Player of the Game - Wiz at Sixers (3/1/14)

[pineappleheadindc]

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiPKBhGZKBs[/youtube]

Not pretty, but a win is a win.

Here are your nominees for Wizards player of the game.


Trevor Ariza

40 points (14-23 fg, 8-12 3pts, 4-5 ft), 2 boards, 3 dimes, 4 steals, 1 block, 2 turns



John Wall

17 points (6-10 fg, 1-1 3pts, 4-4 ft), 16 dimes, 3 boards, 2 steals, 3 turns



Marcin Gortat

13 points (6-9 fg, 1-2 ft), 14 boards, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 2 turns



Trevor Booker

14 points (6-7 fg, 2-2 ft), 7 boards, 2 dimes, 2 blocks

Or....name your own POG in comments.

Let's go Wizards!

[nuposse04]

Ariza.

Then Wall and then Gortat. I think Booker needs some kudos too though, I thought he did well for the most part on T. Young and made timely plays.

[Illmatic21]

As if there's any question.

Trevor "Bout to get dem checks" Ariza

[JWizmentality]

Trevor Areezy.

[nate33]

This is just like the Toronto game.

Ariza gets POTG because he played so far above his baseline. But in reality, Wall was the best player on the floor. He played almost flawless basketball the entire game. I think we could possibly have won this game without Ariza, but we sure as hell wouldn't have won without Wall.

Wall has been incredible ever since the All Star break.

[WallToWall]

I'll probably be the only one voting for Wall. He did some very good things on the floor today. Yes, Ariza couldnt miss with the 3's, and he too had an excellent game. However, Wall had some very good assists and he could easily have had 20+ assists if Webster and Beal could hit the broadside of a barn. Wall did a good job getting into the lane and either dishing or scoring. A nice all around game for Wall today, IMO.

[dlts20]

This is just like the Toronto game.

Ariza gets POTG because he played so far above his baseline. But in reality, Wall was the best player on the floor. He played almost flawless basketball the entire game. I think we could possibly have won this game without Ariza, but we sure as hell wouldn't have won without Wall.

Wall has been incredible ever since the All Star break.

I agree. Wall was setting the table for everyone. He couldve had nearly 20ast at the half if guys hit there open looks. His vision and cross court passing is crazy good right now that Ariza just spots up and gets open 3s. However, Wall will get alot of these and Ariza got 40 so Ill give him a cookie tonight.......lol

[keynote]

I gotta go with Ariza. Sure, Wall played an excellent game, but someone's gotta finish. And the other perimeter players couldn't.

In the first half of the season, when two out of the three perimeter players struggled, the Wizards struggled. We used to need at least 2 out of Ariza/Beal/Webster to be at least respectable from the perimeter to compete.

Not so much anymore. Wall's elevated his game, yes, but Ariza's fiery shooting tonight was more than enough to compensate for Beal and Webster's no-shows.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Ahh---reeee---za.

Wall was awfully good though. Man, our boy is growing up right before our eyes. He looked so in control tonight. That hesitation and left handed finish? Butter.

[dangermouse]

Trevor Athreeza

Wall was great. Quietly great i thought. I was certain he had double the amount of TOs than he ended up with, but there it is on the box score...

Beal and Webbo played like garbage, again.

[doclinkin]

Johnny Ballgame. I tried to click Ar3za but couldn't, Wall was setting him up so easy all he had to do was let fly without recalibration. Confidence has to be sky high, everything is in rhythm and easy as practice.

Ariza is earning a paycheck but I do hope he knows how much of that is due to Wall when he reflects on the rest of his career and decides what to do with his future. Ditto Gortat. I'd love to keep the band together, but understand that comes at a price that we probably can't reasonably afford. But career games, career year across the board, all coming after his numbers elsewhere had taken a dip -- even when playing next to CP3. I know he's a west coast guy, and we have a raft of 3Fs, but here he has earned his spot on the floor.

Oh and if he does slide elsewhere to get paid-- then I hope he sucks, since that too will be good advertising for the Johnny Ball effect.

It's like his last name. All he wants to do is 'W' all.

