Official Thread - Wizards at Bucks (2/28/09)

[pineappleheadindc]

____VERSUS____

_______14-44, 15th East_______________________________28-33, 8th East
_____4-23 Road / 3-7 last 10 ______________________ 17-11 Home / 5-5 Last 10

Coming off of a rousing win versus the Chicago Bulls - in front of a visiting President Obama, YOUR Washington Wizards hit the road for a match-up with the (currently) playoff-bound Milwaukee Bucks. Milwaukee comes off of a heartbreaking, last second loss at New Orleans last night. This is the tail end of a back-to-back for both squads.

The President's attendance at last night's Verizon Center game seemed to energize the good guys. They played with a high energy level, shared the ball, rebounded well and played D with dedication and sincerity. Second year F Dominic McGuire had a particularly strong game on both sides of the court. F Antawn Jamison was his usual, consistent self.

The good guys will have to demonstrate the same commitment and energy to steal a road win against a Milwaukee team that's fighting for its playoff life. At home.



Projected Lineups:

Point Guard

__

______Mike James, 6' 2", Duquesne_______________Ramon Sessions, 6' 3", Nevada-Reno
________8.5 ppg, 3.2 apg, 2.3 rpg ___________________12.1 ppg, 4.8 apg, 3.1 rpg


Off Guard

__

______Caron Butler, 6' 7", UConn__________________Richard Jefferson, 6' 7", Arizona
______20.4 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 4.4 apg ____________________18.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.3 apg


Small Forward

__

___Dominic McGuire, 6' 9", Fresno State____________Luc Mbah a Moute, 6' 8", UCLA
______3.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 1.9 apg _____________________6.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 0.9 apg


Power Forward

__

_____Antawn Jamison, 6' 9", UNC_________________Charlie Villanueva, 6' 11", UConn
______21.4 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 1.9 apg ___________________16.3 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.9 apg


Center

__

_____Darius Songaila, 6' 9", Wake Forest_____________Francisco Elson, 7' 0", Cal
_______6.4 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.1 apg ____________________3.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 0.5 apg



The dance team match-up features reigning champ (Wiz dancer) Myra versus Bucks Energee! dance team member Ashley. Here goes:


Wizards Dance Team Member Myra









Occupation: Graphic Designer
Hometown: Burke, VA
School: Virginia Tech



___________________________VERSUS______________________



Energee! dance team member Ashley









Occupation: Student
Hometown: Kenosha, WI
School: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee





Finally, I've determined that the photos of the Luv-a-Bulls are our secret weapon. Our talisman to bring nothing but success for the Wizards. Accordingly, we will be keeping the photos of the Luv-a-Bulls on every game thread that I start (or think about editing) between now and the end of the season. In order to help the Wizards squad out, all of you have to spend a couple of seconds staring intently at the Luv-a-Bulls pics before every game in order to provide Antawn, Caron and crew with the mojo necessary to pull out a win.

Without further ado, our good luck charms follow:

Luv-a-Bull Evadney



Occupation: Project Manager
Hometown: Lansing, MI
School: University of Illinois at Chicago



Luv-a-Bull Catherine



Occupation: Student
Hometown: Overland Park, KS
School: Loyola University Chicago


Luv-a-Bull Andrea



Occupation: Advertising Sales Executive
Hometown: Burnsville, MN
School: University of Wisconsin-Madison


Luv-a-Bull Amy



Occupation: Director of Admissions for an Extended Healthcare Facility
Hometown: Naperville, IL
School: Ohio University


Luv-a-Bull Kafi



Occupation: Management Training/Sales
Hometown: Chicago, IL
School: University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign


BTW - Chicago is, in actuality, a great town with lots of hot women walking around. You have to wonder just who makes Luv-a-Bull selections and what the criteria is to make the team. It's obviously not based on looks.

Perhaps they use other means and measures to select Luv-a-Bull team members...






Who: Washington Wizards at Milwaukee Bucks

Where: Bradley Center - Milwaukee, WI

When: Saturday, February 28, 2009 – 7:30 p.m. Central (8:30 p.m. Washington time)

Television: Comcast SportsNet, NBA LeaguePass

Radio: WTEM 980 AM

Internet: Sportstalk 980

Go Wiz!

[paul]

Ha ha great great game thread, are those first few luv-a-bulls dudes?

Bucks fan here, we're coming off a smacking from Dallas in Dallas two days ago followed by a heartbreaker last night, lost to a Chandler tip with 3 seconds to go after outscoring the Hornets in NO 22-4 in the last 4 minutes to come from a mile back. Bogut and Redd are both obviously out, Ridnour is just back with a heavily strapped broken thumb and Charlie V got hurt last night and had to leave the floor so I'm not sure of his status for tonights game - both he and Sessions had very poor games last night. Watch out for Charlie Bell coming off the bench, he lit the Hornets up late last night and was pretty much the sole reason the Bucks almost snatched the win scoring I think 11 of our last 13 points of the game and 21 total.
Good luck, lots of Bucks fans are big Butler fans due to his Wisconsin roots so follow him pretty closely and know what it feels like for their team to have injury problems! Let's hope it's a good game.
Just one minor correction on the game thread, Luc Moute is actually starting at the 2 (also spent some time guarding Chris Paul last night) and RJ at the 3. Moute is the teams best defender so he may actually guard Butler or Jamison, but he's been listed at the 2 since Redd went down.

