Game Thread: Wiz at Rockets 12/27/10 8:30ET

[dobrojim]

i dont know about u guys but rashard hasnt looked nearly as bad as advertised on the boards

dare I say it, he's doing better than the very popular player he was traded
for (in a trade I disapproved of but am growing more accepting of by the game)

all that said, I noted this morning that Lewis played the most minutes
of anybody, over forty. Not sure that's a good thing. It may be due to
his ability to play either fwd spot.

[dobrojim]

WTF was that? BS call on Blatche

You know what's sad, I no longer feel sorry for him.

I think the refs agree with you. Being human, they react to body language.
AB needs to put his nose to the proverbial grindstone and start busting
his butt out there. We'll all respect him a lot more when he does that.
His numbers for the game weren't horrible though. It just gnaws at you
that he could be better/do more.

[dobrojim]

Wall has gotten to the line 10 times.

I'm not positive about this but when he shot the T that was called
on Adelman, wasn't Nick in the game? If so, Wall shouldn't have shot
it. The best FT% shooter on the floor should take that shot. Pretty sure
that that wasn't Wall. Could have used that point. His miss on the T was
the beginning of the end for us.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Washington scored 33 in the first against Chicago, one of the top defensive teams in the league. They faded to score only 10 in the fourth.

The Wizards played San Antonio tough.

They led Houston by 9 points in the fourth, but down the stretch were outscored 16-32.

In terms of talent, Lewis and Howard are former all stars with Finals experience. Hinrich has started dozens of playoff games. McGee is top ten in offensive rebounding and may be the best or second best shotblocker in the league. Young is a great one-on-one scorer and shooter with great range. Blatche can do everything but overpower. Great handle for a big. Good scorer, passer, rebounder. Very well-rounded player but one who is being asked to carry a team. Wall is talented enough to have been the top overall pick. SeraphIn and Booker are strong, fast, intimidating guys. Cartier Martin hits big shots.

Comparing this team with other rosters I see no superstars or stars, but Washington has a lot of guys that other teams covet. I have seen teams start guys like Antonio Daniels and Deshawn Stevenso, with Jamison or Butler as best player make the playoffs.

This team has a lot better personnel than any recent Wizards team, IMO.

[dobrojim]

Seriously, where was McGee in the 4th? He didn't have much for stats, but he altered so many shots and made a huge differense defensively.

ugh.

You are correct. While I do agree with others that it is idiotic to blame Dray for this loss he is one of the main reasons why they did. I have not looked at the box score but I would assume he probably had the lowest +/- differential. He is terrible, and hopefully he is the next to be traded off of this team. At the very least this team's best player (Mcgee) would get substantially more playing time.

not afraid to be controversial. I can respect that. There actually are periods
where McGee is the best player on the court. Unfortunately for us zard fans,
those moments are not nearly frequent enough. Against a smallish front line
for HOU, JM was 1-5 from the floor. And before the game I thought he might
have another one of his good moments. Such is life as a Wizards fan.

[dobrojim]

I don't understand why everyone is hating on Blatche. I thought Blatche had a very good game. Yes, he made one bad turnover down the stretch, but that wasn't the difference maker. Blatche was a force tonight. He has 17 points, 14 boards, 3 steals and 2 blocks. And his boards were man boards. It wasn't just a matter of the ball dropping in his lap.

I get tired of the blame game. Everyone on the team had their moments, both good and bad. And there was no magic rotation that would have been the difference maker either, or rather, there's no way to know in advance what rotation will work down the stretch.

The other team wants to win too. Sometimes they just make more shots that we do.

Overall, I think it was another good game. We lack a star to close games for us. One day, I hope Wall develops into that player. But right now, he's too turnover prone and not a good enough shooter.

My one criticism of Flip was that I didn't think the Blatche ISO's down the stretch were our best options. I'd like to have seen them work the ball to either Rashard Lewis on the face up, or to Nick Young in the post.

+1

+2, although I would say Blatche had a decent game, not a very good game. I thought he played defense pretty well, displayed effort, and rebounded well, but he had some very careless turnovers and settled way to much for jumpers once again. I think the Blatche ISOs would produce more if he actually tried to back his defender down in the post more. However, whenever he receives some resistance from the defender, he seems to try to settle for a jumper or look to pass with little time on the shot clock. He needs to be more decisive and tougher in his ISOs.

With that said, by no means was Blatche the blame for the loss. This team just doesn't know how to win right now. Part of it is lack of confidence, part of it is young players making bad mistakes and part of it is this team doesn't have exactly the highest IQ. The good news is that the team is playing better. We are sharing the ball better, playing better defense, rebounding better, and competing. As long as they continue to improve, some wins will come...not many, but at least enough to make some of us happy on this board.

