Game Thread - Washington Wizards at San Antonio Spurs

JWizmentality · Post #1 » by **JWizmentality** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 1:57 am

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2010
AT&T Center - San Antonio, TX
7:00pm EST
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The addition of rookie John Wall was supposed to be one thing that Wizards fans would be able to enjoy on a nightly basis.

But that hasn't been the case.

Wall missed his fifth game in a row Wednesday night with a bruised right knee -- an injury that was originally diagnosed as tendinitis -- and he has missed 12 of the team's 27 games this season.

This hasn't been easy for Wall, who has never missed this much basketball in his life.

"It's pretty tough," Wall said following a recent practice. "I've probably missed five, six games out of my whole life playing basketball. This is the most I've missed. So it's frustrating, trying to rehab, and seeing my team out there and can't be out there and can't make plays. I think my team is doing a great job of fighting and doing as much as they can. I just can't wait to get back out there with them."

The Wizards have not placed a timetable on his return, which means that it could be Sunday, when they play at San Antonio, or it could be much later.

However, the front office would rather err on the side of caution with Wall.

"He's going to be our point guard for the next 10, 12 years, maybe more," Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld said. "We are going to be cautious moving forward with John. We're not rushing him. His body will tell us when he's ready to return."

Wizards' Report

The San Antonio Spurs had been playing with fire during their 10-game win streak, with two escape jobs against Denver and an overtime winner against Memphis. Thursday at Orlando, the luck finally ran out.

The Spurs suffered only their fourth loss of the season and by their worst, a 21-point disaster at the hands of the re-tooled Magic, who shot better than 50 percent from the three-point arc and nearly 60 percent overall.

San Antonio might be an NBA-best 25-4, but its lead over Southwest Division rival Dallas now stands at just one game, and perhaps more intriguing is that this time around, the Mavericks appear to be the stronger defensive team.

"If we want to take advantage of that good record, we better get our acts together at the defensive end," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "Otherwise we've squandered what the basketball gods have given to us so far."

Granted, the Spurs were playing the second game of a back-to-back after arriving in Orlando in the wee hours. It was also their sixth game in nine days. That could be used as an excuse as to how the Magic scored 123 points, but it doesn't justify allowing 103, 110, 106 and 112 points in their last four games, respectively -- albeit all in victories.

Sure, the defensive-minded Popovich has adjusted to his personnel and turned the Spurs loose on the offensive end, but he can only stand so much looseness at the other end.

Spurs' Report
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JOHN WALL

Bone bruise; right knee - Day to day.

YI JIANLIAN

Hyper-extended right knee - Out indefinitely.

JAMES ANDERSON

Stress fracture; right foot - Out one month.

GEORGE HILL

Sprained right big toe - Day to day.
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DRAY RELIVES..."THE WTF LAYUP"
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO6M_qro8Mo[/youtube]

THE WTF LAYUP!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yaae43_FNp4[/youtube]

LET'S TALK GIFTS!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujcnp6li7pI[/youtube]

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM JWIZ!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1_wDVKOTjI[/youtube]
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MJG · Post #2 » by **MJG** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 2:20 am

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

JWizmentality · Post #3 » by **JWizmentality** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 2:23 am

Oops, I mean Wiz-Spurs

my bad.

GhostsOfGil · Post #4 » by **GhostsOfGil** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 2:53 am

gil lighting up the spurts rite now. i expect SA to smash us. i really dont see them loosing back to back games

truwizfan4evr · Post #5 » by **truwizfan4evr** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 11:50 am

another game of watching andray blatche 1 of the most selfish players i ever seen. i wish he was benched he has such a low basketball iq.

truwizfan4evr · Post #6 » by **truwizfan4evr** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 11:59 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yaae43_F ... r_embedded this video hunts me still

dopeismarcus · Post #7 » by **dopeismarcus** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 2:25 pm

closg00 · Post #8 » by **closg00** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 3:47 pm

Great work on the thread JWiz. What can you say, the Spurs are a horrible match-up for us all-round.

Halcyon · Post #9 » by **Halcyon** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 4:51 pm

Thanks for a fantastic game thread. Hopefully we get a late Christmas present and get a win over the Spurs...

hands11 · Post #10 » by **hands11** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 5:31 pm

Should be good for them to have a few days off to get their bodies some rest.

