Wiz vs Rockets Game Thread 2/23/13 7PM - its a win 2-0

[RustyMagoo]

Bumping Okafor up from 24-26 minutes to 34 tonight was huge. Wittman called plays out of the timeout for Okafor, too.

You still hating the Nene for McGee move


WOW. What a game.

TREVOR WAS HUGE.

Hey, really efficient game by Wall. I will take 11 and 12 with 2 TOs every day.

Lin 5 pts 6 ast. Advantage Wall.

[hands11]

How good is that Okafor/Trevor trade looking now.

It is looking pretty good.

Okafor's line: 17 points (8-16 FG), 11 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 3 blocks
Ariza's line: 18 points (8-12 FG, 2-4 3PT), 4 rebounds, 6 assist, 4 steals

Guess what DC. You have a professional basketball team.

I said it before and I still believe it. This is the best Wiz team in 15 year.

Better then any Gil, CB, AJ team. Better then GIl and Hughes.

They are build on D. Every starter plays D which is my standard.
Nene and Okafor are better then anything since Hayes and Unseld.
Beal at SG
Wall as a true PG
Two SF that while neither is a stud, both play D and both can hit the 3. Webster is very good at it.

If they start the year with this roster, they are a sure playoff team.

Add some depth, and they can make some noise.

[Wizardspride]

How good is that Okafor/Trevor trade looking now.

It is looking pretty good.

Okafor's line: 17 points (8-16 FG), 11 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 3 blocks
Ariza's line: 18 points (8-12 FG, 2-4 3PT), 4 rebounds, 6 assist, 4 steals

Guess what DC. You have a professional basketball team.

I said it before and I still believe it. This is the best Wiz team in 15 year.

Better then any Gil, CB, AJ team. Better then GIl and Hughes.

Until this team actually makes the postseason I'll reserve judgement.

But with that being said, I think you MAY be right.

[hands11]

Randy is a good coach.

I like that Wittman started Singleton in the second half with Okafor getting rest after the Wizards gave up a bunch of threes in the first half. That move worked. Booker is ahead of Seraphin in the rotation. That is the right call. The way the Wizards play a deep bench has for the second night enabled them to grind the game out in the fourth. All season long the Wizards have been holding teams' scoring down in the fourth. They have been holding teams to 21 or so in the fourth. Tonight, they outscored Houston 28-20 in the fourth.

Randy is getting it done. I think he's the best coach the Wizards have had in quite a while.

This doesnt change that Randy has not been a good game time coach.

But with this roster of player that are almost to a man players I think he understands and can manage, I think he is going to be a better game time coach then he has been.

I expect Randy to start looking a lot better as a game time coach now. He has his pecking order worked out. He has a standard set. I think he will even start to work Ves in over the next 5 games. He is building a base. He can grow it from here.

I think he might just survive this transition. But they have to stay healthy at least another 5-10 games so this can really sink in before he needs to change anything.

Right now. The starters are starts, the role players are role players and the end of the bench are the end of the bench. Right now, everyone has a spot and they now what they need to do to get more time. The gear fit together.

[nuposse04]

we sure don't like making it easy on ourselves, enthralling win none the less though. Gotta give Ariza some props on playing through the injury, hopefully smith will be alright for HOU.

Lets just bring this sort of effort against the bad teams now. Great to see the verizon center crowd get into it. DC is having a good sports day today

[Kobe System]

Good job, guys!

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Randy is a good coach.

I like that Wittman started Singleton in the second half with Okafor getting rest after the Wizards gave up a bunch of threes in the first half. That move worked. Booker is ahead of Seraphin in the rotation. That is the right call. The way the Wizards play a deep bench has for the second night enabled them to grind the game out in the fourth. All season long the Wizards have been holding teams' scoring down in the fourth. They have been holding teams to 21 or so in the fourth. Tonight, they outscored Houston 28-20 in the fourth.

Randy is getting it done. I think he's the best coach the Wizards have had in quite a while.

This doesnt change that Randy has not been a good game time coach.

But with this roster of player that are almost to a man players I think he understands and can manage, I think he is going to be a better game time coach then he has been.

I expect Randy to start looking a lot better as a game time coach now. He has his pecking order worked out. He has a standard set. I think he will even start to work Ves in over the next 5 games. He is building a base. He can grow it from here.

I think he might just survive this transition. But they have to stay healthy at least another 5-10 games so this can really sink in before he needs to change anything.

Right now. The starters are starts, the role players are role players and the end of the bench are the end of the bench. Right now, everyone has a spot and they now what they need to do to get more time. The gear fit together.

