Game Thread: Suns(19-21) at Wizards(12-28) 1/21 at 7

[miller31time]

A change in coach will have all of "0" effect on this team the rest of the season. The new coach will just be an assistant or someone already associated with the organization and also won't have the time to implement any major new schemes or philosophies.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

DeJuan Blair starts for San Antonio.

Millsap starts for Utah.

Marquis Daniels is on the Celtics and Jarvis Hayes is not in the league, or he's buried on a bench somewhere.

Wall is struggling as a rookie.

I have said a whole lot of stuff that's been dismissed in this forum. That is why I stick to what I say--it's not like I'm wrong all the time.....

Folks argue coaching makes no difference and I've seen the Bobcats go 9-19 for one coach and 8-5 for another.

I am POSITIVE that Flip is doing a poor job winning games and that another coach could do MUCH better.

The same way McGee dribbled from halfcourt to the basket and scored is the same way he can shoot 9 shots or more a game without it being disastrous. I know the guy can score if he starts at the high post and has space to drive by a big. Javale is too fast and has a decent handle--other Cs cannot guard him that high.

This game was lost in the third quarter not just by failure to cover Frye on threes, but on a succession of about 5 bad plays by Rashard Lewis, who stayed in the game during that fateful stretch and who Flip brought back in the game at 80-88. Lewis missed a point blank layup. Lewis got blocked by Hill. Lewis got blocked by Carter. Lewis threw away an inbound pass under the Wizards basket. Lewis failed to rotate defensively on a basket by Gortat. All in the third quarter. At one point the Wizards led the game 55-52. They lost 109-91. They were outscored 57-36 from the 9:30 point of the third quarter.

When Hinrich hit a three and the Wizards showed signs of coming back, and closed to 80-88, Coach Saunders cooled his hot shooter--something he frequently does, and he also pulled a defensive unit out to put Wall and Lewis back in the game. The Wizards were outscored 21-11 the rest of the way.

This coach consistently coaches poorly in the fourth. Terrible jump shooting with tired, ineffective players is the way this coach prefers; when guys like Martin and McGee are sitting and watching the team lose.

Those who think a different coach wouldn't make a difference are just wrong.

[Wizards2Lottery]

Ok so Flip doesn't sit Hinrich and Hinrich goes on to score enough to win us the game. Then what? Whoop de doo, we have 13 wins instead of 12.

I don't like Flip as the coach of this team either, but this team was not supposed to win by design. Leonsis has said this himself. Leonsis knows that Wall isn't enough and that this team needs another solid prospect. That won't happen by winning meaningless games that put us into the playoffs and out of the lottery.

In the grand scheme of things, the record for this season is meaningless. Nobody will remember the 2010-11 Wizards and all these losses when we have another potential young star on this team.

CCJ do yourself a favor and stop caring so much. There is no point in complaining this much about a coach who will not be with this team in the long run and doesn't factor into the teams future. I mean seriously, this team was going to suck with or without Flip. Maybe it just sucks more with Flip at the helm than someone else but so what?

We're getting another top 1-10 pick and that's all that ultimately matters right now.

I have a hard time leaving the game feeling like we played decent.

There are no secrets in the NBA. You know what the opp wants to
do. It's up to you to work at making them do something else.

It's about working hard to get good shots for yourself and
working hard to minimize good shots for the opp. I don't
think we did that good a job in this game of doing either.

Well we out played Phoenix the first two quarters. We fell apart when Frye started hitting threes as if he is some kind of a hybrid between Ray Allen and Reggie Miller. For a mentally fragile team like ours, that's usually the final nail in the coffin. I thought everyone competed hard, even Blatche. Much better than the last time I saw him live against the Pacers.

[dandridge 10]

For those arguing Flip should have played Kirk more, Kirk didnt play because he was hurt and is even doubtful for tonight. But, don't let facts get in the way.

[kirubel94]

DeJuan Blair starts for San Antonio.

Millsap starts for Utah.

Marquis Daniels is on the Celtics and Jarvis Hayes is not in the league, or he's buried on a bench somewhere.

Wall is struggling as a rookie.

I have said a whole lot of stuff that's been dismissed in this forum. That is why I stick to what I say--it's not like I'm wrong all the time.....

Folks argue coaching makes no difference and I've seen the Bobcats go 9-19 for one coach and 8-5 for another.

I am POSITIVE that Flip is doing a poor job winning games and that another coach could do MUCH better.

The same way McGee dribbled from halfcourt to the basket and scored is the same way he can shoot 9 shots or more a game without it being disastrous. I know the guy can score if he starts at the high post and has space to drive by a big. Javale is too fast and has a decent handle--other Cs cannot guard him that high.

This game was lost in the third quarter not just by failure to cover Frye on threes, but on a succession of about 5 bad plays by Rashard Lewis, who stayed in the game during that fateful stretch and who Flip brought back in the game at 80-88. Lewis missed a point blank layup. Lewis got blocked by Hill. Lewis got blocked by Carter. Lewis threw away an inbound pass under the Wizards basket. Lewis failed to rotate defensively on a basket by Gortat. All in the third quarter. At one point the Wizards led the game 55-52. They lost 109-91. They were outscored 57-36 from the 9:30 point of the third quarter.

When Hinrich hit a three and the Wizards showed signs of coming back, and closed to 80-88, Coach Saunders cooled his hot shooter--something he frequently does, and he also pulled a defensive unit out to put Wall and Lewis back in the game. The Wizards were outscored 21-11 the rest of the way.

This coach consistently coaches poorly in the fourth. Terrible jump shooting with tired, ineffective players is the way this coach prefers; when guys like Martin and McGee are sitting and watching the team lose.