It has been another interesting strange season so far but lets no mistakes this kind of strange for the old kind we had before.

I think in regards to rebuilding, we are making progress. We just aren't seeing it in the wins column yet. But that isn't uncommon when you are rebuilding.

fishercob · Post #11 » by **fishercob** » Sat Dec 25, 2010 12:47 am

Again, it baffles me as to why anyone other than J-Wiz is permitted to do game threads.

dlts20 · Post #12 » by **dlts20** » Sat Dec 25, 2010 1:33 am

I think we are being too hard on Dray because I called this before the season. I said that he would be a monster and the whole league will be talking about how there were a ton of big name free agent PF's who got big contracts but the best one may be Blatche who makes by far the least.

Then he got hurt and I said that people arent talking about that injury enough as he now instead of being a top PF, will end up being someone who's not even better then he was at the end of last season. I said he wont be nearly as good as late last season until midseason at best & probably the end of the year, if at all. I said no matter what, he has no chance of being a stud like he coudlve been.

All of that wouldve been with no new injuries but on top of that he's been pretty much hurt all season so he has never gotten out the blocks. Im telling you that if he has no injuries this offseason then he will look way better next year. Way better. I just dont think people understand how hard it is to come back from stuff like that, and its near impossible when you keep getting hurt in the process. With that being said, he could be doing somethings different and playing smarter. However, he's just going to be way slower & way less athletic then the guys who have been working out non stop for the past 6 months

CaPtaiN eYeSaNo · Post #13 » by **CaPtaiN eYeSaNo** » Sat Dec 25, 2010 1:43 am

dlts20 wrote:I think we are being too hard on Dray because I called this before the season. I said that he would be a monster and the whole league will be talking about how there were a ton of big name free agent PF's who got big contracts but the best one may be Blatche who makes by far the least.

Then he got hurt and I said that people arent talking about that injury enough as he now instead of being a top PF, will end up being someone who's not even better then he was at the end of last season. I said he wont be nearly as good as late last season until midseason at best & probably the end of the year, if at all. I said no matter what, he has no chance of being a stud like he coudlve been.

All of that wouldve been with no new injuries but on top of that he's been pretty much hurt all season so he has never gotten out the blocks. Im telling you that if he has no injuries this offseason then he will look way better next year. Way better. I just dont think people understand how hard it is to come back from stuff like that, and its near impossible when you keep getting hurt in the process. With that being said, he could be doing somethings different and playing smarter. However, he's just going to be way slower & way less athletic then the guys who have been working out non stop for the past 6 months

It wouldn't be so bad if he didn't try to force things so much. Flip needs to give that dude the yellow light.

DMVleGeND · Post #14 » by **DMVleGeND** » Sat Dec 25, 2010 1:55 am

dlts20 wrote:I think we are being too hard on Dray because I called this before the season. I said that he would be a monster and the whole league will be talking about how there were a ton of big name free agent PF's who got big contracts but the best one may be Blatche who makes by far the least.

Then he got hurt and I said that people arent talking about that injury enough as he now instead of being a top PF, will end up being someone who's not even better then he was at the end of last season. I said he wont be nearly as good as late last season until midseason at best & probably the end of the year, if at all. I said no matter what, he has no chance of being a stud like he coudlve been.

All of that wouldve been with no new injuries but on top of that he's been pretty much hurt all season so he has never gotten out the blocks. Im telling you that if he has no injuries this offseason then he will look way better next year. Way better. I just dont think people understand how hard it is to come back from stuff like that, and its near impossible when you keep getting hurt in the process. With that being said, he could be doing somethings different and playing smarter. However, he's just going to be way slower & way less athletic then the guys who have been working out non stop for the past 6 months

Completely agree. I've been saying this all season. People are underestimating the impact that the foot injury has had on him. It prevented him from working on his game the whole offseason and it caused him to come to training camp out of shape, and he still isn't in top playing shape. Since he's not in shape, he play has regressed. He was never a freak athlete, but this year, he can't jump and like Dat2U said, is playing in slow motion due to the extra weight he's carrying.

