Wizards @ Houston: 2/26/08 8:30 ET

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

tsvqt, Jamison's not a physically tough player per se. Too light in the cakes. He's a skilled guy who scores and rebounds, and now steals the ball.

EJ could have sat AJ very early for McGuire, just long enough to make Antawn redirect or get angry. EJ can be the leader that way just to show that he's playing to win and not playing to hope Antawn can win it for him. The player is 32 almost and playing his fourth game in five nights. Is he supposed to be a beast at all times? He had 6 steals in a game they won just yesterday. Today, AJ runs up against a fired up Battier.

Last time these teams played Battier was all over him. Tonight, I'm not blaming Antawn .... OR EJ.

Gee Wiz, the only thing I wanted was Mason and McGuire earlier. When he stuck with the starters in the first thing was pretty much over. I stopped watching at 16-33. They played pretty even after that, apparently.

Wizards just got buried early in a game they were bound to lose any way.

[tsvqt]

Glad I didn't stick around and watch any of the game after it started getting out of hand.

Just the positives:

--Daniels, after starting poorly did finish at an even 0 in the plus/minus.

--Jamison hit a couple threes, had 2 steals after a career-high six last game, with 9 rebounds and 18 points. Respectable numbers after forcing things early.

-Best for last, Pecherov hit a couple threes (not many sevenfooters can, and he's very young) and had a career-high 11 points. Pecherov also was +2 overall.

-After only scoring 23 in the first half, the Wizards doubled that with 46 in the second half.

It only counts as one loss and that was the fourth game in five nights, played against a fired up team. I forgot that last season the Rockets looked better without Yao. Mutombo (and even Juwan Howard) made a difference and they played well without Yao. This Rocket team's better than last season's.

I feel absolutely no need to crucify Wizards players or coaches after this game. Blatche could be tired and at 21 to say he played like a B is harsh criticism. I didn't like the liineups in the first half, but at least the team played better in the second. The Good News is they won at New Orleans just yesterday. Move on and get them next game.

Who's the next opponent?

maybe you should have stuck around and actually WATCHED the game and not just went by the stat sheet. Blatche played like a B or a P, which ever you prefer. No if ands or buts about it. No excuses. There are quite a few 21yr olds in the league...so what? He's NOT a rookie!! HE admitted on TV that he has a confidence problem. He plays with a lot more confidence when he starts. Well, he now been given the chance to show what he has. IF you had seen some of the plays out there tonight, you'd conclude that he was either dogging it, or he wasn't well rested for the game, both physically and mentally. One play in particular he went for a rebound by himself, bobbled it, and it seriously look like he handed it to the Houston Rocket player who swooped in along the baseline. That did it for me. That spelled "Dogging it"!!....I smelled P on that play. Blatche has too much talent for that crap. He just looked so much like Kwame out there tonight that it's gonna give me nightmares tonight. i'm afraid to close my eyes.

[tsvqt]

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That is caron for you, but the fact is every year he is hurt, he has yet to make it a full season. I like caron but you can't build around him he is that all important second player. Back to AJ though, I see this team dogging it on some nights, players like blatche and young, I've never seen Jamison dog it like that. There is a difference between being the leader and being the go to player.

Trade Gil, hand the team over to Caron, and draft one of those true PG's coming out in the draft, or get Conley from Memphis. Give them two seasons and we'd make it further in the playoffs than what we have with Gil as our #1. My opinion........You could think I'm on the pipe, but this is how I see things. No changing that.
As of right now, I'm just hoping we get both Arenas and Butler back and we all gel and run deep in the playoffs.

[tsvqt]

CCJ,
I'm not hatin' on Jamison. I LOVE me some Jamison. I just hate the leadership he provides because I want the fire. That's not him I know.

[hands11]

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HELLO...were you watching the same game we watchin'???????? Blatche SUCKED worse than any other player on the court.....including EJ and he didn't even step on the floor!! Good GOD!! Let's try to be honest without being homers!! Blatche plays well sometimes, but tonight, he dogged it. That was clear. He played like a female anatomy!!

Not being a homer and I'm not saying he didn't suck ass.

I'm saying others didn't play well also.

And other ( ie EJ ) acted like little girls also.

And I'm saying, I'm not as bothered as some by AB because, give the dude a break.

How much has he really played? He isn't a seasoned vet.
And don't pull up a few played who aren't 7-0 and didn't come right out of HS. I know you can't find on that fits who got shot in the chest the first you so we can leave that out.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/s ... yerId=2746

Look at the mins and the starts.

Be is still a puppy but he shows some great potential and I believe he will continue to get better with more playing time.

Give the kid a break. Not only was he shot the first year but EJ is his freakn coach. EJ sucks ass coaching big men and on top of that, bigs usually develop more slowly.

So what, he had a crappy game against a team that crushed us while other more seasoned vets also played ****. 4 games in 5 nights

That's what I'm saying.

Your over reacting about AB. Calm down. Gain some perspective.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

From this outsider's view, a guy like Scola licks his chops knowing he can shove Blatche but Blatche can only foul him. He's been in pro leagues since Blatche was in elementary or at best middle school.