+3

[dobrojim]

Game thread ends in loss and I want Ruz, dandridge, and nate to note I haven't said one negative thing about Flip.

You remind me of Chevy Chase in Caddyshack.

Chevy: "You're not being the ball Danny."

Danny: "Well it's kind of hard with you talking like that."

Chevy: "I've stopped talking, I'm not talking now..."

He was telling Noonan right. Tontoz, thanks for giving me something to laugh about.

Ted Knight, Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield and Chevy were all great in that movie. One of the all time great comedies. My favorite part was Bill Murray blowing up the golf course trying to blast the dancing gopher. That and Rodney on the course with all kinds of gadgets and wearing pimp gear. Funny, funny movie.

did somebody sit on a duck?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Wall has gotten to the line 10 times.

I'm not positive about this but when he shot the T that was called
on Adelman, wasn't Nick in the game? If so, Wall shouldn't have shot
it. The best FT% shooter on the floor should take that shot. Pretty sure
that that wasn't Wall. Could have used that point. His miss on the T was
the beginning of the end for us.

From the beginning of this season Wall was made captain.

Nick is the best FT shooter. Lewis is IIRC a 12th year pro and a shooter. Kirk and Josh have taken big FTs before.

Maybe it simply was Wall had been to the line and made a bunch. Then again, rarely is the youngest guy the leader. Imagine any business or the military operating that way.

I think Kirk, Rashard, and on technicals Nick need to ask the rookie to step aside. Not that he can't make them, but more out of protocol.

Lewis should also be named a captain IMO.

[Dat2U]

You are correct. While I do agree with others that it is idiotic to blame Dray for this loss he is one of the main reasons why they did. I have not looked at the box score but I would assume he probably had the lowest +/- differential. He is terrible, and hopefully he is the next to be traded off of this team. [At the very least this team's best player (Mcgee) would get substantially more playing time.

When will people realize that individual +/- differential is an absolutely worthless stat just looking at it on a game by game basis? It can be used to get an idea of how effective certain lineups are but there so many variables and so many influences in the +/- numbers not controlled by the individual player. One needs a much larger sample size to draw any conclusions.

If anyone wants to assign blame, how bout Flip for playing Blatche who has a history of being gassed by the 4th quarter a whopping 43 minutes?

Blatche wasn't the lone or main reason we lost his game. To suggest so shows you have no clue of what your watching. The team collectively suffered a complete meltdown in the 4th quarter. From Wall to Shard to Nick to Blatche to Flip. It falls on everyone.

[dobrojim]

Wall has gotten to the line 10 times.

I'm not positive about this but when he shot the T that was called
on Adelman, wasn't Nick in the game? If so, Wall shouldn't have shot
it. The best FT% shooter on the floor should take that shot. Pretty sure
that that wasn't Wall. Could have used that point. His miss on the T was
the beginning of the end for us.

From the beginning of this season Wall was made captain.

Nick is the best FT shooter. Lewis is IIRC a 12th year pro and a shooter. Kirk and Josh have taken big FTs before.

Maybe it simply was Wall had been to the line and made a bunch. Then again, rarely is the youngest guy the leader. Imagine any business or the military operating that way.

I think Kirk, Rashard, and on technicals Nick need to ask the rookie to step aside. Not that he can't make them, but more out of protocol.

Lewis should also be named a captain IMO.

being capt and/or a leader to me means you have the knowledge
to know when it is best for the team to defer. T FTs are like a gift
to the shooter. In order to 'qualify' for that gift or reward and as
an incentive to be the best FT shooter you can be, that gift should
ALWAYS go to the best FT on the floor. Now one could quibble about
how far back a time period one should look at when determining
who is the best on the floor at a given moment. I actually don't
feel it should be up to the players to decide. This is where the
coach has to have the ultimate say. I used to feel the same way
when Gil would shoot Ts when Caron was on the floor.

[pancakes3]

being capt and/or a leader to me means you have the knowledge
to know when it is best for the team to defer. T FTs are like a gift
to the shooter. In order to 'qualify' for that gift or reward and as
an incentive to be the best FT shooter you can be, that gift should
ALWAYS go to the best FT on the floor. Now one could quibble about
how far back a time period one should look at when determining
who is the best on the floor at a given moment. I actually don't
feel it should be up to the players to decide. This is where the
coach has to have the ultimate say. I used to feel the same way
when Gil would shoot Ts when Caron was on the floor.

agree, a lot. primarily, it's flip's call. secondarily, wall should have deferred. either way it's 2 tiers of game mismanagement. i wonder if Redick shoots T's for the magic.