Those who think a different coach wouldn't make a difference are just wrong.

yes i agree with this , flip is just making mind boggling decisons 1.(not enough time for booker/seraphin) but wall have had his ups and donwns, but averaging this much assist per game for a rookie is really special , thats why i think he'll be special for years to come, but everything will figure it self out even if its firing flip.

[clancy]

For those arguing Flip should have played Kirk more, Kirk didnt play because he was hurt and is even doubtful for tonight. But, don't let facts get in the way.

Yep, and sounds like it could be a multiple game absence - Kirk is pretty tough about playing through injuries, but right arm is a little important to his game. At least they didn't give Lester Hudson yet another chance to rot on the bench...

[MOrgil]

The season is already lost. We should let the current coaching staff finish what they've started and start over next season.

[pancakes3]

I have a hard time leaving the game feeling like we played decent.

There are no secrets in the NBA. You know what the opp wants to
do. It's up to you to work at making them do something else.

It's about working hard to get good shots for yourself and
working hard to minimize good shots for the opp. I don't
think we did that good a job in this game of doing either.

most obvious and most overlooked fact on this site. learn from this, gentlemen (and women).

[Bunzilla]

When this team sucks, they all suck at once. Such ridiculously harmonious discord. From the coach down. Pulling Wall early when he was hot and had the Suns off balance was really stupid and threw off rhythm.
Meh. Still love this team.

You might want to pay more attention to the game. Wall asked to come out. He was gassed on the sideline bent over.

I apologize for expecting an early 20s player to at least have the stamina to play a full 1st quarter w/o getting winded. Or at least as long as the near 40yr old on the other team. He should've stayed in until Nash came out

[507Mack]

In the grand scheme of things, the record for this season is meaningless. Nobody will remember the 2010-11 Wizards and all these losses when we have another potential young star on this team.

CCJ do yourself a favor and stop caring so much. There is no point in complaining this much about a coach who will not be with this team in the long run and doesn't factor into the teams future. I mean seriously, this team was going to suck with or without Flip. Maybe it just sucks more with Flip at the helm than someone else but so what?

Why does everyone think that we are already out of the playoff picture? We are only five games out, with the Pacers and Bobcats holding on to the 7th and 8th seed. Either team could totally tank the 2nd half of the season. Meanwhile, this team has shown signs of life and has been competitive in every game, only we are struggling to close them out, yet I don't see it as ridiculous to think that that we can't close that 5 game gap with 41 games left.

The biggest obstacle, as usual, will be injuries. There has been zero continuity on this team, especially with Josh Howard, Blatche, Wall, and now Lewis and Hinrich. If we can ever get healthy and can get over the psychological hump of winning on the road, I don't see why we can't make a run. Those are big ifs, but I think it's too early to be looking forward to a crappy draft. How awesome would it be to play the Heat in the 1st round?

[Wizards2Lottery]

In the grand scheme of things, the record for this season is meaningless. Nobody will remember the 2010-11 Wizards and all these losses when we have another potential young star on this team.

CCJ do yourself a favor and stop caring so much. There is no point in complaining this much about a coach who will not be with this team in the long run and doesn't factor into the teams future. I mean seriously, this team was going to suck with or without Flip. Maybe it just sucks more with Flip at the helm than someone else but so what?

Why does everyone think that we are already out of the playoff picture? We are only five games out, with the Pacers and Bobcats holding on to the 7th and 8th seed. Either team could totally tank the 2nd half of the season. Meanwhile, this team has shown signs of life and has been competitive in every game, only we are struggling to close them out, yet I don't see it as ridiculous to think that that we can't close that 5 game gap with 41 games left.

The biggest obstacle, as usual, will be injuries. There has been zero continuity on this team, especially with Josh Howard, Blatche, Wall, and now Lewis and Hinrich. If we can ever get healthy and can get over the psychological hump of winning on the road, I don't see why we can't make a run. Those are big ifs, but I think it's too early to be looking forward to a crappy draft. How awesome would it be to play the Heat in the 1st round?

We make the playoffs and then what? We will get our butts kicked, we might end up being one of the worst teams ever to make the playoffs.

BFD. Give me a good player from the draft's top 5 over playing 4 useless playoff games and watching our guys get embarrassed on national TV by much superior teams.

Looking forward to a crappy draft? Hand over the crystal ball that is predicting that the top prospects in this draft are going to suck in the NBA.

[no D in Hibachi]

This game started a streak of incredibly difficult games for the Wiz. Between now and the end of February the Wiz play 18 games of pretty much murderers row:

Not a chance games: vs. boston, @NYK, vs. Denver, @OKC, @Dallas, @NOH, vs. Orlando, vs. Atlanta, vs. SAS, @Orlando, @Miami, vs. Chicago

Hopeful games: @Memphis, vs. Milwaukiee, @Philly

Winnable games: @Cleveland, vs. Indy

If the Wiz win 5 games out of this stretch it'll be impressive. Anything more is entirely unrealistic. Playoff hopes were dashed by the end of Nov. By the end of Feb I expect the record to be 17-42.

[pancakes3]

NoD,

i'm pretty sure you need to bump all the @x games a level higher than you've got them. the flip side of that coin is that the chicago and atlanta home games? i think they're hopeful.

but you're right. overall we're looking at 12-16 losses between now and march. the playoffs are definitely out of reach.

[dobrojim]

in either case, barring a miraculous string of near .500 or better ball
any hope of the playoffs will be dashed by mid-late Feb.
I was somewhat hopeful that maybe somehow they might
pull it together 4-5 games ago, but at this point, they
need to simply work on player development.