Official Thread - Magic at Wizards (3/5/08)

[GhostsOfGil]

ouch....that game hurt.

dwight didnt bother me. the constant wide open 3s is wat killed me. 44% from 3 is

[nate33]

I had the same observation as a few others. Etan can help this team, and if we play Orlando in a 7-game series I want Etan's physicality and 6 fouls to beat on Dwight every night. Dray can make Adonal Foyle look silly, but when he has to try to check Howard, he's completely overmatched.

Yup. This is one of two or three matchups where Etan really can help us. I'd love to keep Etan around if I could trust EJ not to play him over Haywood in other matchups where he hurts us. Unfortunately, I just don't trust EJ.

[fishercob]

-= original quote snipped =-


Yup. This is one of two or three matchups where Etan really can help us. I'd love to keep Etan around if I could trust EJ not to play him over Haywood in other matchups where he hurts us. Unfortunately, I just don't trust EJ.

Agreed. While I am hardly as virulently anti-EJ as many here, I'm worried about Etan's return. What happens when Brendan has a bad game or two and Etan "displays effort" via flailing limbs and dreadlocks? Are we going to have a stupid center controversy again? We'll just have to wait and see.

[ZonkertheBrainless]

ouch....that game hurt.

dwight didnt bother me. the constant wide open 3s is wat killed me. 44% from 3 is

Only 44%? Wow, I thought it was like 75%.

[gowiz999]

Glad I missed this one. I watched the first half on DVR before I cut it off in horror. This is the reason I never get too excited or optimistic even when they win a game or two. We got our ass handed to us at home against a team playing the second game of a back to back. Completely unacceptable no many how injuries you have. Our defense was non-existent. There was no effort whatsoever to stop them from scoring. Haywood was embarrassing out there and AJ was his usual shot-jacking self. I just don't understand why we can't bring the effort night in and night out.

[RickRoll_inDC]

i turned the game on after work, and eventually turned it off after RMJ hit a 3 to cut the lead to 19

In honor of this thread having a good page or 2 about tv:
after going to watch American Idol instead, i still didn't go back to that pitiful game after Idol wasn't even on because of the Mizzou vs. Iowa State game going into overtime and pushing Idol back until the end of 2 OT's after Iowa state lost.

so apart from Idol, it was a lose lose night

[TheKingOfVa360]

We need Etan in a playoff series vs the Magic. We can knock them off healthy.


This was a pitiful showing for the Wiz Kids. Pech had a good game though.

[MD's Finest]

This was just a horrible game plain and simple. YOu accept the fact that Howard is going to get his and coupled with the fact that BTH didnt play especially well and got into foul trouble Howard was going to be a problem, however giving up so many wide open 3's and just getting killed with backdoor cuts and give and go's was just horrible. Then on offense we just started jacking long jumpers all game, never got into the post much after the 1st quarter. Blatche was horrible on offense but you cant really expect him to do much against Howard and AD was pretty bad all around as well. There are going to be times we get blasted just because we are outmanned but they did not really show up tonight. Hopefully it wakes them up going into the next stretch of games, we have alot of winnable games coming up even without Butler or Arenas.

[nate33]

One thing I noticed about Orlando is that Howard is very good at rolling hard after he sets the pick. He sets the pick for Nelson at the top of the key and sprints to the basket. He doesn't always get open for the pass but it ultimately leaves Haywood/Blatche out of position when guarding him. Howard is then well-positioned for a deep post-entry pass, or he is in good position for the offensive board.

The weakside help is ineffective because Jamison/DSong are both too small to have any effect in guarding Howard in the post. I think we'd do better against Orlando by having Haywood and Blatche in the game together. However, I can understand why EJ didn't do it because he was worried about our bigs getting in foul trouble.

Having Etan around for depth should help a great deal in the playoffs. EJ will be free to go big without worrying about foul trouble.

[80sballboy]

Blatche was horrible on offense but you cant really expect him to do much against Howard and AD was pretty bad all around as well.

Please don't make excuses for Blatche. He missed about 7 wide open jumpers with nobody in his face and blew several layups. It wasn't Howard. It was him.

[Zerocious]

What was up with AD tonight? He looked out of it, like he didn't give a f**k.

i got the same feeling, right from the start. The man is getting old, has no range or arc on his shot, surprises me he doesn't try to fade away on a foul shot. Now he's wearing full lenght strechy pants, for compression? He's handles the ball well, if gets to dribble the ball for about 20 secs and finds an opening in the paint he'll usually make it, but he's also the master of laying a good executed offense right on it's ass by backing back up the the half court mark and rushing the next set. I guess what i like best about him is that he is not our starting PG and the fact he always gets up. I dont think any team fears him the slightest bit.

[wateryd]

this was one of those games i felt like asking for a refund on my way out of the phone booth. it was over after 3 minutes. they simply didn't come to compete and had no interest trying to climb back in it. when they lose, man do they lose.

on the plus side, got to see some rare marcin gortat action!

[MD's Finest]

Blatche was horrible on offense but you cant really expect him to do much against Howard and AD was pretty bad all around as well.

Please don't make excuses for Blatche. He missed about 7 wide open jumpers with nobody in his face and blew several layups. It wasn't Howard. It was him.

Your right no excuses for the way he played, I actually was refering to him getting used on defense against Howard so I was not that upset at him on that end of the court. His offense was terrible and he just kept shooting from the outside and just played pretty dumb basketball.

[dobrojim]

Good comments by Nate and Fishercob

I watched nearly the whole stinkin affair since I have a morbid
curiosity or a healthy one about watching our kids in garbage
time.

My main comment about the game is that it's really hard to win
(esp against good teams) when you don't shoot OR defend well.

2/5 of our starters had decent games. 3/5ths of them STUNK.
That's no way to catch or compete with the first place team in
your division.

I just realized last night that I'm now (having just purchased
nicely discounted tickets for MIL) that I'm going to the next
3 home games in a row! Need some wins in at least 2/3 of them.

[hands11]

One thing I noticed about Orlando is that Howard is very good at rolling hard after he sets the pick. He sets the pick for Nelson at the top of the key and sprints to the basket. He doesn't always get open for the pass but it ultimately leaves Haywood/Blatche out of position when guarding him. Howard is then well-positioned for a deep post-entry pass, or he is in good position for the offensive board.

The weakside help is ineffective because Jamison/DSong are both too small to have any effect in guarding Howard in the post. I think we'd do better against Orlando by having Haywood and Blatche in the game together. However, I can understand why EJ didn't do it because he was worried about our bigs getting in foul trouble.

Having Etan around for depth should help a great deal in the playoffs. EJ will be free to go big without worrying about foul trouble.

I would say this was the better choice but I don't agree with the foul trouble issue. They foul less together then separate. In a game that you need to go big, you have to count on OP to be the back up and he did fine.

I see a lot people complaining about the 3s but that only came later. The problem was we got crushed inside in the first quarter.

It was 12-2 with all their pts from the inside.
Songaila had 2 fouls in the 1st with 3:30 to play.
Orlando has 32 pts in the paint in the first half.

We got crushed inside before the outside opened up.

[LyricalRico]

Mason, Jamison, Stevenson and Pesh were about the only ones playing hard. Everyone else was loafing it like it was the last game of the year.

[DiplomaticMagic]

Those dancers in the opening thread are banging! Way better than ours.

Good game..we might meet again in PO's.