On offense, he isn't a physical player, and most of his game is involved with beating his man off the dribble, and he can't do that as much because of how slow he is right now. On defense, he used to be known as a great shot-blocker, but this season, he has no vertical, and he's only averaging 0.5 bpg. Earlier in the season, I was questioning his effort. It seemed like he didn't care about playing defense, but ever since that Toronto game, he's been a changed man. It seems like he put a lot more effort in. With that being said though, he still usually isn't playing good defense, but he's trying. Before this season, he used to at least be an average defender, but his defense has really taken a hit this season, and I think it's mainly due to conditioning. When he's playing man-to-man defense this season, he has usually gotten blown by EASILY because of how slow he is, even when he's trying. Him being out of shape also hurts his rebounding. He has ZERO explosion right now.

With all that being said though, I'm not a physical trainer, but shouldn't he be in shape by now. I think he's played 23 games this season, he said he runs extra laps during practice, and said he has cut red meat out of his diet, but it doesn't even look like he's lost a single pound yet. Like I said, I'm not a physical trainer so I don't know how long it takes to get in good shape after a big injury like he had, but it just makes me wonder how good his work ethic is.

Like all of you I was looking forward to Dray taking that big leap this season, and I know it hasn't happened yet, but give him time. It's really tough to come off an injury like that. I really don't think he's satisfied now that he got a new contract. Yes, he does make some mistakes he shouldn't be making on the court, but I think that MOST of his problems are because of the offseason injury. I truly think that as he rounds back into shape, that his play will get better.

truwizfan4evr · Post #15 » by **truwizfan4evr** » Sat Dec 25, 2010 4:18 am

were not hard enough on dray I never in my life seen a more selfish big man who try to dribble between his legs vs other nba big Men. lets don't forget him missing that triple double his reaction he a cancer too this team he make me ashamed too be a wizards fan he not a very bright player. he makes the same dumb mistakes over and over again. I almost expecting him too embarrassed himself again. every time he touch the ball its a turnover or a bad shot waiting too happen. we wont ever win witha selfish player who play not too win but play just for stats.

VA_story · Post #16 » by **VA_story** » Sun Dec 26, 2010 2:50 am

We are not being too hard on Blatche..he cleary doesn't give anywhere near top effort. People keep saying he's out of shape etc etc but the season started 2 months ago..he should be in shape by now or at least very close to it. There is no excuse for playing like you don't give a f**k on defense and then consistently taking bad shots on offense. The only game where he looked like he cared was against the Heat and he ended up blowing that game. Blatche isn't who I thought he was..

TGW · Post #17 » by **TGW** » Sun Dec 26, 2010 2:56 am

So did Blatche and McGee really get suspended?

LOL this management simply do not know how to handle these guys. Get Blatche out of here. I'm sick of his ass too.

McGully Culkin · Post #18 » by **McGully Culkin** » Sun Dec 26, 2010 3:01 am

TGW wrote:So did Blatche and McGee really get suspended?

LOL this management simply do not know how to handle these guys. Get Blatche out of here. I'm sick of his ass too.

russbengtson Russ Bengtson
RT @johnschuhmann: Wizards suspend Blatche & McGee for Sunday's game in San Antonio.

mhd · Post #19 » by **mhd** » Sun Dec 26, 2010 4:22 am

Time for the bash brothers to start! Honestly, the way McGee has been playing, I'd start Seraphin over him. He's already a better man defender than McGee is.

hands11 · Post #20 » by **hands11** » Sun Dec 26, 2010 6:01 am

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wireta ... _one_game/

Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that forward Andray Blatche and center JaVale McGee have both been suspended one game for conduct detrimental to the team. “After further investigation into an incident on Thursday night, we concluded that Andray and JaVale conducted themselves in an unprofessional manner,” said Grunfeld. “As a result, both players will be suspended for tomorrow’s game at San Antonio.”

Read more: http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wireta ... z19C8A9bdL

Well, at least it is always interesting aroud here. Kids. Just tired of kids.

Well, I hope they are both imbarrished. Time to grow up little boys.

Actually, I'm glad we get to see a game without either of them. This is good timing IMO. With Gil gone, these are the only two knuckheads left. Nick seems to have mostly graduated. It says something that Nick wasn't included in the story.

Are we being too hard on Blatche?