Also, the real intimidator was wagging his finger. Deke owned Wood and all the rest inside.

I didn't watch, tsvqt, because here in HI it's now just past dinner time and I decided to do some things needed around here INSTEAD OF watching that blowout. Usually, I'll hang in there for the rally but tonight was over from the start. Tonight, I'm glad I saved myself the aggravation.

I recorded the game and will (now that everybody else is squared away) probably watch the third quarter til the end.

Sorry to sound like I'm correcting you, tsvqt, because I'm sure you're not lying about what you saw. It was UGLY.

[nate33]

Here's a weird stat:

The Wizards had a season-low 5 turnovers tonight. In fact, we had the fewest turnovers in any game in the past 5 years! The last time we committed 5 or fewer turnovers was on February 25th, 2003 (when we committed just 3 turnovers).

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

CCJ,
I'm not hatin' on Jamison. I LOVE me some Jamison. I just hate the leadership he provides because I want the fire. That's not him I know.

I've met the man and he's the nicest NBA player I know of and a very good player.

That said, I feel you tsvqt. This team needs a Stephen Jackson-type player to get buck wild at times. Someonce should be an ass like Zach Randolph and throw some water at a teammate just to get the fire going.

Jamison's not that guy and it would work for him or Caron.

The guy that needs to be a leader is Antonio Daniels. You hate on Antawn but let me be the one to call out AD early this game.

[hands11]

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Check the record....I'm a HUGE Jamison fan....I said he'd retire a Wizard. I love when he's active on the glass, and poppin' in them floaters....he's the best ever maybe with that. ALL I'm saying right now is he's NOT the LEADER we need right now. This team is SOFT as melted marshmellows! We're missin' our tough juice. You can see some toughness in Deshawn, but he can't be counted on to bring it on a nightly basis. What he gave us last night, I'd be suprised if he got half that in the next two games combined, and that's no slight against him.
Caron is this team's future. We should build around him.....My opinion, and I know I'll get blasted for it, but hey, it's my opinion. I like Arenas, but Caron has taken his place in my Wizards-Fan-Heart.

I agree with all of that. CB is the team, not GA.

As for a leader. Your coach should be able to fill that role in a pinch.

[hands11]

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Trade Gil, hand the team over to Caron, and draft one of those true PG's coming out in the draft, or get Conley from Memphis. Give them two seasons and we'd make it further in the playoffs than what we have with Gil as our #1. My opinion........You could think I'm on the pipe, but this is how I see things. No changing that.
As of right now, I'm just hoping we get both Arenas and Butler back and we all gel and run deep in the playoffs.

Nothing wrong with that view but like you said, first things first. Lets get both back and see what happens. I think there is a decent chance GA has learned something while watching. He may also have matured a little.

[GilArenas88]

Its hard for me to slight Arenas at this point, he was great the first 2/3 of last season then he fell off a little then got hurt, we haven't really seen him play in almost a year...

[hands11]

Here's a weird stat:

The Wizards had a season-low 5 turnovers tonight. In fact, we had the fewest turnovers in any game in the past 5 years! The last time we committed 5 or fewer turnovers was on February 25th, 2003 (when we committed just 3 turnovers).

That is weird. And even though we got blasted on the boards 55-37, we both took that same number of shots. 83 and even though the refs sucked ass, we took 23 Fts to their 12. Now we sucked ass shooting them 13-23 but they were only 7-12.

The stats don't tell the whole story but they do show we got nothing from outside. No Mason, No DS and it was hard inside with the old man blocking everything.

Oddly enough, I went back and watched the first quarter over again and you know who stood out as being and energy and effort guy, Blatche.

I know some thought he had a suck ass game but he was at it in the first with steals, rebounds, blocks, some pts but he got fouled at least 2 times I could see while shooting and nothing was called. The refs were real bad to start this game and players like DS and AJ were shooting bricks.

One things that was different this game is we usually start off going to Haywood. This game we stated off going to AJ on the left side, not the right side where he is most comfortable. Then after 0-2 he made one from the right side. Then Haywood was blocked. Then DS bricked. It was a combo of bricks and bad calls that got us off to the wrong foot.

We actually gave effort in the 1st, it was the 2nd were they broke it open.

It was a bad team to run into shorthanded and with an injured AD and DS on a 4 of 5 schedule.

[yungal07]

we are the worst team in league history when it comes to play teams who are injured or depleted. Why is that?

Maybe because we're injured and depleted? That would be my guess...

[Rockets?]

man i guess the refs were sympathetic to our loss because we sure as hell got a lot of calls to go our(rockets) way. Sorry about that trust me we know how frustrating that can be.

[BruceO]

I'm not going through scroll through the entire 20 pages but the reason we were bricking those shots aside from us having gone thourhg alot of games in the recent days is because the Houston rims are very stiff. They are wound tight. T-macs numbers at home are worse than away numbers for the same reasons. nobody wants to go play in houston cause those rims are not kind to shooters. When i Saw us miss a couple of shots I knew immediately that wasnt going to change cause of the rim issue. I wondered for a while if the best alternative was to drive but Mutumbo apparently is still suprisingly effective. I also like that Landry kid. theres a thread somewhere about him going to be a beast and I liked his offensive rebounding skills and how fast he went up. Even though it was againt our team

[ZonkertheBrainless]

Argh, the problem is that the game immediately after a star's injury is when all the bench players feel an adrenaline rush -- "I've got to step up!" and play out of their minds for the next five or six games.

