RealGM

Washington Wizards at Miami Heat
Date: Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
Time: 7:30pm (Eastern)
Venue: American Airlines Arena (Miami, Florida)


_ Washington Wizards _


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Washington Wizards Season Statistics:



________ Miami Heat _______


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Miami Heat Season Statistics:



Pre-Game Notes:
- Antawn Jamison and Mike Miller are still out with shoulder problems
- Mike James is out with a hand injury
- Javaris Crittenton is still out with an ankle injury
- Wizards have lost 5 in a row to the Heat (and have lost by an average of 21 points at Miami)
- Miami Heat leads the NBA in opposition FG% (41.3%) and among league leaders in opposition PPG (90.7)
- Washington Wizards have lost 4 straight averaging less than 40% from the field and less than 90 PPG in those contests.

Questions to be answered:
- Can Caron Butler get himself back on track and play winning basketball or will he continue to pretend like it's 2008/2009 season and be a selfish ball-stopper and stat whore?
- Can the Wizards expect equal treatment from the refs in Miami and against one of their favored sons in Dwyane Wade?
- With Flip complaining about the lack of the extra pass, can we expect any signs of unselfish play from the Wizards tonight?

This feels like a must win game. The Wizards are really on the ropes and need something good to happen. That said, Miami has owned us for about 8 years (with the exception of the one year when Wade missed most of the season). It's going to be pretty hard to win in their building while we're so shorthanded.

This is a game where McGee should get some burn. Miami doesn't rely on their bigs for that much offense so McGee won't be a major liability on D. Hopefully, he can get in there and make some things happen on the break and on the offensive glass. I'd definitely be in favor of McGee taking most of Oberto's minutes. At the very least, McGee should play enough so that Blatche can spend all of his minutes at PF.

Now would be a good time for Deshawn to have a fluke game where he actually shoots 50% from the floor and hits a couple of three pointers. We know he'll be on the floor a lot to slow down Wade.

I wonder if Flip will give DMac a little more burn? He played well in limited minutes against Phoenix. Either DMac or Young will need to play when Butler sits.

Dwade goes for 40+ again but this time the Wizards come out victorious. Gilbert with his best game thus far with 30+ Pt's and 15 assists. Both blatche and Foye come off the bench strong and keep us in the game.

One of the main reasons we were even close to beating Miami last game (at home) was because of Mike Miller. Without him (and Antawn), I just can't see us winning this.

I'd love to be wrong and am quite frequently, but the odds are stacked against us on this one.

Just FYI, the Wizards have now moved into 15th place in defensive efficiency. That's a significant improvement.

If we can get our offense back, we could be a threat.

we're due

Wade is great but even he doesn't get 40 every night

MIA has owned us for a while, way too long. We're due.

nate33 wrote:This feels like a must win game. The Wizards are really on the ropes and need something good to happen.

This game is an obvious "L" but I don't think it's that serious. As long as Flip remains calm (which I think he will) nothing that happens between now and when Jamison gets back matters all that much IMO.

This game is an obvious "L" but I don't think it's that serious. As long as Flip remains calm (which I think he will) nothing that happens between now and when Jamison gets back matters all that much IMO.

I agree. I don't expect us to win and don't think we should panic about anything until Jamison is back and has a few games under his belt. I will get upset if we come out totally flat like we did against Indiana.

The Heat are playing in street cloths? Easy win for the Wizards.

Nick Young is due for a break out game. That is, if he gets the PT.

evolushunize wrote:Nick Young is due for a break out game. That is, if he gets the PT.

Ditto for Paul Davis.

evolushunize wrote:Nick Young is due for a break out game. That is, if he gets the PT.

At this point, a breakout game for N1 would entail finishing the night with more points than shot attempts, so I'm not sure this will be a key to our victory either way.

If you contain Wade, you beat Miami. Easier said than done, but that's what the Wiz need to do. And take advantage of the 10 minutes he's out of the game.

dobrojim wrote:we're due

Wade is great but even he doesn't get 40 every night

MIA has owned us for a while, way too long. We're due.

Just cut and pasted this to Wade's twitter account.

Ruzious wrote:If you contain Wade, you beat Miami. Easier said than done, but that's what the Wiz need to do. And take advantage of the 10 minutes he's out of the game.

Or, if last game b/w the heat and wiz was any indication, take advantage of the 5 mins and 30 secs that he is out of the game.

fishercob wrote:

evolushunize wrote:Nick Young is due for a break out game. That is, if he gets the PT.

Ditto for Paul Davis.

Ditto for Javale McGee.

I will be extremely surprised if the Wizards win. Seems very unlikely.

I will be pleasantly surpised if they are even competitive--they've been losing by double digits of late.

I will be mildly surprised if they score more than 90.

I'd like to see McGee as Blatche's backup at PF. I'd like to see Fabricio playing 5-10 minutes, mainly with Blatche or McGee on the court. Haywood with Oberto is clogging the lane and bringing the offense down several notches.

ashlov wrote:

dobrojim wrote:we're due

Wade is great but even he doesn't get 40 every night

MIA has owned us for a while, way too long. We're due.

Just cut and pasted this to Wade's twitter account.

Yea! You tell em!

Actually, please don't. Then he might, actually, you know, play hard. Doesn't happen from D-Wade too often. Guy has all the talent in the world, but if theres one thing he lacks, its desire and effort. Wouldn't want him trying!

I'm sure he will be grateful for an internet message board poster trying to get him motivated! Something has to!

I can see it now ...

*D-Wade look at his twitter*

"Orly? Dobrojim thinks I can't drop 40 every night? Well I could if I played hard! iight, I'm gunna drop 52 on Eshawn Stevenson, then ask Dobro's daughter out on a date! That will teach him to question my scoring abilities!"

After the game, D-Wade updates his twitter:

"To my message board muse-that 52 was for you."

I'd start either Deshawn or McGuire this game instead of Randy Foye to hopefully prevent Wade from getting in any kind of rhythym. Of course, if Flip does that, he also needs to start Blatche so we aren't playing 3 on 5 on offense.

I think we win this one...we are due for a hot shooting night and the team has to be hungry after losing the first one to Miami. If we do win, we are where I thought we would be this season. I thought we would lose every game up to this point except for the Nets, Pacers and Miami game at home. Although the loss to the Pacers was unexpected, so was the win against Dallas. So, if we win tonight, our record will be what I thought it would be at this point in the season.

The other good news is that after tonights game we only have one game against a beat up Detroit team before we face Cleveland next Wednesday. There should be enough time for both AJ and MM to get healthy for that game.

miller31time wrote:Just FYI, the Wizards have now moved into 15th place in defensive efficiency. That's a significant improvement.

If we can get our offense back, we could be a threat.