[stevemcqueen1]

This is just like the Toronto game.

Ariza gets POTG because he played so far above his baseline. But in reality, Wall was the best player on the floor. He played almost flawless basketball the entire game. I think we could possibly have won this game without Ariza, but we sure as hell wouldn't have won without Wall.

Wall has been incredible ever since the All Star break.

Wall was the guy who made things happen tonight. But Ariza's shooting was freakish. Once in a career. 8 straight threes. You give it to him because of how remarkable his game was.

Wall was pretty close to flawless tonight outside a bit of a rocky start to the third. Cleaner than he was last game. Textbook performance as the facilitator, making all of his teammates better, scoring when the team needed it. I like these games better than the ones he goes off for 30+. The offense hums when he's playmaking like tonight.

[stevemcqueen1]

When Ariza gets his payday this summer, he should donate a portion of it to Wall. Or at least send him a Christmas card each year from now on.

Wall has made Ariza some money this summer.

[pineappleheadindc]

I agree with Nate. John Wall was the key to the game.

You know how it's difficult to see how much your child is growing in the moment because you're with them all the time and it's difficult to observe in real time? But you look back and see how much they've grown?

In a year or two, everyone will look back at this time -- right now -- and identify it as when John Wall made "the leap", that hard-to-define but know-it-when-you-see-it jump from great player to elite player. Watch him now, friends. This is it.

[mohammed10]

When Ariza gets his payday this summer, he should donate a portion of it to Wall. Or at least send him a Christmas card each year from now on.

Wall has made Ariza some money this summer.

This.

[Kanyewest]

I'll probably be the only one voting for Wall. He did some very good things on the floor today. Yes, Ariza couldnt miss with the 3's, and he too had an excellent game. However, Wall had some very good assists and he could easily have had 20+ assists if Webster and Beal could hit the broadside of a barn. Wall did a good job getting into the lane and either dishing or scoring. A nice all around game for Wall today, IMO.

I actually thought Beal was OK but not great. His field goal percentage wasn't horrible at 42%- although he only hit 1 out of his 4 3 point attempts and didn't get to the line. Still, he did serve his purpose for spreading the floor which allowed Wall to get to the rim and Ariza to get open looks. Plus he himself served up 5 assists and had 2 steals.

[doclinkin]

Funny Brett Brown gives it to John Wall as well:

http://www.nba.com/sixers/video/2014/03 ... v-3178236/

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

“A lot of players was really afraid of this game, that we could fall asleep and lose this game,” Gortat said. “I can say we’re getting more mature. We’re really happy we got this game.”


I like the fact that this team is finally starting to realize that any team can beat you any night and that you have to take every game serious and don't play to you competition. Wish we would have learned before the 9 or so awful loses we've had at home, but I suppose better late than never.

[doclinkin]

The only remaining suspense for the Wizards was whether Ariza would reach 40 and Wall would match his career high in assists. In one frenzied sequence, both marks were achieved as Wall dived to the floor to wrestle away a loose ball and tossed it from his back to an open Ariza for a layup. Wall hopped up from the ground and pumped his fist after collecting his 16th assist, showing more emotion for Ariza than for any of the 17 points Wall scored in the game.

“What more can you ask for a guy who would do anything to see you succeed and see you strive to be the best you could be,” Ariza said. “That’s what we do here now. We all want to see each other succeed, because at the end of the day, we know if one of us succeeds, we all succeed — especially trying to go where we want to go.”

...

After making a running bank shot and missing a free throw with six-tenths of the second left in the period, Ariza angrily swung his arms. He wanted more. Wall made sure that his night was complete by scrapping for the ball and getting him 40 points. Ariza’s previous career high was 33.

“That was great for me,” Wall said of his emotional response. “He did a great job, and you want to see a guy that’s putting in the work and doing the extra sacrifices for our team of guarding the best players on any given night. You try to reward him for that, and that’s what I wanted him to do, to get a 40-point game.”

Loved that sequence. The games basically over and Johnny is diving onto the floor stealing a ball and tossing it back to Ariza to get him his highwater mark.