According to b-r, the Wizards should have about three wins more. If they were 20-34 instead of 17-37, I guess there probably would be few questions about Wittman's coaching.

[Kobe System]

we sure don't like making it easy on ourselves, enthralling win none the less though. Gotta give Ariza some props on playing through the injury, hopefully smith will be alright for HOU.

Lets just bring this sort of effort against the bad teams now. Great to see the verizon center crowd get into it. DC is having a good sports day today

Didn't watch the game. What happened to him?

[hands11]

we sure don't like making it easy on ourselves, enthralling win none the less though. Gotta give Ariza some props on playing through the injury, hopefully smith will be alright for HOU.

Lets just bring this sort of effort against the bad teams now. Great to see the verizon center crowd get into it. DC is having a good sports day today

Smith is not likely to be alright. Looked like he got a ACL or something.

Funny thing. Even though it was touch and go and I was on pins and needles all game, I never counted them out.

Why. They have DEFENSE. They have a nice blend. It was up to Whitman to make it work and he did a really nice job tonight.

If you didn't watch them all year or over the last 3 and you just toned in. You would see a good team that has talent and is balance. Its just hard for fans that have watch it all so closely to see it.

[hands11]

Randy is a good coach.

I like that Wittman started Singleton in the second half with Okafor getting rest after the Wizards gave up a bunch of threes in the first half. That move worked. Booker is ahead of Seraphin in the rotation. That is the right call. The way the Wizards play a deep bench has for the second night enabled them to grind the game out in the fourth. All season long the Wizards have been holding teams' scoring down in the fourth. They have been holding teams to 21 or so in the fourth. Tonight, they outscored Houston 28-20 in the fourth.

Randy is getting it done. I think he's the best coach the Wizards have had in quite a while.

This doesnt change that Randy has not been a good game time coach.

But with this roster of player that are almost to a man players I think he understands and can manage, I think he is going to be a better game time coach then he has been.

I expect Randy to start looking a lot better as a game time coach now. He has his pecking order worked out. He has a standard set. I think he will even start to work Ves in over the next 5 games. He is building a base. He can grow it from here.

I think he might just survive this transition. But they have to stay healthy at least another 5-10 games so this can really sink in before he needs to change anything.

Right now. The starters are starts, the role players are role players and the end of the bench are the end of the bench. Right now, everyone has a spot and they now what they need to do to get more time. The gear fit together.

According to b-r, the Wizards should have about three wins more. If they were 20-34 instead of 17-37, I guess there probably would be few questions about Wittman's coaching.

No way to prove it of course, but I have way more Ls on Randy then that. Probably closer to 6 to 8.

He has sucked many times this year. But it doesn't matter now. The past is past. I wanted them to bring him back. I lead that charge. I even started the Randy appreciation thread. He just hasn't been as good as he could have been in game. But even though he has been bad at in game coaching, he installed a great D. He know what kind of offense he wanted to run and it was a ball sharing pass it around offense. He just didn't have the player healthy to do it.

I think he will be better from here on out. That is what matter more then anything.

[nate33]

we sure don't like making it easy on ourselves, enthralling win none the less though. Gotta give Ariza some props on playing through the injury, hopefully smith will be alright for HOU.

Lets just bring this sort of effort against the bad teams now. Great to see the verizon center crowd get into it. DC is having a good sports day today

Didn't watch the game. What happened to him?

Banged knees with Ariza. Basically the front of Ariza's knee caught Smith in the side of his knee. Smith's knee buckled sideways a little. It didn't look good. Ariza was wincing a bit, but it looked like the kind of thing that bruise but not damage the knee. Ariza stayed in the game.

[hands11]

POTG ?

Wall
Beal
Trevor
Okafor

Thats a tough one.

OkaRiza?

I don't know.

[GhostsOfGil]

Beal
Ariza
Okafor/Wall

[nate33]

Gotta go with Ariza for POTG.

[Kobe System]

we sure don't like making it easy on ourselves, enthralling win none the less though. Gotta give Ariza some props on playing through the injury, hopefully smith will be alright for HOU.

Lets just bring this sort of effort against the bad teams now. Great to see the verizon center crowd get into it. DC is having a good sports day today

Didn't watch the game. What happened to him?

Banged knees with Ariza. Basically the front of Ariza's knee caught Smith in the side of his knee. Smith's knee buckled sideways a little. It didn't look good. Ariza was wincing a bit, but it looked like the kind of thing that bruise but not damage the knee. Ariza stayed in the game.

