Player of the Game - Wiz vs Sixers (11/23/10)

[pineappleheadindc]

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Who will be a man and stand up and admit that you thought the Wiz were doomed when Sixer's G Evan Turner stepped up to the FT line with just a few seconds to go to ice the game? Admit it.

Somehow, thanks to Turner's misses and G Jrue Holiday's gift 3-shot foul of Wizards G John Wall - who sunk three high-pressure foul shots calmly, YOUR Washington Wizards eke out a game they had no business winning.

Here are your nominees for Player of the Game.

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C Javale McGee
24 points (9-15 fg, 6-8 ft); 18 boards; 2 dimes; 2 steals; 4 blocks; 2 turns in 46 minutes.



G John Wall
25 points (7-15 fg, 3-7 3pt, 8-8 ft); 3 boards; 6 dimes; 1 steal; 1 turn in 36 minutes



G/F Nick Young
19 points (7-15 fg, 4-8 3pt, 1-1 ft); 3 boards; 1 dime; 1 stea; 1 block; 1 turn in 32 minutes



G Gilbert Arenas
17 points (6-16 fg, 3-7 3pts, 2-2 ft); 3 boards; 7 dimes; 1 steal; 2 blocks; 8 turns in 42 minutes



F Andray Blatche
17 points (8-21 fg, 1-2 ft); 12 boards; 3 dimes; 1 turn in 43 minutes



Sixers G Evan Turner
Missed two crucial FTs late in the game.



Sixers G Jrue Holiday
Fouls a 3 point shooter with under 8 seconds to go.



Sixers F Elton Brand
Takes himself out of the game with a Flagrant 2 foul on McGee in the second half.



Wizards Head Coach Flip Saunders
You have to admit, the improvement in McGee over just the course of the short season is amazing. Anyone willing to say that Flip is part of the reason why?


A fun game, an unexpected win. Proof that JWiz's game threads have the strong juju. Perhaps JWiz is the anti-Ji.

On to a Thanksgiving day match-up with the Hawks.

Go Wiz!

[pineappleheadindc]

My picks are:

1) Nick Young. Nick has strung together a nice run of games. I was okay in regulation (see game thread) with him trying to hit the final shot. Nice to see him hit the winning shot in OT.

2) Javale McGee. Somebody slap me down if this is too koolaide-ish. But McGee is playing at an all star level. Even when he has nothing to do with a play, guys inside throw up wild shots quickly b/c they're afraid he's gonna swat it.

3) John Wall. I think he may be still hurting on his wheels. But decided to warrior himself up. Three high-pressure FTs to tie the game in regulation? No problem.

Go Wizards.

[Halcyon]

1) McGee: Machine
2) Wall: God
3) Young: Clutch

[nate33]

1. McGee. Without him, we lose by 20. His offensive rebounding saved us in the first half. He altered a ton more shots than the 4 blocks and 2 steals indicate.

2. Wall. He was terrible in his first stint in the 1st quarter but fantastic thereafter. I love the clutch free throws from the rookie, but I'm also pretty excited about the 3-point shooting. He was 3-7 from 3P range (and one of the misses was a desperation attempt with the shot clock expiring). He is quietly shooting 38% from 3-point range on the season. Who said he has no outside shot?

3. Young. Clutch shooting. Good D. Keep it up young man.

[pineappleheadindc]

Honorable mention:

JWiz for the lucky game thread.

[TheBigThree]

1) McGee: self explanatory. That dunk that got Brand ejected showed that he **** wanted it. He wasn't kidding about being sick of losing and seems is doing everything in his power to make sure it doesn't happen.

2) Nick Young: So great to finally see this kid knock down one of those game winners. Really a feel-good moment. I really hope he continues his consistent play, because he's the type of player every team needs, even if he continues coming off the bench.

3) Wall: To play the way he did in the second half, despite the soreness, and to knock down those 3 shots was incredible.

Honorable mention: Booker for that incredibly heady play. So many little plays that paved the way to this victory. Gotta love how many individual players contributed, even Blatche who clearly isn't 100% came through in the clutch.

[Scabs304]

McGee, Young and Wall. I believe are best line-up is Wall, Arenas, Young, Blatche and McGee. This allows the team to spread the floor on offense and if Arenas and Young are interested in playing defense we can actually be a decent defenstive team too.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

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Who will be a man and stand up and admit that you thought the Wiz were doomed when Sixer's G Evan Turner stepped up to the FT line with just a few seconds to go to ice the game? Admit it.

I didn't see this game so I cannot admit about that play. However, I am a stand guy when it comes to admitting my mistakes once I recognize them. Pine, I'll stand up:




I ADMIT TO POSTING THAT THE WIZARDS SHOULD NOT DRAFT WALL BUT SHOULD INSTEAD TRADE HIS RIGHTS FOR TURNER AND A PICK. I thought Turner would better than Wall and that Cousins would be best of all the rookies. My dream scenario was Turner and Cousins INSTEAD OF WALL. I was wrong, wrong, and wrong.

You have to admit, the improvement in McGee over just the course of the short season is amazing. Anyone willing to say that Flip is part of the reason why?

