the most part, the
team seems completely capable of shaking it off, forgetting about
it and playing well in their next game.

The other thing that I took away from this game was how much
we depend on AJ. Fortunately he's been playing at a consistently
high level for a great deal of the season. Last night he didn't and
the absence of his production was felt. That said, there were a
number of other culpable parties last night as well.

[dobrojim]

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Exactly, they've done their research on AD. We need some firepower out there, some lights-out shooters. Mason should really be playing the heavy minutes with the injured AD coming off the bench.

Us playing teams on a b2b is an automatic L for us

No it's not. We're roughly a .500 team overall, we're roughly a .500
team in the first of b2b and the 2nd of a b2b. Oh sorry, I thought
you were talking about us. But I still doubt the actual data support your
conclusion.

[closg00]

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No it's not. We're roughly a .500 team overall, we're roughly a .500
team in the first of b2b and the 2nd of a b2b. Oh sorry, I thought
you were talking about us. But I still doubt the actual data support your
conclusion.

What do you mean by this statement? I was referring specifically to our record of playing an opponent who is coming off a b2b, not us. It seems as though we lost several of these in-a-row at-least, hence my comment.
Obviously we couldn't have lost every one of these, I should have qualified my statement. If you have the actual facts on this, please post them.

[dobrojim]

It appears I initially misread your post thinking that you had
claimed WE always lose the tail end of b2bs. We don't.

I believe what they have stated on TV is that our record
or maybe I should say our winning percentage in either
game of a b2b is not dramatically different than our record
overall.

I don't have the data to answer your question about what
our record is when playing an opp who is in the second game
of a b2b. I would be very surprised if it turned out to be much
different, especially much worse as you did claim, than our
record in other games. Maybe one of our stat-heads has the
data at hand to answer that question.

with tongue planted firmly in cheek I'll only say that
most generalizations are usually wrong (think about the profundity/irony
of that statement)

[nate33]

B2B's aren't as bad as people make them out to be. Here's a study that concludes that a team on a back-to-back is only 1.17 points worse than a team with 1 night of rest.

Home court advantage has been worth 3.45 points so far this year. So effectively, Portland had a 2.28 point advantage going into last night's game.

[ZonkertheBrainless]

What effect does a 1.17 point change in point differential have on your projected record?

[Wizards2Lottery]

Lets see. Portland is:

1. Better than us
2. Has more young athletes with game than us
3. Was at home against an Eastern team
4. Has a better headcoach

Not really surprised by last nights outcome and I think the team has shown enough to warrant a pass on such games.

[gowiz999]

Lets see. Portland is:

1. Better than us
2. Has more young athletes with game than us
3. Was at home against an Eastern team
4. Has a better headcoach

Not really surprised by last nights outcome and I think the team has shown enough to warrant a pass on such games.

Portland has been trash ever since their fluke 13 game winning streak. They had gotten killed the night before by one of the worst teams in the league. Wiz were fully rested, Portland was playing the second game of a b2b. This was a must win.

[dobrojim]

Lets see. Portland is:

1. Better than us
2. Has more young athletes with game than us
3. Was at home against an Eastern team
4. Has a better headcoach

Not really surprised by last nights outcome and I think the team has shown enough to warrant a pass on such games.

While I agree with your conclusion that the team deserves a pass
I'm not convinced that they are better than us or that their head coach
is better. That's shouldn't be taken as a huge insult by their fans.
They played very well and especially shot very well. The one 2ndQ run
was the only run we had in the game. Some of that was fueled
by a streak of hot 3 pt shooting which you should never rely on.

A couple folks incl CCJ have commented on the swing that occurred
in the second half of the 2ndQ when Brendan, AJ and Deshawn came
in for AB, RMjr and Songaila. In retrospect, that move worked out
horribly. Most of the time, that's not what happens. So I'm willing
to give EJ a pass (plus the fact that we usually crucify EJ for not
playing Haywood enough and this time, he puts he in and the team
goes into a complete funk which wasn't totally Wood's fault by any
means) in spite of the good points that were made about AJ having
a very poor game. You knew that as soon as you saw him miss more
than one of his little flip shots from the low-right baseline. But it was
still only the 2ndQ. I don't blame coach for going back to the guy
that has carried you for the last 6 weeks in the 2ndQ of a game.

one other thing and I won't say this made the difference in the game
but we were getting jobbed by the stripes until the game was outta hand.

[MJG]

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Portland has been trash ever since their fluke 13 game winning streak. They had gotten killed the night before by one of the worst teams in the league. Wiz were fully rested, Portland was playing the second game of a b2b. This was a must win.

Just out of curiosity, what's the consequence of having lost this must-win?