Thanks for the info.

[w dumseld]

Happen to be back in DC so went to my first Wiz game in a long long time. Was in the wives section. Talked with a PT person with the team. I asked about Wall and that in the year of RG3 wrecking his knee, it seemed bad Karma to bring Wall back and risk hurting his knee. They said Wall's knee is nothing like RG3's situation, so I hated pretty hard on their medical staff and how they killed Gilbert;s career by having his surgeries at Sibley. They said Gilbert made that decision and that you just couldn;t get through to him, he had too much of his own mind. And the same thing with the parachute and crazy rehab. Apparently, Sizzle hasn;t passed his physical or those two useless guys from Boston yet, but no worries because Skeez ain;t coming back. Too immature and too bad an attitude. They don't miss Javale at all because he didn't really love the game. The good news on Martell is that none of his old injuries are bothering him. When I asked who the strongest player was, the answer was Nene, not Okafor or Seraphin. However, he really needs more time off to fix his foot. He's apparently very tough to play through the pain. When I walked by Martell's wife, I said I hope you like in DC and stay here next year. She just said thank you.

I was behind the bench area and have to say that I am no fan of Whittman;s but the players clearly like and respect him. That upped my opinion of him. Jeremy Lin is turrible. Houston made a huge mistake signing him. That time with the Knicks must've been some kind of fluke because he is what we always thought he was except for that incredible run. Houston is very young and needs time and one more piece. I'm not a fan of our current plan because when Wall and Beal come into their own in two years Martell, Ariza and Okafor will all likely be gone and they get heavy minutes. However, Ariza is a great perimeter defender. He was on Harden like white on rice almost all night long. And Okafor is the best blocking out big man we've had in forever and he protects the basket. He has that shot blocking timing skill. Nene has unbelievable vision for a big man and is so coordinated for his size but he can't jump a lick. Can't wait to see how he is after a summer of rest. He plays very well together with Wall. The big revelation for me was BB. He plays intense defense all night. He looks like he's having a lit match burning under his arm and he's trying to control the pain, his expression is that intense. Incredible for a 19 year old. Hits the boards and his shot is pure. Very mature kid. Charlotte messed up. Wall is also very different from his first two years. Maybe because he's off the doritos and coke diet, but he really brings it on the defensive end. Jeremy Lin is not killin it and dunking with this John Wall on the court. His court vision is also very good. He's the type of point guard people like to play with. In three years, BB will be the better player but Wall should also be very good and make one heck of a back court. Beal's shorter than Wall but he's very thick and has a short neck so looked good out there. Booker isn't much taller than Wall. He was shorter than I was expecting. Singleton was bigger than expected. He just needs experience and seasoning. Martell is almost perfectly sized. If we ever were to become an elite team, we would need to turn Martell and Ariza into one really good SF. So instead of the current talent dispersion between the two of say 4-4. We need a 6-2 or 7-1 type split. But that's only what the elite teams have. Though it would be nice if we could bring Tell back. His shot is pure and he gets up on those dunks. Ves a bust. He can't even shoot in the pre-game with no one on him. Apparently, Bearmanpig is in the dog house because he simply refuses to play the way Whittman wants him too. He just won't listen. Otherwise, the mood on the bench was really good. We are no longer a dysfunctional team on or off the court.

[nuposse04]

^the best part might have been with regard to manbearpig, dude needs a scolding, hopefully a couple DNP's will get through to him. Agreed with the SF commentary, which is why Porter seems so ideal for this team, the defensive capabilities and then some of ariza with what seems to be a better offensive game then Webster. That is a quality SF.

[noworriesinmd]

I LOVE BB!!!! He is going to be special. I keep on hearing that he's going to be a solid pro, but not an All-Star....which is sad, because he has soo many tools in his arsenal.

Harden is a stone cold killa. He is just so money. When the wiz were up 103 to 100, Harden marches up the floor and without any hesitation sinks the three. Most people celebrate...he just goes back to playing like it was no deal.

I wonder how a Wall / Harden back court would look like...shame we won't see it.

[TheKingOfVa360]

Just got back from the game, Beal is going to be an all-star real soon! The kid just gets it, he has that it factor. Also Wall played good defense all game and his floor game was impressive. Okafor and Nene are exactly what this team needs, two veterans that play the right way.

[tontoz]

I was at the game. I was sure they would lose the way Houston was raining 3s. They finished with 19 3s.

This was one of the best games Ariza has had this year. He scared me on the last play though. Looked like he almost fouled Harden at the buzzer.

I think i need to get a Beal jersey.