Yes, I think Flip's methods have actually helped McGee.

Yet another rebounding high from McGee, when it was Flip who told him he needed to rebound and not worry about offensive moves he wasn't able to do yet.



Javale is the dog and Flip is Pavlov, it seems. The bell rings and the dog responds appropriately. Hey, seriously, McGee really is playing better beyond belief. Perhaps playing the best ball on the team--even better than Wall.

Bravo to Flip Saunders! Well done (just as long as Flip stays consistent and positive as he has when McGee's balled of late.

[montestewart]

McGee, Young, Wall. Might have done Wall higher, but I expect great things from him, even as a rookie coming back from injury off the bench. McGee and Young are raising their games before my eyes.

I missed this game, but the productivity curve for Javale seems to be spiking exponentially upward.

He keeps an eye on his man more, uses his body to block passes to his man and block out better, isn't biting as often on fakes, is using his length, size, and strength better, and seems to follow the overall flow (as opposed to just the ball) more. It's like a bunch of things just clicked and are feeding his confidence and energizing him, but really, he always played with a lot of energy, he just looks like he's raised his BB IQ a bit.

And Saunders has to get credit for his approach, which seems to finally be paying off.

[Hoopalotta]

I missed this game, but the productivity curve for Javale seems to be spiking exponentially upward.

He keeps an eye on his man more, uses his body to block passes to his man and block out better, isn't biting as often on fakes, is using his length, size, and strength better, and seems to follow the overall flow (as opposed to just the ball) more. It's like a bunch of things just clicked and are feeding his confidence and energizing him, but really, he always played with a lot of energy, he just looks like he's raised his BB IQ a bit.

Right now, the biggest failing is not cleaning up the D-glass collectively as a unit when McGee rotates onto an inbound scorer. The Philly stats on the O-Boards don't look so bad, but it seemed every time McGee had to pick someone up right in the lane, if he didn't swat the shot, the board led right to a dunk or a put back. That seems to have been about 7-8 times or so against Philly, which is an awful lot of points in the paint.

McGee's help defense is looking real nice, but we're really letting it hurt us by not boxing out and crashing the glass in support. I guess part of it is the three guards and Blatche did have 8 defensive rebounds, but something's gotta give as it's probably the difference between being an average defense versus a bottom five defense (at least given tonight's trends).

[willbcocks]

I think Booker should get his picture in the OP for that clutch jump ball, but I go with:

1 Mcgee
2) Wall
3) Young
4) The broken brained 76ers

[jimij]

1. McGee - best game of his career (which is becoming a nightly occurence).

2. Wall - fantastic 2nd half (hey Pine, he looked a little better starting the 2nd half vs coming off the bench in the 1st )

3. Young - clutch shot but I liked his D on AI on Philly's last shot just as much as he defended him hard without fouling and forced a tough jumper.

HM - Thornton for getting hurt.

[closg00]

1. McGee - Maintained instensity throughout the game even when were down double-digits.

2. Wall - You could tell that he was not %100, but he hit some big shots and FT's with vet-poise.

3. Young - Young has really stepped-up his game forcing Flip to trust him more. Less Kirk =more wins

Abe Pollin - The ghost of Abe got us the #1 pick and last night he came back to Verizon on the anniversary eve of his death to work a little magic

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

jimij, Al Thornton goes out injured a few days after Gee comes back to the Wizards, perhaps no more than 2 or 3 weeks before Josh Howard comes to the Wizards, and he goes down right when Nick Young is seriously balling.That's worthy of an honorable mention alright.

I'm already thinking as crazy as it sounds the Spurs might value Thornton's experience and defense more than what Gee or Danny Green provided in brief stints. I could see Al Thornton stepping up big for that team if Richard Jefferson fades. I'm not trying to trade Thornton but just suggest he'd be better off on a team I think is going to take the Lakers down and win it all this season.

Just so nobody gets upset, I'll say Thornton's been a terrific defender at SF this season. His offense has been more miss than hit lately, but Al has put the clamps on a lot of opposing SFs this season, and he's had a couple big games.

He might be odd man out when Howard returns, however.

[Donkey McDonkerton]

BDW for sure....

[LyricalRico]

Gave it to Elton Brand for the flagrant 2 on McGee. Not only did it fire up the Wiz but it took out Philly's best big for the rest of the 4th and overtime. McGee waving goodbye to him was classic.

[dlts20]

McGee was a monster but Wall is the one that changed that game and the culture. His game just translates to winning.

1- Wall
2-McGee
3- NY

[pancakes3]

^ that's probably too much hyperbole but i'll still give wall the PotG award for drawing that foul and sinking the ensuing FTs. sinking 3 in a row just to TIE at the end of a game is probably the most pressure you can face as a FT shooter. granted this is an early reg season game against the sixers, but still. the pure mathematical odds of wall as a 79% shooter making 3 in a row is roughly 50/50.

[DallasShalDune]

I gave Wall the potg for scoring 17 or so points in the 4th quarter and proving that he is more clutch than Evan Turner.

McGee is easily number two, and NY is #3 for his spark and his shot!

[FreeBalling]

I would have given Doug Collins a vote had his name been on the list.