[Ruzious]

Am I a traitor for voting for Ashley? Myra will probably never speak to me again.

It's interesting how Moute has established himself so quickly, while Dom is really the same player but has taken longer to find his role. Gotta give Skiles for having the vision there.

Sessions always has big games against the Wiz, and going against James shouldn't change that. I'm predicted an ugly game. Usually, a losing team like the Wiz gets blown away at the back end of home and away back to backers, but with the Bux being short-handed and the Wiz not over-working their starters last night - I'll pick the Wiz for the upset.

[pancakes3]

it's pathetic that us winning against an injury strewn Milwaukee team is considered an upset. I say we win handily and start a winning streak. DMac and Luc's defensive prowess are wasted on each other.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

That hot dog girl has a real talent.

Where have I seen her before ...

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Ruz, Ashley's not beautiful or to me overtly sexy but IMO she looks classy, cute, charming, and IMO like wife/mom material. Looks CAN be deceiving, however.

Regardless, I like Ashley over Myra. big time. Myra looks mean to me.

[nate33]

It's weird how similar to the Buck are to us, except at PG.

SG: Butler versus Jefferson. Both are good, do-everything, veteran swing men who aren't quite good enough offensively to lead a team

SF: DMac versus Moute: Both are young, all-D, no-O swingman defenders.

PF: Jamison versus Villaneuva: Both are good but somewhat soft offensively. Both rebound well. Neither can defend.

C: Songaila versus Elson: Both are decent backup role players thrust into a starting role. Both can hit 15-foot jumpers but neither rebound well.

[Ruzious]

Ruz, Ashley's not beautiful or to me overtly sex but IMO she looks classy, cute, charming, and IMO like wife/mom material. Looks CAN be deceiving, however.

Regardless, I like Ashley over Myra. big time. Myra looks mean to me.

Yeah, Milwuakee's finest. I didn't even mind Ashley's fold of flab around the middle on the high kick. Myra probably had to be tough - growing up with a name like that.

[doclinkin]

It's interesting how Moute has established himself so quickly, while Dom is really the same player but has taken longer to find his role. Gotta give Skiles for having the vision there.

Give Ben Howland credit too. All his guys coming out of UCLA have to know how to defend, otherwise they don't play. Aggressive positional defense, scrappy, pain in the ass. Prince Luc-Richard was a finesse type player, thought soft as a frosh (by me anyway-- often seemed to come up small in big games). Now he puts in the grunt work same as any other peon in the league. Bluecollar royalty.

[closg00]

With Redd out we have a shot at taking this game. The thing that worries me, is that the last time we came off an easy victory, we got smoked.

[hands11]

With Redd out we have a shot at taking this game. The thing that worries me, is that the last time we came off an easy victory, we got smoked.

By who ?

[closg00]

With Redd out we have a shot at taking this game. The thing that worries me, is that the last time we came off an easy victory, we got smoked.

By who ?

The San Antonio debacle, 98-67 after beating New Jersey. Yeah, it's best to forget it

[hands11]

With Redd out we have a shot at taking this game. The thing that worries me, is that the last time we came off an easy victory, we got smoked.

By who ?

The San Antonio debacle, 98-67 after beating New Jersey. Yeah, it's best to forget it

I didn't forget it. I was pointing out who beat us. An injured MLK team does not equal SA so it really wasn't worth bringing it up.

[closg00]

^^^^^^

Chill hands, It's best that WE forget the ass-whipping by SA. I was pointing out that most of our wins are followed by losses, often by being beaten badly...so it was worth mentioning, it doesn't matter who the opponent is IMO, let's be ready.

[yungal07]

Mbah Moute vs. DMac is going to be interesting...you have to wonder who's going to provide the most intangibles. I assume that whoever wins this matchup is going to determine who wins the game...

[pancakes3]

^
maybe we can invent a new stat by observing the production of players with great intangibles and quantify intangibleness, or at least rank players based on the outcome. then we can sell our intangibleness rating findings to the NBA and get our hands on some of that bailout money. we'll start tonight with Luc and Mac. Winner takes the crown of head intangible. Looking at the schedule, we can add Maurice Evans' intangibleness to the rankings next when we play the hawks.

[WashWiz54]

It's weird how similar to the Buck are to us, except at PG.

SG: Butler versus Jefferson. Both are good, do-everything, veteran swing men who aren't quite good enough offensively to lead a team

SF: DMac versus Moute: Both are young, all-D, no-O swingman defenders.

PF: Jamison versus Villaneuva: Both are good but somewhat soft offensively. Both rebound well. Neither can defend.

C: Songaila versus Elson: Both are decent backup role players thrust into a starting role. Both can hit 15-foot jumpers but neither rebound well.

Scrolling through the projected starting lineup that is all I could think about too.

I expect a close game that could swing either way. Milwaukee is playing for something but we got a little bit of momentum after we beat down Chicago. Should be fun.

[WizBiz]

Just got back from watching VCU win the CAA title and Maynor's last home game, and am now pumped for some Wizards basketball. Let's hope we see the same intensity they had last night (doubt it) and hopefully it will be an exciting game.

[lupin]

Does anyone here us ATDHE? Do you actually dare to use with IE? I can't get it to load in Firefox. If not ATDHE, what do you use for games?

[WizBiz]

That's what I use when I don't get the game on tv, but I've never tried it with IE.