[hands11]

Wall has gotten to the line 10 times.

I'm not positive about this but when he shot the T that was called
on Adelman, wasn't Nick in the game? If so, Wall shouldn't have shot
it. The best FT% shooter on the floor should take that shot. Pretty sure
that that wasn't Wall. Could have used that point. His miss on the T was
the beginning of the end for us.

Wall ended up 9-13 from the line.

He missed the T and was 0-2 late in the game.

That would have made him 9-10 without those misses.

He was hitting FTs and Flip probably wanted to boost his confidence as a clutch lead player so he sent him to the line. Problem is he missed.

School of hard knocks I guess.

[hands11]

Washington scored 33 in the first against Chicago, one of the top defensive teams in the league. They faded to score only 10 in the fourth.

The Wizards played San Antonio tough.

They led Houston by 9 points in the fourth, but down the stretch were outscored 16-32.

In terms of talent, Lewis and Howard are former all stars with Finals experience. Hinrich has started dozens of playoff games. McGee is top ten in offensive rebounding and may be the best or second best shotblocker in the league. Young is a great one-on-one scorer and shooter with great range. Blatche can do everything but overpower. Great handle for a big. Good scorer, passer, rebounder. Very well-rounded player but one who is being asked to carry a team. Wall is talented enough to have been the top overall pick. SeraphIn and Booker are strong, fast, intimidating guys. Cartier Martin hits big shots.

Comparing this team with other rosters I see no superstars or stars, but Washington has a lot of guys that other teams covet. I have seen teams start guys like Antonio Daniels and Deshawn Stevenso, with Jamison or Butler as best player make the playoffs.

This team has a lot better personnel than any recent Wizards team, IMO.

Painting it like is cause for some hope

BUT

Dray and McGee just messed up again. First game back and before that Dray was hurt.

Wall is fresh off one of his longer stretches of being out and last time he played serious mins, Gil was here. Lewis wasn't. Nor was Howard. Now he is off the bench and Nick is starting at SG. I still think Wall is forcing things and not in rhythm. 2-9 and 2-7 his last two games.

Armstrong was out. People bust on him, but he is pretty solid on D and rebounding in his limited minutes. He does put a body on people. And he actually has a few controlled reasonably professional moves and rarely shoots out of the flow. Not near McGee as an athlete but he eats up more room and plays "mostly " under control.

Lewis. While I like the trade, he has only been here 3 games and two of them he was 0-5 and 0-2 from 3 range. He is closer to a .400 shooter from 3 so he must not be comfortable with the offense yet. Plus his FTAs are down.

Howard has played ok but he is only 5 games back from a torn ACL.

Kirk and the offense looked like they ran the smoothly when Kirk was the only PG available. The offense got into a rhythm. Wall plays a totally different game and a different speed. So the team has to adjust to that. And Wall and Kirk on the floor together is another things to get working or to learn not to do if it isn't working. Then you have the whole Wall, Kirk, Nick thing that should probably get canned.

The Wiz have had anything but a consistent roster this year and as a result they have started the most different line ups of any NBA team. ( I think I have heard that a few times )

So while there are pieces, they haven't had much if any time together as a unit so they are not solid in their roles. And this is likely to change again if/when Wall returns to being a starter.

Does Nick still start of will Flip play Kirk at SG ?
What are the line ups finally going to be and the rotations ?

I think this is the basis for why someone looking at this would say, hey, they have the talent to be a better team if they were to start the season over. But you can't and this won't likely be the roster that starts next year so you will never know the answer to that speculation.

The start of January is pretty easy with several weak team lined up in a row.
Then it gets pretty brutal.

So if they plan on doing something, now would be a good time to get lucky and get the roster clicking ahead of schedule. I hope they do. I hate giving up on the season so early into it and I don't think it is good for the players or organization either.

[hands11]

Wall has gotten to the line 10 times.

I'm not positive about this but when he shot the T that was called
on Adelman, wasn't Nick in the game? If so, Wall shouldn't have shot
it. The best FT% shooter on the floor should take that shot. Pretty sure
that that wasn't Wall. Could have used that point. His miss on the T was
the beginning of the end for us.

Wall ended up 9-13 from the line.

He missed the T and was 0-2 late in the game.

That would have made him 9-10 without those misses.

He was hitting FTs and Flip probably wanted to boost his confidence as a clutch lead player so he sent him to the line. Problem is he missed.

School of hard knocks I guess.

Correction. After watching the game again. Right after the T was called, Wall immediately starting walking across the floor to line up for the FT. I didn't even see any interaction between him and Flip. So, he was either tagged as the guy to take all FTs this game, or he just took it upon himself to be the one shooting it because this is his team.