Not particularly helpful.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

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Trade Gil, hand the team over to Caron, and draft one of those true PG's coming out in the draft, or get Conley from Memphis. Give them two seasons and we'd make it further in the playoffs than what we have with Gil as our #1. My opinion........You could think I'm on the pipe, but this is how I see things. No changing that.
As of right now, I'm just hoping we get both Arenas and Butler back and we all gel and run deep in the playoffs.

I actually agree with the two years from now part. I'd love the team to have Conley now. I'd settle for the guy Gil dissed, Calderon.

Rignt now, I just want Gil signed and all healthy....

My problems with Gil are that he's been injured but the injury doesn't seem to have given him much humility. I don't like the Wizards having to max him out now coming off of the injury. I don't like that he's a volume shooter rather than a playmaker who can defend well and who takes more pride in defense than in dropping 50. Most of all, I'm worried he won't be quite as good now, after the knee injuries and that reinjury can become an issue.

I won't be surprised if he walks and the Wizards get nothing because that's how he left GS.

I believe he'll likely return as a max player with the Wizards also giving Jamison a good contract, and that the Wizards will be much better but not championship better until the mindset of the team changes.

I'd love to see everyone healthy and for the Wizards to have a nasty, dunking PF like that Landry kid. That guy with the rest puts this team right at the top.

Landry has that attitude I would love for a big on the Wizards to have, and I'd also trade Gil for a Conley-type playmaker if a beefy PF were included in the deal.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

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They are playing back-2-back road games minus there best two players, and they had a heart-wrenching emotional win against one of the best teams in the league last night.......they are playing a team with a 12 game winning streak......I hate that they are getting their butts handed to them, but come on....blowing the team up because one of the best defensive teams in the league are playing great defense??? Ease up.
Now if this happens against Chicago.....then let's talk about blowing the mutha-sucka UP!!

Going through the game thread I see you do get it, tsvqt.

I won't panic even if they get spanked in Chi-town.

* They're not doing anything this season, but hopefully limping into the playoffs. I've even reconciled this would be a good year to be lottery if it could land Kevin Love. I'm hedging on the Wizards. Lowering the expectations is also making them more fun to watch (or last night not watch).

So, I'm gonna try to put the losses in proper perspective....

* DISCLAIMER -- Of course I reserve the right to say they can win it all if Gil and Caron both come back better than ever, and if suddenly Etan fits this team. Wiz could use some forceful dunks now. Miraculously get all three back and still be the 6th seed and I'm all over the bandwagon trying to get at the front.

[hands11]

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Trade Gil, hand the team over to Caron, and draft one of those true PG's coming out in the draft, or get Conley from Memphis. Give them two seasons and we'd make it further in the playoffs than what we have with Gil as our #1. My opinion........You could think I'm on the pipe, but this is how I see things. No changing that.
As of right now, I'm just hoping we get both Arenas and Butler back and we all gel and run deep in the playoffs.

I actually agree with the two years from now part. I'd love the team to have Conley now. I'd settle for the guy Gil dissed, Calderon.

Rignt now, I just want Gil signed and all healthy....

My problems with Gil are that he's been injured but the injury doesn't seem to have given him much humility. I don't like the Wizards having to max him out now coming off of the injury. I don't like that he's a volume shooter rather than a playmaker who can defend well and who takes more pride in defense than in dropping 50. Most of all, I'm worried he won't be quite as good now, after the knee injuries and that reinjury can become an issue.

I won't be surprised if he walks and the Wizards get nothing because that's how he left GS.

I believe he'll likely return as a max player with the Wizards also giving Jamison a good contract, and that the Wizards will be much better but not championship better until the mindset of the team changes.

I'd love to see everyone healthy and for the Wizards to have a nasty, dunking PF like that Landry kid. That guy with the rest puts this team right at the top.

Landry has that attitude I would love for a big on the Wizards to have, and I'd also trade Gil for a Conley-type playmaker if a beefy PF were included in the deal.

You nailed a not of good points. I have been wanting that PF since we had the Stackhouse and LA8er. We got AJ who is a very good player but he isn't the player I wanted. I wanted that PG and PF your talking about. So I've been waiting a while. Waiting for GA to get moved to SG or become more of a PG. Waiting for what we have to mature - AB. But yeah, what you said.

As for GA and Max contract. I honestly think there is 0% chance EG does that. I think the offer from EG is take what's on the table for 1 year and well talk next year, sign something reasonable based on that kind of number, or walk. When would GA need to decide what he is going to do and when would he become a UFA ?

[daSwami]

The Rockets are clearly a better team w/o Yao. Does a Gil/yao swap work in the trade checker? or is that just trading dead weight for dead weight?